Great book, audio needs some more editing

there were many occasions where the editing missed out sentence fragments being duplicated, could be improved. other than that happy with the story and narration.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

Too many retakes

The audiobook contained several dozens of retakes by the reader, which had not been edited out. Please fix this.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

A Story of Great Depth

This story will be resonant with so many people, so well written it held me enthralled from beginning to end.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Wonderful story. Beautifully read - badly edited!

Story wonderful. Beautifully read. Editing needs attention. But i thoroughly enjoyed it never the less

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

A Painter's Life

As painter I related to the mundanity of the practicalities of life juxtaposed with the imaginative life of the artist and within her, the child. Beautifully written and read.
Sadly, I become annoyed with the editing which allowed repeated text to interrupt the flow.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Great book Flawed Production

I enjoyed this book. Here is Atwood exploring themes of time, change and recollection across a Canada of the 40s through the present. There's a sense of danger or malice as she describes it running through the book. It may seem sedate but there's real venom just below the surface. From childhood bullying to a reported murder to war and to hijack. Some real and some imagined.

The narration is good but as other reviews state the editing is poor and gets worse as the novel progresses. This sort of thing shouldn't impact the final published work and, if it does, should be picked up following its mention by so many reviewers.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

Problematic audiobook editing

The book itself is great. But the audiobook editing is poor. At many points, the same phrases are read out more than once without the redundant take(s) being cut out.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

Beautifully written and narrated but!

Terrible editing, many times sentences were repeated , you can forgive once or twice but it really started to get on my nerves!

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

Disappointing Reading

It may be that this book is better read than listened to. Certainly it has the acuteness of perception and comment you expect from Margaret Atwood and a density of interesting observation and explorations that pass too quickly when only heard. It is an exploration of memory and how we create our past, of bullies and victims, of time. The fifty year old, successful Elaine looks back to a childhood idyllic until her parents settle in 1940s Toronto and she is confronted by social norms and constraints she has not had to deal with before. The book is almost entirely about her childhood and an extended period of bullying lead by her 'best friend', followed by teenage years when, if roles are not exactly reversed, Elaine at least has the upper hand. We learn little about Elaine's life as an adult, as a painter; that all seems further away than her vivid rehabiting of childhood.
As has been mentioned, the editing is appalling, the worst of any audio book I've listened to, with the breaks between chapters either long, or more usually, non-existent and many sentences repeated as if a mistake has been made and not edited out.
I found the style of the reading uneven. Sometimes it was brilliant, energetic and with great inflection. Mostly, however, the voice of the reader and the tone she adopts for the book injects a kind of Plaintive melancholy to the story that I don't think is an essential part of the book and becomes tedious.
As you'd expect from Margaret Atwood, this is a very interesting book and I would recommend it highly as a read. I'm not sure that I'd recommend this reader, though, she didn't suit me.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

18 people found this helpful

Good but

I really enjoyed the story and being able to listen to it while reading it at the same time, made easier to follow the book and understand it. Though several times the voice was repeating the same sentence twice.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful