Audiobook Review : Britt-Marie Was Here by Frederik Backman
Written By: amodini
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May•
04•22
Title : Britt-Marie Was Here
Author : Frederik Backman
Narrators : Joan Walker
Genre : Contemporary
Publisher : Simon & Schuster Audio
Listening Length : 9 hours 18 minutes
Rating : 4.5/5
Narrator Rating : 5/5
Frederik Backman’s books are always nice and often moving. However they can be a little “glib” overdong the sweetness of some scenarios – so I kind of expect that whenever I pick up one of his books. I have to say that Britt-Marie Was Here is my most favorite of all of Backman’s books that I have read because it is just right and has all his regular ingredients – sweetness, heart-breaking sadness and poignant emotion – in perfect proportion.
Britt-Marie is married to Kent who has stopped paying her any attention. Once they were apparently in love but that time has gone, and Kent, a self-professed entrepreneur has taken to spending time away from Britt-Marie. Britt-Marie is a creature of habit and hygiene. She relaxes by cleaning and organizing her home from top to bottom – bicarbonate of soda is a cure for everything. She also loves the familiarity and routine of her everyday chores and her predictable life.
But one day, she leaves Kent and her 40 year old marriage and takes up a job in the little town of Borg as the caretaker of the community center. It is an ill-paid job and a short-lived one; the community center will be closed down soon. There, Britt Marie, an eccentric creature if there ever was once, slowly finds her footing, new friends and confidence in herself. But then Kent lands up on her doorstep, begging forgiveness, promising the world if only she will return with him to their home.
Britt Marie is a character easy to root for. She is a good person, although her goodness is hidden away under her outspoken, unfiltered, behavior where she speaks what she thinks. This good person is shoddily treated, but still manages to retain her core of kindness, and we all root for her to be her own person, and dish it back to all the naysayers in her life.
Backman builds his characters beautifully, not just Britt-Marie but all the people she interacts with – the brother and sister pair of football players and their older brother Sammy, Somebody, the pizza place owner-car mechanic, Sven the policeman and her landlady who once played football. Also Joan Walker is a superb narrator – I’d probably pick up a book just because it was narrated by her.
Britt-Marie Was Here is a fabulous feel-good book – highly recommended!
Audiobook Review : Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
Written By: amodini
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Apr•
06•22
Title : Exit West
Author : Mohsin Hamid
Narrator : Mohsin Hamid
Genre : Contemporary/Fantasy
Publisher : Penguin Audio
Listening Length : 4 hours 42 minutes
Rating : 3.5/5
Narrator Rating : 3.5/5
Exit West is about Nadia and Saeed, two people who live in a city which is soon to be overrun by violence and unrest. When they fall in love, and they do, they must come together in a very uncertain time. Nadia is an independent woman who has left her home to live and work by herself, and is now ostracized by her family and community.
When the city becomes too unsafe, the two escape via “doors”which open up to different parts of the world. Now these “doors” are something special, they are described in the book as almost magical – no science or theory behind it. They simply open up and close down. You enter on one side and exit almost instantly into a different city possibly around the world. Doors to desirable places are heavily guarded, while doors to less desirable locations are not.
With the unrest around the world, and new doors popping up everywhere, refugees move from one place to another, trying to moor their adrift lives. Large refugee populations float around the world, setting up temporary shelters and in some cases squatting on property, facing animosity and distrust from the native populations. Nadia and Saeed too go from city to city trying to find firmer roots to settle down, but ultimately this is also a test of their relationship and it affects their bond. They meet people from different countries, religions and cultures, and gravitate towards what they consider known and familiar.
I’m not sure that I actually “got” this book. The author tries to explain the refugee experience, the transitioning to a new land sans family and friends and familiarity. The main characters were intersting in the beginning as Hamid fleshed out their love story, but their story got a little straggly and disjointed with all the movement between cities and their interaction with random characters. I couldn’t identify with either character, and they always seemed at a remove.
I don’t get the hype around this book; it’s an average read at best. I did like Mohsin Hamid’s narration – could have used some emotion and inflection but it is always nice to hear an author give voice to his words..
Audiobook Review : Chances Are by Richard Russo
Written By: amodini
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Mar•
09•22
Author : Richard Russo
Narrators : Fred Sanders
Genre : Contemporary
Publisher : Random House Audio
Listening Length : 11 hours 17 minutes
Rating : 2/5
Narrator Rating : 4/5
Three old friends meet up on Martha’s Vineyard where they’d spent many happy moments as college students. Lincoln is a real estate broker who married his college sweetheart. He’s also the one who owns the house (which was his mother’s) on Martha’s Vineyard where they all had congregated then and where they are meeting up now. Teddy, who is bi-polar and subject to sicknesses, is in publishing and Mickey, the impetuous brawler is a musician.
As each of them talks about the time gone past, they remember the lovely Jacy Calloway (they were all in love with her) and her mysterious disappearance after the Memorial Day Weekend when they all went their separate ways. They talk and they talk, and rehash the various things they remember in an effort to gather some clues. The books chapters are told from the perspective of each of the friends, but ultimately the book meanders on, to a very unsatisfying ending.
Now, with Russo, the pleasure is in savoring his words, because he writes so well about the people we are and the relationships that keep us afloat. Even if you don’t relate to a particular character because they might be so far removed from anyone you’ve ever met or imagined, you can still feel for them because of the skill of Russo’s writing. You get attached to his characters; they inspire affection.
This book however did not do that. I found the basic premise weak, and the characters not very likeable. The characters ramble on and wax philosophical, but in general that’s what Russo’s characters do. The difference here is that mostly I’m sympathetic to their plight or at least like them a little – here I didn’t really care to follow along or get swept up in the anguish of their one lost love, who disappeared 44 years ago.
I can’t recommend this book. Re-read Empire Falls instead.
Narrator Fred Sanders is great; I look forward to more of his work.
Audiobook Review : The Mother-in-law by Sally Hepworth
Written By: amodini
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Feb•
09•22
Author : Sally Hepworth
Narrators : Barrie Kreinik
Genre : Mystery
Publisher : Macmillan Audio
Listening Length : 9 hours 12 minutes
Rating : 1/5
Narrator Rating : 2/5
Lucy is married to Ollie. Diana and Tom are Ollie’s parents. While Tom is loving and forgiving towards his children (Ollie also has a sister Antoinette) Diana appears cold and at a remove. Lucy who’d hoped to find a mother figure in her mother-in-law after marriage, is disappointed by Diana’s reserved demeanor. The rift deepens with a couple of other altercations between daughter-in-law and mother-in-law. When Diana turns up dead, Lucy isn’t quite drowning in grief.
I’ve seen this book listed in so many bestseller lists, and I can’t figure out why. I’d expected a thriller when I picked it up – it is not that. I’d anticipated a murder mystery which it definitely is not – it moves too slowly for that. It is more of a contemporary tale, about people and their differences, with a murder thrown in – and even that it doesn’t do well.
Firstly there’s too much telling and not enough showing here. Secondly, everything is explained and underscored. The book is told through alternative viewpoints – Lucy’s and Diana’s. And even their narratives are divided up into the past, and the current time. During a conversation, the conversation just doesn’t happen and sit there, for the reader to mull through. No, it is explained to an inch of its life, which robs the telling of any intrigue or charm it might have had otherwise.
The characters are pretty inconsistent. They appear to be one way, and behave in just the opposite manner without rhyme and reason, which really threw me. For example, the mother-in-law Diana runs a charity to help new immigrants/refugees and goes out of her way to help them. But then to her family she is cold and unhelpful, which seems so out of character for a normally empathetic woman.
This book is drowning in minutiae – I feel like I learned so many useless details that I didn’t care about and which didn’t help flesh out the characters or their motivations. The ending was weak and absurd, and the plot had gaping logical holes.
When it started out, the book seemed interesting, but at Part 4 (of this 8 part audiobook) I was very tempted to just not finish it. I only kept going because I wanted to find out the identity of the killer. Narrator Kreinik sounded monotonous and similar in all the characters she portrayed.
I’d expected so much out of this set-in-Australia book; my experiences with other Australian authors (Liane Moriarty, Jane Harper) have been quite good. The Mother-in-law was a disappointment.
Book Review : The Blue Castle by L.M.Montgomery
Written By: amodini
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Jan•
12•22
Author : L.M.Montgomery
Genre : Romance
Publisher : Bantam
Pages : 224
Rating : 2.5/5
Valancy Stirling, considered an old maid at 29, lives with her family who put her down and poke fun at her every chance they get. Her only solace is reading books by her favorite author John Foster and dreaming of her fictional Blue Castle.
Valancy puts up with her family’s poor treatment of her, but when she realizes that she has a terminal condition and not much more time to live she decides to live out the rest of her days as she sees fit and starts speaking her mind. Her family members are horrified at this new outspoken Valancy and even further outraged when Valancy decides to take up a job which will have her moving out of the house and in with some very disreputable characters. Once out of the clutches of her nagging family, Valancy becomes much happier, makes good friends and even manages to fall in love with a Barney Snaith (a very unsuitable man). Bit it is all for naught, because the end – it is a-coming . . .
I read this book because of a suggestion on a Reddit discussion and while this is a pleasant old-fashioned romance (it was written in 1926) in the vein of “My Fair Lady” – as in poor, over-whelmed damsel in distress is plucked out of bad situation and ends up with the Prince of her Dreams etc. , I can’t see what the fuss is about. Although Valancy was an endearing protagonist – she has gumption and wit – and it is satisfying to see the villains of this story get their comeuppance, the plot details with Barney Snaith, his island home and his mysterious lifestyle got pretty flaky. This might, in the modern world pass off as a YA romance, full of wishful/fantastical details, but this seemed too fanciful for adult reading.
If you’re looking for a fairy tale romance, this one’s for you.
