Audio Books in Review

Every Man Dies Alone

// August 30th, 2010 // No Comments » // Reviews

written by Hans Fallada
translated by Michael Hofmann
read by George Guidall

OK, I’ll admit that I was convinced to buy this book because it was read by George Guidall. But the reviews were strong enough that I found it worth considering…and waded in on the strength of the story premise: A German couple carrying on small acts of defiance against Hitler’s regime. Sounded interesting.

An older couple loses a son serving in the German army in World War II. The woman lashes out at her husband, blaming “you and your fuhrer”. Upon reflection, he realizes that…while he hates the Nazis, he has never done anything to resist. Yet, he believes that good men should do something to resist against that which is bad, even if that something is very small. So he takes it upon himself to write a series of anti-government sentiments on postcards, and to discreetly drop them around the city, where they will be found and read…sowing deeper seeds of discord against Hitler’s agenda. There are many memorable characters to the story, across all ages and social strata. There is a sense of sadness woven into all their lives. Many of them meet grisly ends at the hands of a power-mad government. All the main characters are very flawed and very human…but you definitely find yourself drawn deeply into their lives.

I really loved this story. In part, I’m sure it’s because I am fascinated by the events surrounding WWII. How could the German people have let things go so awry? What was it like living there at the time? The story transports you to that time and place. After reading more about how the story was written, I came to understand how it could feel so real. Hans Fallada was born in the late 1800s. He nearly didn’t survive his teens. He and a friend had a mutual suicide pact, and staged it as a duel. Fallada hit and killed the other kid, but the other missed him. So he picked up the other kid’s gun and shot himself in the chest…but, somehow, he survived. He went on to become a fairly successful author, and wrote Every Man Dies Alone in just 24 days in 1946. He died two weeks before its publication. Also, the story was based on the true story of a working class husband and wife, Otto and Elise Hampel, who committed acts of civil disobedience in Berlin during WWII before being caught. So it was VERY real. The book was a modest success at the time, but remained untranslated until 2009 when Michael Hofmann did it. It became a “surprise bestseller” in both the UK and the US.

George Guidall is simply golden. I don’t know how much more grandiose I can become in my praise for him. But I would probably be happy listening to a BAD book as long as he was reading it. Fortunately, this was a very good one. Definitely recommended!

The Millenium Trilogy

// July 5th, 2010 // No Comments » // Reviews

Written by Stieg Larsson
Read by Simon Vance

The Millenium Trilogy consists (obviously) of three books, published in the U.S. as The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest. By way of background, the stories were written in the first few years of the last decade by Stieg Larsson, a Swedish magazine editor who tragically never lived to see their publication and amazing success, passing away in 2004 at the age of 50. The books have already been made into movies in Sweden, and Hollywood is planning their own version, to be released in 2011…currently rumored to star Daniel Craig and Natalie Portman. On the success of these 3 books, Larsson was the second-best-selling author in the world in 2008. So the books have clearly been extremely well received…and if you haven’t heard of them already, plan to hear a lot more about them in the future.

The two main characters in the three stories are Lisbeth Salander, a girl in her mid-twenties who has suffered horrible abuse at the hands of her family and the government, and Mikael Blomkvist, a 40-something journalist. The stories are filled with intrigue, romance, violence, sex, action and misogyny (the first book was published in Sweden under the title “Men Who Hate Women”)…but also with a good dose of recent Swedish governmental history, including a look at the overreaching power of unaccountable government. The first book revolves around the family of a powerful industrialist and his missing (and apparently dead or kidnapped) granddaughter. The second book follows an attempt to bust open a sex-trafficking ring that shuttles young girls between the former USSR and Sweden. And the third involves Salander being brought to trial on charges of trying to murder her father.

I have to say that this is one of the most enjoyable reads I’ve had in some time. I felt transported to Sweden and found myself looking up locations on Google Maps as I went along. In many ways, Larsson made Sweden feel much like America, and the characters were fully humanized. Salander has many offputting characteristics on the surface (as well as an impressive intellect and significant skills in both research and deductive powers), but you definitely feel for her and what she’s been through. And Blomkvist, while quite the ladies’ man, has an unflinching sense of loyalty and integrity…so he doesn’t come off as a shallow loser, as he could have. The violence and sexual themes can be pretty harsh, so this is definitely only appropriate for an adult audience (and not even for some adults, I’m sure). But it’s quite a ride…especially from a first-time novelist…long-winded and slow at times…but nonethless engaging and satsifying.

The narrator was a very pleasant discovery. I haven’t heard Simon Vance’s work before. He’s a Brit who has relocated to America, and he was simply superb, both at the straight reading and at the voice characterizations. I did have to laugh at a couple of the voices, because they felt like a bit of a bad Dracula impersonation…but everything is based on something, and I’m sure these were based on a legitimate dialect. It’s just that Dracula was my only reference point…so I chuckled out loud a few times. Until you’ve listened, it’s difficult to appreciate Vance’s heavy lifting here. Swedish names, street names and city names are very challenging…and they just roll off Vance’s tongue…so what could have become a very difficult listen was made quite easy…even in a story with lots of characters and complicated plot lines.

All told, these three stories total nearly 50 hours of listening. Two thumbs up from me for a well-delivered, rollicking ride. If you choose to imbibe, I hope you enjoy them as well!

61 Hours

// May 23rd, 2010 // 1 Comment » // Reviews

written by Lee Child
read by Dick Hill

I’ve listened to a handful of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher novels before and always enjoyed them. There’s a template for them (a very successful one, by all accounts…seeing as this is the 14th novel in the Reacher series): drifer drifts into town…mostly passing thru, gets caught up in local entanglement, despite his best efforts finds out he’s the only one who can solve the problem, solves the problem (usually with massive blood loss), and drifter moves on. Still…the delight is found in the telling of the tale, isn’t it?

Jack Reacher is ex-military, a beast of a man (6’5″), with a generally laid-back temperament. But you don’t want to royally piss him off. And Plato has done that. Plato is a tiny man, but very powerful…physically and financially. Cunning and creative, he kills people for any reason…or no reason at all…and he’s been disposing of a lot of people around Reacher over the last couple days. And, now…he is coming to South Dakota himself…in the middle of a massive winter storm. Plato seems to be an unstoppable force who hasn’t yet met his irresistable object…though there are forces amassing in every direction to take him down. And we’re pulled into this countdown…61 hours until it all comes down.

You’ll feel the chill in your bones in this one, set in the 30-below-zero temperatures that few places in North America can offer. The climate is a huge part of the story, but there’s much more…including an abandoned military installation, a plucky senior citizen who is a critical witness to a crime, and even a bit of phone romance. Along the way, we’re treated into some great tidbits from Reacher’s past that help make him the man he is today.

Good fun, and as always…deftly read by Dick Hill.

Two thumbs up!