Mediocre at best

After reading great reviews I expected something really good.
But this was mediocre at best... easy listening and narration was ok. But I felt like the story was bittie and lacking- constantly building up to something but went nowhere. It left me feeling neither satisfied or disappointed.

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Powerful punchline but miserable- at time superficial

Powerful punchline but overall miserable- at times superficial
The relationship with water was well done
The relationship with mother / Father/ illness were strong
The love interests unconvincing - added little
The doctor/quack could have been built on

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A great character novel

I really enjoyed this, it is a great character novel and the performance is fantastic, particularly the voice of the mother.

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fascinating

Great book. Witty and insightful. Spoilt by terribke monotone reader wish I'd read it myself

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2 people found this helpful

Fantastic story, leaden performance

When I read this book I absolutely loved it. I later got the Audible version as an alternative to re-reading it. Everything that I liked in the printed book is still discoverable. However, the reading has reduced the pleasure I can take in it. I've seen other reviews here that praise Romola Garai's beautiful voice. Perhaps she does have a beautiful voice but it's a ponderous reading that leaches all notes of humour from the text leaving it more starkly dark than the book. The reading of the main protagonist is, I guess, "defensible": the kind of interpretation that might be interesting if you've already heard several others. It's a reading that I find casts the main character as more deliberate and less attractive than the character as written. The reading of the mother, Rose, is good. The reading of all of the other characters is so heavily mannered and weirdly inflected that it changes and destroys every one of them. For a book set primarily in Spain, it's odd not to find any trace of a Spanish accent. But listen to the sample and judge for yourself. It's a terrific book that survives the quirky performance.

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1 person found this helpful

Worth sticking with

About half way thought this book I nearly gave up - I really couldn't see where it was going. However, having decided to listen for a long stretch, I realised it was a book that needed to be "read" almost in one go. The reader was excellent and pushed the narrative along and one gradually got the point of the story. I would definitely recommend listening to it if you have time to stick with it and then gradually you get a sense of the flow of the book. But I feel it's not a book to be listened to in small snippets.

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1 person found this helpful

Dreamlike and fascinating

This is an engaging story told in an impressionistic way with elements of magical realism. Cinematic in style, it reminded me a little of Almodovar's films. The narration was superb, a very committed performance and beautiful voice.

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9 people found this helpful

Great

I loved it… hypnotic, slightly strange, beautifully written. I enjoyed the narration and found it compelling to listen to.

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Challengingly complex characters.

Very well written, with prose that often merges into poetry. The author uses circular layers to make this a beautiful and evocative work. However, as usually with complex characters, the emotional connection with them was not there in the main. Although it is a story of self discovery and vanquishing personal demons, I found myself rooting for no one until the very end.

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1 person found this helpful

A bit intriguing, a lot irritating

Almost very good with a cast of interestingly and unsympathetic characters in an unusual situation and location.... But ultimately really really irritating.
"Whatever you are waiting for may not arrive" says one character, yup, that'll be reader satisfaction.
Inconsequential points are laboured; intriguing red herrings serve no purpose; metaphors are clunky and it goes on and on and on about jellyfish.

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