Carole

Quick introduction to Ava Gardner

Reviewed: 08-02-23

I’m not familiar with Ava Gardner and I was looking for a quick intro. This book does that. The narrator does get monotonous at times and yet overall it’s a good short intro.

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Good not great

Reviewed: 02-03-22

I like that this audiobook is inspiring to go beyond the polished, perfect forms of art and go deeper into the dynamics of the experience. And yet overall this audiobook missed an opportunity to appeal to a wider audience by incorporating parts of the musical pieces in with the narration. Parts of this were boring.

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I recommend this book

Reviewed: 02-02-22

I recommend this book for awareness of our identity, what makes us us. We are who we are not who we or others define us as. Worth a re-read.

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1 person found this helpful

Good but not for me

Reviewed: 02-01-22

I was hoping to gain insight that can be applicable to more than just the battlefield. Much of the content was instead focused on strategy related to war, knowing your army’s strengths and weaknesses, and knowing your enemy. It might be more helpful to someone who’s interested in literal war strategies.

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Terrible narration. Wonderful book.

Reviewed: 12-06-21

Narration:
I don’t recommend this Audible to anyone familiar with Arabic or with Arab culture or Islamic culture. I definitely don’t recommend it for a student of Arabic. It’s probably not the narrator’s fault. I suspect it’s one of these cases where they put the only available immigrant/polyglot on the job.
The narrator is good with the English narration but is obviously not familiar with Arabic. Most of the Arabic words were mispronounced terribly and some words and names were pronounced different ways in different parts of the book. It’s irritating and distracting. I had to get the ebook to be able to understand and follow.

Book:
I love this book and the author’s writing style. This book is heartwarming at times, heartbreaking at others. Always enthralling. The narrative is captivating, drawing you in and helping you identify with the characters.
This book is a historical fiction. Parts of it (especially the beginning) reminded me of the writings of Bartolomé de las Casas on the Americas. Later parts reminded me of The Tattooist of Auschwitz. There are multiple love stories explored in this book which add sweetness to a difficult topic. This book tackles difficult subjects very delicately.
This book is decidedly Palestinian, though the opinions of characters may not be representative of the opinions of Palestinians. I recommend it for anyone familiar with Palestine or anyone interested to learn more. This book is designed for that. There’s even a glossary of terms at the end of the book for reference. Recommend.

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Interesting and inspiring

Reviewed: 11-25-21

Narration excellent.
These letters offer what appears to be honest and deep insight into Rilke’s thoughts and philosophy. The author offers thoughts and opinions on various subjects - including some mature subjects.
I listened to it multiple times. Worth a read.

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Okay I guess

Reviewed: 09-03-21

Possibly for Christians who are familiar with the myth behind this story. I’m not familiar with Greek mythology so I can’t speak to that.
The book starts very slow. I was hoping it would pick up the pace but it didn’t. And the descriptions. Everything is so mysterious, so dreadful, so beautiful, and so on an so on. Not the most thrilling read and I didn’t profit from it. The book has clear religious undertones and final conclusion.

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Wow

Reviewed: 06-15-21

I recommend this pamphlet/mini book to anyone interested in Zionism, the Zionists historically, or about Palestine. This pamphlet shows how Herzl thought about the idea of a Jewish state and about things like government and politics. Herzl seems to be an idealist elitist who thought his manual for establishing the Jewish state would bring about a utopia.
I think it’s easiest for me to describe the thinking in this book through what it’s not. This is not Marxist thinking. This is not a commune. This is not government by the people or the working class. This is not a representative democracy. In fact he outright rejects the idea of democracy. This is not a call for migrants to return to the land of origin.
This is a call by Herzl to colonize a land over there, modeled after the settler colonization of America and previous colonizations, but improved upon by Herzl.
Herzl seemed to be an elitist who believed that the rule of the majority to be a terrible idea. He wanted - and I don’t blame him - to provide a safe place for the Jews to live as they seem to be mistreated and hated everywhere they go. He unfortunately did not foresee that the same idea of land acquisition through a private house organization would be one of the main reasons the natives of the land he came to colonize would continue to be mistreated for over a century.
I’m definitely going to reread it.

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Recommend for anyone and everyone

Reviewed: 06-01-21

I recommend this book for anyone and everyone. This book is decidedly Palestinian, though not necessarily biased. The author is Palestinian and treats the issue from the perspective of literal walks in nature. I had never thought of the changes to the Palestinian landscapes. This book taught me a lot.
It helped me understand that this issue is a relatively recent issue and helped me realize what life was like before. It also helped me realize that the exact same lawsuits going on today and the exact same processes have been going on for decades. It’s basically the same process just different people and different cities.
The narrator does make some mistakes in the Arabic pronunciation. I suspect his Arabic is like Big Z (possibly a 2nd generation immigrant?). I don’t speak Hebrew so I can’t speak to that. I did speed it up in some areas but 1.5x or less should be good, especially cuz there are a lot of details.

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Last chapter is woo woo and fake science

Reviewed: 05-01-21

The beginning of this is a guided meditation of sorts, though I’ve heard better from free apps on the App Store. The last chapter in this Audible is basically woo woo about how you can achieve anything if you visualize it. The examples provided are very insensitive for someone who has nerve pain (eg an athlete trying to improve their performance).

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2 people found this helpful