M.R. Bunce

Wonderful book ruined by cynical mechanical ending

Reviewed: 01-09-23

Loved this book but literally loathed the ending. The plot was appallingly contrived and left me at least with a very bad taste in my mouth which had the effect of my hating the main protagonist and not caring a wit about her suggested history after the end of the book. This not with stand the book is beautifully written and very engaging. A pity therefore that the author didn't appear to invest as much affection for certain of her characters as I did.

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What am I missing here?

Reviewed: 14-03-23

I have over a thousand audio books in my library and this has got to be the worst! The story is non existent, the characters, pompous, self pitying and ridiculous, while the performances with the exception of Judy Greer who's always great, universally awful. Why this book has got such good reviews is utterly beyond me and Spoiler Alert, the Prime series looks quite as bad.

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Much better than the film

Reviewed: 04-12-15

Where does The Homesman rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

One of the best novels I have purchased this year. The story is unusual and full of fascinating historical detail about a time and place I was utterly unaware of.

What did you like best about this story?

The premise that in the appalling conditions in which the first settlers in the West endured sent many of them literally mad

Have you listened to any of Candace Thaxton’s other performances? How does this one compare?

No, but I certainly will watch out for her as I thought she was quite execllent

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

There is a film of this book, and I reckon the tag line should be " not as good as the book"

Any additional comments?

Having seen the film and thoroughly enjoyed it I was interested to listen to the book. Having said that what I was delighted to find was that the book itself was a hundred times better than the film, and filled in all the details which I felt were week in the film.

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Far too long

Reviewed: 01-12-15

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

There is an abridged version of this title, and while I found the book interesting I wish I'd gone for the shorter version.

What will your next listen be?

Probably The end of an affair, by Graham Greene

Which character – as performed by Grover Gardner – was your favourite?

This is a factual history rather than a novel, but my favourite character was the San Franciso store keep who publicized the gold rush so as to make his fortune selling equipment to the prospectors.

Could you see The Age of Gold being made into a movie or a TV series? Who would the stars be?

Yes, though obviously there have been many documentaries made about the gold rush. This being the case it would be unlikely that named actors would be a requirement for the show

Any additional comments?

I really enjoyed this book but it was incredibly detailed to a point where the actual geological history of the gold's formation was discussed at some length. I have always been very interested in the subject of The Californian Gold rush but felt that this description took a lot of the exoticism out of the subject and was rather dry. Very interesting though for all that, and very engagingly read.

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1 person found this helpful