Wonder

Wonder
by R.J. Palacio
narrated by Diana Steele, Nick Podehl and Kate Rudd
Ⓟ 2012, Brilliance Audio, Inc.
8 hours, 6 minutes
Children, Ages 8-12

The world is a hard place. And people are bastards. And kids are cruel. Especially to kids like Auggie Pullman.

August "Auggie" Pullman was born with a severely mal-formed face and raised in the relative shelter of his home and neighborhood environs - which is not to say that he has been shielded from public scrutiny or the visceral reactions he provokes upon those who chance on him. From outright screams of horror to glances stolen peripherally, Auggie is all too aware that he is a freak show and an outcast. But after years of home schooling, Auggie's parents decide to send their son to a private school in Manhattan. Entering fifth grade as a new kid is a challenge anywhere at anytime for anyone, but for Auggie, without proven social skills and a history of ostracism, the prospect is particularly daunting. Wonder tracks Auggie's first year in school from several perspectives: from Auggie himself; his sister, Olivia ("Via"); his best friend Jack; Via's boyfriend, Justin; and from Via's best friend, Miranda. What follows is a chronicle of the failings and triumphs of Auggie and the people close to him as he struggles with the transition to a wider world and proves that while "the universe has not been kind to Auggie," the scales are not irredemptively tilted against him either:

 "…it’s not all random, if it really was all random, the universe would abandon us completely. and the universe doesn’t. it takes care of its most fragile creations in ways we can’t see. like with parents who adore you blindly. and a big sister who feels guilty for being human over you. and a little gravelly-voiced kid whose friends have left him over you. and even a pink-haired girl who carries your picture in her wallet. maybe it is a lottery, but the universe makes it all even out in the end. the universe takes care of all its birds."

Wonder is a poignant story that well illustrates personal triumphs as well as a sort of karmic justice in play. Issues are all resolved as a testament to adversity-forged character, direct action or good fortune. If anything, perhaps Wonder is a little bit overly optimistic, reaching for that feel-good moment at the expense of reality; but then again, to a middle-grader it may prove to be a vaccine inoculating against the worldly cynicism and darkness that has crept into our common culture. Auggie's case is extreme and rare so it may take a mentor to make the correlation for the young listener between Auggie and other "outsiders" that are more commonplace.

Wonder is an amazing story and should have been well served by an audio edition; but unfortunately, it wasn't. While casting women in the roles of young boys in audio/voice-over is not uncommon, the purpose of doing so is to match the soprano voice of the unchanged male voice. Diana Steele's voice may have matched the range and been delivered in with the raspiness that the text mandated; but she could not let go of her feminine sensibilities enough to deliver the narrative convincingly enough as that of a young boy. One felt that these sections were being read by Marge Simpson - an idea that, once you've heard it, you can't "unhear" it. Kate Rudd, on the other hand, delivered the story's sections from Olivia and Miranda's point of view with earnestness, though she often rendered Auggie has having a voice of a mentally handicapped person rather than one with a damaged/repaired oropharnyx. As the text takes pains to indicate that Auggie not slow and that he has a raspy voice, Ms Rudd's choice was unfortunate and all the more glaring. Nick Podehl, while not the voice of a fifth grader, delivered his sections (Jack and Justin) truthfully and well. There aren't may textual cues to define Justin, so the challenge was in distinguishing Jack, a boy from the "other" side of Broadway. While initially, Nick Podehl's choice of an old-school New York accent for Jack was disconcerting, he does dial back after the first impression and the tone is effectively set.

The only other issues with the audio were minor production quibbles: the processing on Diana Steele's voice for the quotes before her sections sounded oddly "metallic;" during one of Kate Rudd's sections as Olivia there was an egregious edit (end of one word/beginning of next word had zero interstitial space) and, in the same (Olivia's) section there seems to be silences inserted in between some sentences which made for an odd cyclical wave sound. [To be fair though, I won't discount that there was something awry with my listening set-up. Even though I chased down cables and checked for sources of interference, I could not determine the source of what might have been a bizarre grounding issue.]

Other Stuff: I purchased a digital dnload edition of Wonder (by R.J.Palacio; narrated by Diana Steele, Nick Podehl and Kate Rudd) from iTunes. I receive no monies, goods or services in exchange for reviewing the product and/or mentioning any of the persons or companies that are or may be implied in this post.

This is an Armchair Audies review :-)

See Also:
Heidi's review of Wonder (by R.J. Palacio; narrated by Diana Steele, Nick Podehl and Kate Rudd) at Bunbury in the Stacks!

My review of Same Sun Here (written and narrated by Silas House and Neela Vaswani) and Heidi's review at Bunbury in the Stacks :-)

My review of  The Cheshire Cheese Cat (by Carmen Agra Deedy and Randall Wright; narrated by Katherine Kellgren and Robin Sachs) and
Heidi's review at Bunbury in the Stacks!

My review of Splendors and Glooms (by Laura Amy Schlitz; narrated by Davina Porter) and Heidi's Review of the same at Bunbury in the Stacks :-)

Same Sun Here

Same Sun Here

written and narrated by Silas House and Neela Vaswani

 Ⓟ 2012, Candlewick/Brilliance

5 hours, 47 minutes

Children, Ages 8-12

Same Sun Here is an epistolary novel featuring the correspondence between two 12-year old pen pals: Meena, an illegal immigrant girl from India living in a rent control apartment (without the landlord's knowledge or consent) in New York City and; River, a Kentucky boy from a rural coal mining area. Both first find common ground in their shared love of mountains, but their friendship grows as they promise to always write truthfully as to what their respective thoughts and  feelings are.

Meena and River are both face challenges in their lives unique to their area: Meena lives a furtive life fearing eviction from her family's apartment while River's environment is being ruined by mountain top removal operations that threaten the health and safety of the area's inhabitants. What Meena and River have in common is having to confront the social injustices that force them into the role of victims. However, as Meena's parents patiently go through the steps of becoming U.S citizens and River's grandmother spearheads a grass roots movement to draw awareness to the coal mining company's devastation of the area, both kids are inspired to persevere in their own ways and find hope in their futures.

Same Sun Here is an excellent exposition of commonplace social inequity that infiltrates The Land of Opportunity and how, despite suffocating odds, small actions can provide the force for change. The letters are dated 2008-2009, which places the context of conditions during Obama's election campaign, victory and swearing-in to office. As such, there is a liberal flavor to the book, though there is no slamming of political conservatism or of Obama's political rivals.

The authors, Silas House and Neela Vaswani narrate their own work. Silas House has a voice that's a bit too mature to be playing that of a middle-grade student; but his native Kentuckian accent, his earnestness and, the fact that most kids don't care about the age of the narrator relative to the character, all work in his favor. Neela Vaswami has a girlish voice and her accented English poses no issue in terms of being understood. That said, young listeners may become confused without the visual prompts of the text to be able to distinguish between "Dadi" and "Daddy" and, what sounds like "Missouri" with what is actually "Massoorie." There are illustrations in the book, but the audio narrative does not suffer for not being able to display them.


Other Stuff: I purchased a digital dnload edition of Same Sun Here (written and narrated by Silas House and Neela Vaswani) from iTunes. I receive no monies, goods or services in exchange for reviewing the product and/or mentioning any of the persons or companies that are or may be implied in this post.

This is an Armchair Audies review :-)

See Also:
Heidi's Armchair Audies Review of Same Sun Here (written and narrated by Silas House and Neela Vaswani) at Bunbury in the Stacks

My review of  The Cheshire Cheese Cat (by Carmen Agra Deedy and Randall Wright; narrated by Katherine Kellgren and Robin Sachs) and
Heidi's review at Bunbury in the Stacks!

My review of Splendors and Glooms (by Laura Amy Schlitz; narrated by Davina Porter) and Heidi's Review of the same at Bunbury in the Stacks :-)

The Cheshire Cheese Cat

The Cheshire Cheese Cat

by Carmen Agra Deedy and Randall Wright

narrated by Katherine Kellgren and Robin Sachs

 Ⓟ 2011, Listening Library

4 hours, 16 minutes

Children, Ages 8-12

Skilley is a cheese loving tom cat prowling the alleys of Charles Dickens' London in search of a safe haven. As it happens, The Cheshire Cheese, a local pub renowned for the excellence of its eponymous dairy product, is in search of a mouser! It seems to be a match made in heaven, but there are certain challenges that must be met in order for Skilley to secure the position - a rival tom cat, an erudite mouse named Pip, a stranded Raven of the Tower of London, a cleaver-wielding cook and a keenly intuitive kitchen servant...

The Cheshire Cheese Cat explores the difficulties of being different, of having friendship tested, of the adversities that individuals face but that ultimately shape character. Skilley has certain traits that are decidedly un-catlike and, his ego in trying to construct and preserve his cat image affects his relationships with others. Evolving self-awareness and reconciling his true nature with his public face show how the individual can change and grow rather than be inhibited by perecived stigmas. It's easy to make the comparison of Skilley's social dilemas with the challenges a child might face in terms of self-identity (embracing that which makes us unique) and social interaction (what it means to be loyal and the consequences of betrayal.) The scenes on which these ideas are explored are an opportunity for the child to make the correlation between the anthropomorphized animals and themselves and, require a bit of thoughtful listening.

The Cheshire Cheese Cat has an interesting hook to the story in that Charles Dickens and a couple of other literary luminaries of the time make an appearance in the story. Dickens' himself is given interstitial passages that provide a third person point-of-view to the goings on at the pub. Wilkie Collins and William Makepeace Thackery also make an appearance, though not given voice. Deedy and Wright have also provided some Easter Eggs for those familiar with the mid-19th century authors, e.g.The story opens with the line, "It was the best of toms, it was the worst of times" and we bear witness to Dickens struggling to find the opening lines for A Tale of Two Cities. Given that not many children are familiar with 19th-century authors and their works, these references may go over their heads.

There are some gruesome bits in The Cheshire Cheese Cat: Mice are eaten and nearly boiled alive and, the description of rodent infestation (multitude and aroma) were a bit nauseating for those who have experienced the like (see "Mice"); and while the overall feel of the book is not dark, if your child/-ren has/have a sensitivity to descriptions of animal suffering, you may want to be prepared.

Katherine Kellgren is the British-American narrator who voices the majority of the novel, providing the world view from Skilley's point-of-view. The book provides numerous opportunities to show off the narrator's talent with characterizations; but fair warning: The opening scene sets the tenor of the narrative with a screech and the story is delivered at near-breakneck speed.
Robin Sachs, the late British-American actor, narrates the sections from Dickens' point of view and though infrequent, are nice reprieves from the pitch and pace from the rest of the narrative.


Other Stuff: I borrowed a CD edition of The Cheshire Cheese Cat (by Carmen Agra Deedy and Randall Wright; narrated by Katherine Kellgren and Robin Sachs) from the Jackson County Library System (Southern Oregon.) I receive no monies, goods or services in exchange for reviewing the product and/or mentioning any of the persons or companies that are or may be implied in this post.


This is an Armchair Audies review :-)

Check out Heidi's Armchair Audies review of The Cheshire Cheese Cat at Bunbury in the Stacks!

See also: My review of Splendors and Glooms (by Laura Amy Schlitz; narrated by Davina Porter) and Heidi's Review of the same at Bunbury in the Stacks :-)

Splendors and Glooms

Splendors and Glooms
by Laura Amy Schlitz
narrated by Davina Porter
Recorded Books. Inc., Ⓟ 2012
12 hours, 2 minutes
Children, Ages 8 -12


The Phoenix Stone is a fire opal that grants great power, and a great curse, upon the person who possesses it. Cassandra, an aged woman and witch, has it and wants to get rid of it. Grisini, a wizard and puppeteer in London, wants it but can't get it. Lizzie Rose and Parsefall, Grisini's apprentices in fantocini, don't care about it, but are used as pawns in the wizard's scheme to acquire it. And Clara is the victim of enchantments and a kidnapping plot as her fate aligns with that of the others and to that of the Phoenix Stone. Actually, all of the characters are victims in this  tale of intrigue taking place in London, 1816: Cassandra and Grisini are prey to their greed and ambition; Lizzie and Paresfall to the vicissitudes of being orphans at time when poverty and workhouses were common and; Clara of a survivor's guilt dating back to the death of all of her siblings.

Splendors and Glooms is a fantastic tale with magic and thrills and, rich in detail of setting and thought; but it is also a rather dark and sophisticated story. It is ostensibly aimed at children, ages 8 -12, presumably because the story features children in that age range. The story provides a number of opportunities to explore a different time, place and culture. Listeners actually of the target demographic might benefit from the insight of a more mature reader to more fully explain subjects as death masks, memento mori, London fog, child exploitation, cholera, ... than is addressed in the book itself. There is also some rather frightening imagery described in the story: witches burning, a lurid monkey-shaped bell pull, a scene in a crypt, a bit of violence and blood... in fact quite a bit more gloom than splendor overall. There is a trend in children's literature that encourages walking on the dark side, indulging in the more gothic themes that harken back to the original fairy tales, and Splendors and Glooms follows this trend.

Davina Porter is the British narrator whose work on this book is irreproachable. Her cultured voice, distinct characterizations, her ability to disappear into the text, mark her as a master narrator. In Splendors and Glooms, Davina Porter voices the POVs of an aged crone, an old, sleazy man, a pre-adolescent girl with theatrical training, an illiterate street urchin (boy) and a little rich girl, all with seeming ease. Splendors and Glooms is a relatively long book for children's fare, but the narrator's pace never flagged and was as strong at the end as it was in the beginning.


Other Stuff: I dnloaded a digital copy of Splendors and Glooms (by Laura Amy Schlitz; narrated by Davina Porter) from iTunes.  I receive no monies, goods or services in exchange for reviewing the product and/or mentioning any of the persons or companies that are or may be implied in this post.

This is an Armchair Audies review :-)

Check out Heidi's Armchair Audies review of Splendors and Glooms at Bunbury in the Stacks!

Zombiestan

Zombiestan
by Mainak Dhar
narrated by John Lee
Ⓟ 2012, Tantor Audio
6.00 hours

Zombiestan is a bildungsroman that takes place in the zombiefied country of India in a post-911 world. Mayukh was a seventeen-year old gamer without much responsibility and few concerns when, far away in Afghanistan, bio-hazmat materials that were being delivered to the Taliban were ignited by drone-delivered bombs. The chemical reaction created an infectious compound that found its first victims and carriers with the Taliban members who followed up at the site to see if there was anything to recover. Moving on from the site, these would-be terrorists ended up spreading the contagion as they boarded planes. The rate of the infection spread exponentially and manifested itself in necrotizing humans, rendering them virtually invincible and, transmitting Taliban sympathies into the memories of the newly dead. As the contagion swept into India and black-turbaned Taliban zombies posed an increasing threat to societal structures and personal safety, Mayukh was goaded into action. In a trek towards safety, Mayukh gets a hyper-accelerated lesson in growing up.

Mayukh is not alone as he makes his journey: There is a U.S. Navy SEAL, an older woman with a dual identity as a professor and a romance novelist, a teen-aged girl and, the girl's little brother who may hold the secret to an antidote. All the characters in Zombiestan have an arc of development as each rises to the occasion of the crises they find themselves in. While the temptation always lurks to take the easy way out, this cast of characters, individually and together, clings to their of sense of what is right. One of the great things about Zombiestan is that, unlike many zombie-apocalyptic novels, this one keeps hope alive in the story: There are survivors; There are people who help; There is the idea of a future. The story faces forward even while conditions worsen.

Zombiestan is a fun novel, full of action and a unique take on zombies. The writing is a bit rough, with a number of repetitive descriptions and cliches; but the plot never stalls and scenes are strongly depicted. Mainuk Dhar may have taken the concept of zombies a bit far afield in depicting them with  rapidly evolving sentience, organizational and strategic skills and an ability to learn and adapt; on the other hand, Dhar's terrorist zombies make an obvious political statement if you want to go there.

John Lee, the British-American narrator who won an Audie for his reading of White Tiger (by Aravind Adiga), brings his Indian accent back for Zombiestan. John Lee has a highly enunciated style of delivery and brings well-delineated characters into play. His Americans pretty much all sound like cowboys; but since the Americans in Zombiestan are all U.S. military personnel, it works :-)


See Also:

• The Reapers are the Angels (by Alden Bell; narrated by Tai Sammons) - Audiobook Review
• "Countdown" (Prequel short story to Patient Zero; by Jonathan Maberry; narrated by Ray Porter) - Audiobook Review
  
• Patient Zero (First in the Joe Ledger series) by Jonathan Maberry; narrated by Ray Porter) - Audiobook Review
  
• "Zero Tolerance" (Sequel short story to Patient Zero by Jonathan Maberry; narrated by Ray Porter) - Audiobook Review
• We're Alive: A Story of Survival, The First Season (by Kc Wayland; performed by a full cast) - Audiobook review

• The Walking Dead: Volume 1, Days Gone Bye (by Robert Kirkman et al) - Graphic Novel review
  
• The Walking Dead: Volume 2, Miles Behind Us (by Robert Kirkman et al) - Graphic Novel review
  
• The Walking Dead: Volume 3, Safety Behind Bars (by Robert Kirkman et al) - Graphic Novel review

• Zombie in Love (by Kelly diPucchio; illustrated by Scott Campbell) - Print review

Other Stuff: Zombiestan (by Mainak Dhar; narrated by John Lee) is a part of the

• The 2012 Audio Book Challenge hosted by @teresasreading at Teresa's Reading Corner:

I received a MP3-CD edition of Zombiestan (by Mainak Dhar; narrated by John Lee) under reviewer auspices from Tantor Audio. I receive no monies, goods or services in exchange for reviewing the product and/or mentioning any of the persons or companies that are or may be implied in this post.

The Spy Who Loved Me

The Spy Who Loved Me

by Ian Fleming

narrated by Nadia May

Ⓟ 2001, Blackstone Audio, Inc.

4.9 hours

The Spy Who Loved Me is the ninth novel in the James Bond series and completely different from Fleming's other books in the series: The story is told from the view point of a female character and is devoid of much of the action and language that are the coin in the world of espionage. Instead, what we have is a sexual ingenue who gains experience rather quickly through this story arc which takes her from her native French-speaking Canada to London, Switzerland and back to North America. In seeking to start over from her misadventures of the heart and body, Viv has fled Europe and seeks to start over in Florida. She first heads back to her hometown and then starts her journey southwards. In upstate New York, short on funds, she agrees to work as a front desk clerk at The Dreamy Pines Motor Court. Here, a situation develops and Viv finds herself in a jam.

Enter James Bond. His car has broken down on a dark and stormy night and he seeks refuge at the motel. The scene is set: There's thunder, lightening, bad guys and a damsel in distress! The action unfolds quickly and with missing scenes: For the first time in a Bond novel, we are not sure of what Bond is doing throughout as we are only seeing him when and how Viv sees him. And the image that she sees, without the benefit of actually knowing him, provides another dimension to Bond's character in that we have a greater sense of his physicality and presence via the impact he has on his surroundings and people.

The sexual content of The Spy Who Loved Me is surprisingly explicit, given that it was published in 1962 - a time when social conventions had not yet allowed for open discourse on sex and sexuality. Even now, nearly fifty years later, the sexual candor may make the listener uncomfortable, especially when Viv delivers the lines about how,

All Women love semi-rape. They love to be taken. It was his sweet brutality against my bruised body that had made his act of love so piercingly wonderful...

Fleming always manages to deliver a provocative sentiment in his Bond novels; but the whole of The Spy Who Loved Me seems to have been intended to incite unconventional sentiment: The departure from the action-adventure modus, the detailing of Viv's sex life, the contempt Fleming seems to bear women... At the same time, there is a certain literary bravery in Fleming's willingness to write something different and controversial, inserting it into a successful series where certain expectations had been set.

The Spy Who Loved Me was narrated by the British-American narrator, Nadia May (a.k.a. Wanda McCaddon.) Nadia May delivered the story with confidence and empathy; but Ms May sounds a bit old to be voicing a twenty-five year-old, especially as there is no convention with the story indicating that The Spy Who Loved Me is the reminiscence of an older woman. The tense is only slightly "future past," so listeners may reasonably have expected a younger voice. There were minor processing issues in regard to the quality of the audio itself, most noticeably at the beginning of the audio; but nothing terribly egregious: Perhaps a slightly-too-heavy hand on the expander which led to an odd sound chop at the end of some words.


See Also:
The Shaken, Not Stirred: A Simon Vance Audiobook Challenge Featuring James Bond (Offical Web-Site)
Casino Royale (Audiobook Review)
Goldfinger Audiobook Review)Quantum of Solace/For Your Eyes Only (Audiobook Review)
Thunderball (Audiobook Review)

Other Stuff: The Spy Who Loved Me (by Ian Fleming; narrated by Nadia May) is a part of the

• The Shaken, Not Stirred: A Simon Vance Audiobook Challenge Featuring James Bond hosted by @lithousewife. 
• The 2012 Audio Book Challenge hosted by @teresasreading at Teresa's Reading Corner

I received a MP3-CD edition of The Spy Who Loved Me (by Ian Fleming; narrated by Nadia May) from Blackstone Audio, Inc. under professional courtesy/reviewer auspices. I had no involvement in the production of this title. I receive no monies, goods or services in exchange for reviewing the product and/or mentioning any of the persons or companies that are or may be implied in this post.

We're Alive: A Story of Survival, The First Season

We're Alive: A Story of Survival, The First Season  

created by Shane Salk and Kc Wayland; written by Kc Wayland

12 podcasts  performed by a full cast

Ⓟ 2011, Blackstone Audio, Inc.

10.30 hours

Michael, Angel and Saul are three soldiers in present day Northern California ordered to report for duty: to restore order to their beleaguered city which is ravaged by "zombies." The infected are necrotic bodies that can only be truly taken down by fire or beheading and, the transmutation of the corporeal states is triggered via a bite from one of the infected.

We're Alive: A Story of Survival, The First Season is a collection of twelve podcasts that details the story of Michael, Angel and Saul as they make their way through  the new landscape where the infrastructure is crumbling and other survivors are recovered. The survivors hold a position in an abandoned apartment building, referred to amongst themselves as "The Tower." Here, the military triumvirate fight to provide food, clothing and shelter as well as security against the zombies and "Mallers." The Mallers are the convicts from a local prison who  have holed up at a local mall and who pose a threat with their unchecked violence and ambitions to seize the Tower.  The Tower residents and the Mallers are the antithesis of the other, representing civilization and anarchy respectively.

The production quality of We're Alive: A Story of Survival, The First Season is very much in the tradition of foley inspired radio drama. Sue Zizza of Sue Media Productions, once coined the phrase "testosterone grade sound effects" when describing the heavy usage of sound effects like guns, squealing tires, etc. in an audio drama and, in the case of We're Alive: A Story of Survival, The First Season, the description is apt. This is not to say that the "testosterone grade sound effects" aren't appropriate; only that subtlety is not in play. The sound effects take an almost equal place in the sound track as the characters' lines, as opposed to underscoring or used in service to the action or dialogue.

Jim Gleason, Shane Salk and Nate Geez, as Michael, Angel and Saul respectively are noteworthy in voicing their roles convincingly, naturally and without getting into excessive hyperbole. However, the pulp tenor of the story lent itself to a temptation that many of the other performers could not resist: to drop into over-characterization or stereotyping. Mostly, this works to keeps the characters distinct; but occasionally, a performer's choices didn't work out quite as well as might have been expected: Claire Dodin plays Riley, a French restauranteur/survivor/Tower resident. Ms Dodin seems to have had a little trouble settling into a French accent, which seemed to have come by way of  Britain and Asia; all of which left the character of Riley as something of a enigma until the story spelled it out as to who she was and where she came from. Datu, a Filipino who worked as the apartment building's maintenance supervisor before becoming the Tower's engineer, sounded more like Apu from The Simpsons than he did a native from the Philippines. There was no question as to who was speaking when any of the performers rendered their lines; it was just a bit jarring when a performer didn't really seem to be "in character."

There is plenty of action, adventure, and "testosterone grade sound effects" to galvanize the listener to the story: There are no guarantees as to who will survive and what will happen next and the unexpected twists in We're Alive: A Story of Survival, The First Season will keep you on the hook for Season Two.  

05/24/2012 - Correction: Strikethrough of the word "Northern" in the first line. Bell, CA is a town in Southern California. 

See Also:

• The Armchair Audies (Official Page)
• Armchair Audies (The Bad Employee/Bad Wife Edition - Inaugural Post)
• The Mark of Zorro (Audiobook Review)
• The Graduate (Audiobook Review)
• I, Claudius (Audiobook Review)
• "The Man Who Had All the Luck" (from The Arthur Miller Collection) - Audiobook Review
• "All My Sons" (from The Arthur Miller Collection) - Audiobook Review
• "Death of a Salesman" (from The Arthur Miller Collection) - Audiobook Review
• "The Crucible" (from The Arthur Miller Collection) - Audiobook Review
• The New Adventures of Mickey Spillane's Mark Hammer, Vol. 3: Encore for Murder (Audiobook Review)
• Out of Head (Audiobook Review)
• The Zombie Podcast - We're Alive (Official Web-Site)

Other Stuff:
We're Alive: A Story of Survival - The First Season (created by Shane Salk and Kc Wayland; written by Kc Wayland; performed by a full cast) qualifies for:

• The 2012 Audio Book Challenge hosted by @teresasreading at Teresa's Reading Corner and;
• The Armchair Audies hosted by @lithousewife at Literate House Wife

I borrowed a LIbrary CD edition of We're Alive: A Story of Survival - The First Season (created by Shane Salk and Kc Wayland; written by Kc Wayland; performed by a full cast) from Blackstone Audio, Inc. I had no involvement in the production of We're Alive: A Story of Survival - The First Season (created by Shane Salk and Kc Wayland; written by Kc Wayland; performed by a full cast.) I receive no monies, goods or services in exchange for reviewing the product and/or mentioning any of the persons or companies that are or may be implied in this post.

The Crucible

The Crucible

by Arthur Miller

performed by Irene Aranga, Rene Auberjonois, Ed Begley, Jr., Bud Cort, Richard Dreyfuss, Judyann Elder, Hector Elizondo, Fionnula Flanagan, Ann Hearn, Carol Kane, Stacy Keach, Joe Spano, Michael York, and others

Ⓟ 2006, L.A. Theatre Works

John Proctor must defend both his wife and himself against the charges of witchcraft that a a former lover of his has instigated against them. Abigail Williams, a spiteful seventeen-year-old who initially accuses Elizabeth Proctor of witchcraft may have done so to get Goody Proctor out of the way and assume the Goody Proctor's place; or she may have leveled the charge as an act of revenge against John Proctor for discontinuing their affair. Whatever the cause, Abigail Williams has only to act convincingly for a community of superstitious and gullible people for the charge to gain credibility. John Proctor, in his attempts to save his wife, gets caught up in the same vortex of ignorance and irrational beliefs and ends up having to decide between honor before God and honor amongst men. The time and setting is Salem, MA in the late 17th century - a time devoid of forensic science and a time when conviction carried the weight of evidence. The Salem Witch Trials became infamous in their unswerving and dogmatic approach that blinded the justice system to the truth.

This classic play of Arthur Miller's was written in response to the McCarthyism that held the Senate and the public in its thrall in the 1950s. Fears of Communism had reached fever pitch and no one was above suspicion. Many were accused with no more than a naming from a "witness"  and as a result, many lives and reputations were destroyed as common sense was routed out in favor of unsubstantiated claims. Overall themes of the father-son relationships and legacy, of the American Dream, of the Greek sense of tragedy that are explored in many of Miller's plays are largely missing in The Crucible owing to the play's very specific intention of being a didactic tool to show the public the insanity of McCarthyism.

The star-studded cast of veteran stage actors promises extraordinary performances and they deliver. This was originally a BBC Radio production recorded in Culver City, CA and the directorial expertise that BBC Radio brings to audio drama is not to be denied. Each role is given its due, creating a dynamic tension. The emotive interpretations, ranging from whispers to screams, generate uneasiness as the tragedy unfolds. There are, however, instances when dialogue is difficult to discern. Uneven sound levels and low registers/frequencies make certain nuances of the play hard to pick out if the listener is not on headsets.

See Also:

The Armchair Audies (Official Page)

The Armchair Audies: The Bad Employee/Bad Wife Edition (Post of Intent)

The Mark of Zorro (Audiobook Review)

The Graduate (Audiobook Review)

I, Claudius (Audiobook Review)

The Man Who Had All the Luck (Audiobook Review)
All My Sons (Audiobook Review)
Death of a Salesman (Audiobook Review)

Other Stuff: I purchased a library CD edition of The Arthur Miller Collection (by Arthur Miller; performed by various full casts) from PaperbackShopUS via the Amazon Marketplace. The Crucible is the fourth play in the collection and is available for individual digital dnload. I receive no monies, goods or services in exchange for reviewing the product and/or mentioning any of the persons or companies that are or may be implied in this post.

Death of a Salesman

Death of a Salesman

by Arthur Miller

live stage reading performed by Steven Culp, Maureen Flannigan, Jason Henning, Jane Kaczmarck, Stacy Keach, Sam McMurray, Kathryn Meisle, Tim Morrison, John Sloan, Kate Steele, and Kenneth Williams

Ⓟ 2011, L.A. Theatre Works

2.2 hours

Death of a Salesman is about Willy Loman, a traveling salesman who has worked hard all his life to create a legacy of greatness for his sons to emulate and build upon. This greatness rests not so much on education or cultivated intelligence, but upon a man's innate charisma which Willy believes can be parlayed into networking skills and a successful career (which in turn is measured by who you know.) However, neither of Willy's sons have lived up to his expectations and so the foundation upon which Willy has built his legacy bears examination. The inspection reveals cracks in Willy's ethics and is the substance of this American Tragedy. The idea of a father's legacy to his sons, more specifically the idea of the father doing his best to do what is best for his sons, was introduced in the interview with Michael Hackett, the director of The Man Who Had All the Luck and is a dominant theme in Death of a Salesman.

Whatever the original concept of Willy Loman's physicality was when Death of a Salesman was first written, the image has been "owned" by Lee J. Cobb since Cobb played Loman in the film adaptation in 1966. Since then, audiences expect a bear of a man, a brutish, forceful man to play the role; and if a director chooses to cast against the Cobb-type, criticism is sure to follow. In this regard, Stacy Keach does not disappoint. He is what the audiences want: a mans whose volume in voice is a measure of his will. Neither Keach or Jane Kaczmarck (as Linda Loman) are the most transparent of performers: Listeners will hear both of the actors before they hear the characters; but both actors deliver what the audience wants: assertive and emphatic performances.

See Also:

The Armchair Audies (Official Page)

The Armchair Audies: The Bad Employee/Bad Wife Edition (Post of Intent)

The Mark of Zorro (Audiobook Review)

The Graduate (Audiobook Review)

I, Claudius (Audiobook Review)

The Man Who Had All the Luck (Audiobook Review)

All My Sons (Audiobook Review)

Other Stuff: I purchased a library CD edition of The Arthur Miller Collection (by Arthur Miller; performed by various full casts) from PaperbackShopUS via the Amazon Marketplace. Death of a Salesman is the third play in the collection and is available for individual purchase in CD edition. I receive no monies, goods or services in exchange for reviewing the product and/or mentioning any of the persons or companies that are or may be implied in this post.

All My Sons

All My Sons

by Arthur Miller

performed by James Farentino, Ayre Gross, Julie Harris, Mitchell Hebert, Naomi Jacobson, Barbara Klein, Paul Morella, Michaeleen O'Neil, Nathan Taylor and Jerry Whiddon

directed by Nick Olcott

Ⓟ 2006, L.A. Theatre Works

1.75 hours

Larry Keller is a WWII pilot has been MIA for a few years. What remains are the ingredients for an American  Tragedy: Larry's mother who refuses to believe that her son is dead; Larry's father, Joe Keller, who was accused, but eventually cleared of wrongdoing for the crime of manufacturing and distributing faulty airplane parts during the war;  Chris Keller, who lives in the shadow of his brother; Steve Deever, Joe's business partner who is serving time for the crime Joe was exonerated for; George Deever, Steve's son and; Ann Deever, Steve's daughter (and George's sister,) Larry's childhood sweetheart and, Chris' current love interest. 

A tree planted as a memorial or beacon for Larry is struck down in a storm and this triggers a cascade of confrontations in the household that careens towards an ugly truth  - a denouement born of grief, sorrow, anger and, resentment. Pathos and angst are wrung out of each scene until there is nothing left but the inevitable razing of individual hopes and a shocking conclusion worthy of a Classic Greek Tragedy.

All My Sons can be a painful play to bear witness to: Souls are laid bare as characters demand to be respected for their principles and motivations, for the persons they are; but are refuted by those closest to them and for whom their ethos has been hewn. Each characters makes a sacrificial offering of their suffering to another, only to be rejected and driven into a psychological corner. But for these same reasons, All My Sons is an important play to experience as well as it exposes the integrity of the foundations of the American Dream. The drive to achieve a manifest destiny is lacerated by the frailties of being human.

Though it is an important play, this particular presentation may not be the best performance. Instead of layering interpretative meaning into the dialog, the lines and monologues are uniformly delivered at a high intensity of rage and bitterness. This is not a play rendered with subtlety or nuance, a point underscored when George arrives at the Keller household for a confrontation. There are accusations and yelling; but all of the sudden George is happy to be back; and then equally as sudden, he's back to being enraged. By not providing emotional room for the characters, by constricting the characters to a monotonous fervor, George has no where to go except to appear as momentarily insensible. It is a delicate scene and a challenge for any director; but this ham-fisted approach robs the scene, and one cannot help but suspect the whole play, of its required elegance.

See Also:

The Armchair Audies (Official Page)

The Armchair Audies: The Bad Employee/Bad Wife Edition (Post of Intent)

The Mark of Zorro (Audiobook Review)

The Graduate (Audiobook Review)

I, Claudius (Audiobook Review)

The Man Who Had All the Luck (Audiobook Review)

Other Stuff: I purchased a library CD edition of The Arthur Miller Collection (by Arthur Miller; performed by various full casts) from PaperbackShopUS via the Amazon Marketplace. All My Sons is the second play in the collection and is available for individual digital dnload. I receive no monies, goods or services in exchange for reviewing the product and/or mentioning any of the persons or companies that are or may be implied in this post.

The Man Who Had All the Luck

The Man Who Had All the Luck

by Arthur Miller

live staged reading performed by Emily Bergl, Kevin Chamberlain, Tim DeKay, James Gammon, Lee Garlington, Graham Hamilton,Tom McGowan, Kurtwood Smith, Russell Soder and Tegan West

directed by Michael Hackett

Ⓟ 2007, L.A. Theatre Works

2.60 hours

Dave Beeves is a lucky man: his childhood sweetheart is now his bride; his auto repair shop is a success owing to an experienced mechanic walking into his shop at exactly the right time; he has a happy, healthy son and; he has just started out on a new venture in setting up a mink farm. But, as he is witness to everyday, not everybody has their dreams come true, despite their hard work and efforts; and even more bizarrely, their bad luck seems to be the currency of his own good fortune. Surely, this karmic debt will need to be paid, right? As Dave continues to gamble with his luck as his ante and, his family, friends and money as his collateral, there is excruciating tension as he "lets it all ride" on a major investment.

The Man Who Had All the Luck takes place in prewar America, at the edge of The Depression which made of mockery of the hard work ethic and, aggrandized "luck" as the only star of destiny/harbinger of fate that a man could comprehend. This is a subtle but constant theme which runs through many of Miller's works: The unfairness of life.

There is an interview with the director included with the audio in which Michael Hackett expounds on the major themes of Miller's plays, many of which are set forth in this early work, including but not limited to the rhetorical style, the Greek chorus element and, the father-son relationship. While the interview is interesting and educational, it creates an overall didactic feel to the play as a whole (versus a visceral experience) and, for the Miller novice, may qualify the experience as well. When looking at parsing out the play's structure and meaning, there is a tendency to only refer back to what the director has highlighted and, intellectualize the drama.

The performances were all fairly even, though not particularly remarkable. This play is not often performed however, so there is no large legacy of interpretation to either inherit or fight through, and overall it is a solid presentation.

Convo Starter:

About ten years ago a friend of mine found a wallet in a phone booth. Inside the wallet was $300. My friend contacted the person whose ID was in the wallet and returned the wallet to the owner. She said it was a matter of "good karma." I pointed out that she, my friend, also needed the money; so how did she know that the money hadn't been a karmic gift to her? Had she messed with her karma by giving the money back and throwing the universal balance out of whack? I admit that I would have taken the money. Many things in my life have been outright stolen from me and I would have seen the money has a partial payment to redress the balance; that it might have even be construed as the universe's gift to me in my hour of need. What would you have done?

See Also:

The Armchair Audies (Official Page)

The Armchair Audies: The Bad Employee/Bad Wife Edition (Post of Intent)

The Mark of Zorro (Audiobook Review)

The Graduate (Audiobook Review)

I, Claudius (Audiobook Review)

Other Stuff: I purchased a library CD edition of The Arthur Miller Collection (by Arthur Miller; performed by various full casts) from PaperbackShopUS via the Amazon Marketplace. The Man Who Had All the Luck is the first play in the collection and is available for individual digital dnload. I receive no monies, goods or services in exchange for reviewing the product and/or mentioning any of the persons or companies that are or may be implied in this post.

Thunderball

Thunderball
by Ian Fleming
narrated by Simon Vance
(P) 2001, Blackstone Audio, Inc.
7.60 hours








James Bond, 007, spy in Her Majesty's Secret Service, is sent into the Bahamas to vet M.'s hunch that the island area is the site where a military aircraft and it's cargo of two nuclear missiles has disappeared to. Thunderball introduces listenership to S.P.E.C.T.R.E. (Special Executive for Counter Intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion), the successor organization to SMERSH in the Bond canon; to Blofeld, the mastermind behind the criminal organization and, to Bond Girl, Dominette "Domino" Vitali.

Ian Fleming wrote contemporary novels which reflected the values and fears of Post-War men and women. After two atomic weapons had been dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Atomic Age was ushered in with all it's possibilities and terrors. The promise of atomic energy was that it would be the driving force behind the manifest industrialism of the Western world; but security concerns and the threat of Communism were equally prevalent. While many view Bond's adventures as fantastic, Thunderball is less so in creating a scenario that even today is not impossible: a NATO plane is high jacked and a terrorist organization seeks to blackmail the Western world with the threat of detonating the bombs unless its demands are met.

Thunderball is the ninth title in the James Bond series and if you've read the preceding eight titles, there are certain things you may find familiar and welcome: the casino card games, the setting in the Caribbean Community, the underwater tableaux and, of course a Bond Girl. What's great about Bond novels though, is that despite these recognizable features, you still don't know what to expect! Instead of being formulaic in his plotting, Fleming uses the familiar as metaphorical touchstones in unfamiliar territory.

Inasmuch as Fleming write of his times, listeners may rise an eyebrow at certain expressions that have fallen out of favor or meant something completely different in 1961 than they do now. To wit, there are frequent references to "nigger heads" which is a term that was used to describe certain kinds of coral and; there is a chapter called "How to Eat a Woman" which is not the sexually explicit reference in the context provided!

Simon Vance is the British narrator for Thunderball and voices the multi-national raft of characters with astuteness, making discernment of the characters easy. If some accents are more challenging for Vance, such as American or the Island Patois, after eight Bond novels he has definitely settled into a comfort zone that accommodates and ameliorates those challenges. It's also worth noting that Fleming didn't throw a figurative curve ball in characters in Thunderball either: no white Anglo colonial daughter raised by a Jamaican nanny (cf. Doctor No)! Simon Vance has definitely taken ownership of Fleming's Bond and roster of characters. Just as Fleming used the familiar touchstones to explore the unfamiliar, Simon Vance has created the vocal equivalent in character work.


Convo Starter:
In the beginning of the novel, Bond is sent to a health spa to detox. The health regimens, outside of the exercise machines, should be surprisingly familiar to 21st century listeners: Emphases on fresh foods and, admonishments against refined sugars, alcohol and tobacco. Bond's housekeeper decries this lifestyle as ill-serving a man of action! While a seemingly ridiculous charge at first, I seem to find myself playing the role of May Maxwell IRL! As a couple of my friends temporarily lose weight on The Juice Fast; but have also become noticeably weaker and, less focused and shorter in their attention spans, I do wonder at the lasting effects of this particular diet and if overall it warrants more concern than admiration. I've already decided that The Juice Fast is not for me; but what do you think about The Juice Fast?


See Also:
The Shaken, Not Stirred: A Simon Vance Audiobook Challenge Featuring James Bond
Casino Royale (Audiobook Review)
Goldfinger Audiobook Review)
Quantum of Solace/For Your Eyes Only (Audiobook Review)

Other Stuff: Thunderball (by Ian Fleming; narrated by Simon Vance) is a part of the

• The Shaken, Not Stirred: A Simon Vance Audiobook Challenge Featuring James Bond hosted by @lithousewife. On Saturday, APRIL 21, 2012, 9:30 p.m. EST, there will be a twitter discussion of the audiobook followed by a twitter viewing party of the movie :-)
• The 2012 Audio Book Challenge hosted by @teresasreading at Teresa's Reading Corner

I received a MP3-CD edition of Thunderball (by Ian Fleming; narrated by Simon Vance) from Blackstone Audio, Inc. under professional courtesy/reviewer auspices. I had no involvement in the production of this title. I receive no monies, goods or services in exchange for reviewing the product and/or mentioning any of the persons or companies that are or may be implied in this post.