Audiobook Review: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dreadfully Ever After by

still from the book trailer

Reviewed by Christina
[Read Megan's review of the print version here.]

Published: 2011

It's about: The story opens after Lizzie and Darcy have been married for several years.  Elizabeth can't seem to muster up much excitement about life now that she is A Gentleman's Wife; social mores bar married ladies from doing battle with Zed-words.  Just a few minutes into the book, a child dreadful attacks and bites Mr. Darcy and his wife enters into a humiliating plot to save him.  The mastermind behind said plot is Lizzie's formidable foe, Lady Catherine de Bourgh.  Can Elizabeth secure a cure for the Zombie Plague before it's too late?

I thought:  As you may know from my reviews of the original P&P&Z and its prequel, Dawn of the Dreadfuls, Dreadfully Ever After is the third and final book in the zombie mashup trilogy.  It's written by the same author of Dawn, not the same as the originator of the series, Seth Grahame-Smith, who first inserted monsters into Jane Austen's British regency-era world.

So I was pleasantly surprised to find that I liked everything about Dreadfully Ever After far better than Steve Hockensmith's previous contribution.  Honestly, everything is better in Dreadfully as compared with Dawn: pacing and plotting, character development, general originality, humor.  I just really liked this audiobook.  It kept my attention through many a mile of running; it didn't sag or become tiresome.  I even laughed!  While running!  That is quite an achievement, Mr. Hockensmith.

If you are a big P&P fan, I think I'd recommend the zombie sequel less for its undead action and more for its development of two previously minor characters:  Kitty and Mary Bennet.  Both are in their early twenties in this story, likely on their way to spinsterdom (their mother has given up matchmaking- she needs caretakers in her old age, not more married daughters abandoning her). But Kitty and Mary contribute at least as much to Darcy's rescue as Elizabeth does, and they become full-on people.  Their character trajectories made sense and amused me, even if I doubt they are very similar to anything Jane Austen herself would have devised.

Katherine Kellgren, the reader, does a fabulous job as ever.  She is hilarious.  There is one character with an extremely exaggerated Scottish brogue, and his endlessly rolled r's did get on my nerves after a while.  But not terribly so; I enjoyed mentally casting King Fergus as him, and imagining his son looking something like a dandified Young Macintosh.  Good times.

Verdict: Stick it on the shelf!

Reading Recommendations:  Read them in order for the best experience.  Even though I didn't love the first P&P&Z installment, I still think most readers would like the trilogy best in its entirety.

Warnings:  Zombie gore.

What I'm listening to next:  Matched by Ally Condie

Audiobook Review: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith

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Reviewed by Christina  
 [Check out Connie's review of the print edition here.]

Published: 2009

It's about:  You know that book, Pride and Prejudice?  This is that story, only with zombies added.

I thought:  Ahahaha!  I found this mashup very amusing and cleverly done.  The zombies fit into the plot surprisingly well, and Mr. Grahame-Smith did a great job of maintaining proper period style even in the zombie and ninja (oh yes, the Bennett sisters are martial artists) sections.  My favorite were the euphemisms used for the zombies themselves: "Satan's servants" and "the sorry stricken" and, most frequently, "dreadfuls."

Seth Grahame-Smith generally stays very true to the plot and characters of P&P, which I liked.  But he does take a few liberties along the way.  For example, the dialogue changes here and there, with the characters more explicitly insulting one another and making slightly more coarse jokes where with Ms. Austen subtlety reigns.  And then there's one minor character who has a steamy off screen affair- that was probably the biggest divergence in period morality from the original story.  At first I found these changes unnecessary and annoying, but then it occurred to me that they might actually be a smart little commentary on how a zombie uprising could have effected polite English society.  Would Austen-era characters and their speech have shifted toward bluntness/coarseness if they had grown up as warriors in an apocalyptic war with the undead?

Katherine Kellgren is the reader for this one, and I think she might be my favorite reader ever.  Her zombie voice, her melodramatic inflection, her exaggeration of the voices of obnoxious characters, not to mention her perfect upper crust regency accent.  I just adored her. 

Verdict: Stick it on the shelf!  It's a fun, fresh, hilarious way to revisit P&P in an alternate universe.  Only the most staunch Austen purist will disagree.  

Reading Recommendations: Perfect for Halloweeny times!

Warnings:  gory zombie violence

Favorite excerpts: “He begged to know to which of his fair cousins the excellency of its cookery was owing.
Briefly forgetting her manners, Mary grabbed her fork and leapt from her chair onto the table. Lydia, who was seated nearest her, grabbed her ankle before she could dive at Mr. Collins and, presumably, stab him about the head and neck for such an insult.”

 “Thank you, sir, but I am perfectly content being the bride of death.”

“I know of nobody that is coming, I am sure, unless Charlotte Lucas should happen to call in- and I am sure my dinners are good enough for her, since she is an unmarried woman of seven-and-twenty, and as such should expect little more than a crust of bread washed down with a cup of loneliness.”

Oh, there were so many good ones!  Here's the goodreads quotes page.

What I'm listening to next:  Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls by Steve Hockensmith (can't get enough Katherine Kellgren!)

Happy Halloween everybody!

Audiobook Review: The Postmistress by Sarah Blake

Audiobook reviewed by Christina
(Read Lucia's review of the print version here.) 

Published: 2010

It's about:  Three American women deal with feeling powerless in the face of WWII.  Emma is a young newlywed whose doctor husband cannot disconnect from a patient's death.  Iris is the capable postmistress of a small Cape Cod town called Franklin.  Frankie is a war correspondent in London and, later, Europe.  Their three points of view highlight different experiences of war and tragedy.

I thought:  Not gonna beat around the bush:  I wasn't wild about this audiobook.  Of the three main characters, I was only interested in one of them: Frankie.  Emma's and Iris' lives revolved mostly around romance and waiting for news and holding down the fort.  I didn't feel that their perspectives added anything new to the Women in Wartime body of narratives.  Frankie's story rang true and raw and real to me; I wish she hadn't had to share the book.  And why is it named after Iris?  She is not the driving force- Frankie is.

The reader, Orlagh Cassidy, can't be blamed for my unenthusiastic attitude toward The Postmistress.  Her pacing and expression are excellent, and I like the tone and timbre of her voice.  She was pleasant to listen to, and she did a decent (if imperfect) job with the heavy load of French and German in the text.  I'd be happy to listening to more of her reading.

In comparison to other audiobooks I've listened to, this one is very slow, with an ill-defined plot arc.  More than half way through it still felt like Ms. Blake was laboriously setting things up.  I kept waiting and wondering how the characters related to one another and where the story was going.  There seemed to be a ton of romance (way more than I personally prefer in my fiction) and the deeper themes kept slipping through my fingers.  Part of this could just be my own tendency to forget or gloss over details when I'm listening as opposed to reading.  I think I would have appreciated the slow pace, the themes, the prose, if I had been reading.  But when I'm listening to a book, the story has to be particularly strong.  That just wasn't the case here.   

Verdict: I'll put the audiobook In-Between.  Lucia loved the print version, and I think I would have liked it better in that format.

Warnings: Sex, swears, war crimes.

What I'm listening to next:  Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith

Audiobook Review: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

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 Reviewed by Christina

Published:  2011

It's about: I went into this one knowing almost nothing about it, and I loved the experience of discovering the story from scratch.  Plus, all the synopses I'm finding online are really cheesy.  So I'm not going to tell you anything about the story except that it's about a circus that only operates at night and there's lots of magic involved.  There's more to it, but you've got to read/listen to find out!  Aren't you soooo curious now?

I thought:  Oh, how I enjoyed this audiobook!  It's not the kind of fantastical story I would normally choose for myself, but I had heard it mentioned here and there and wanted to find out what all the fuss was about.  Ambient music hooked me from the moment I hit play, and when the story started Jim Dale kept the mood perfectly.  Listening to him read this book is like listening to a classy British Grandpa tell an intricate bedtime story.  And he doesn't make any of the females sound squawky or breathy or weak; I appreciate that.  I loved listening to him.

Overall, the imaginative nature of The Night Circus wins.  Erin Morgenstern's imagery also rocks; I was continually impressed with the multitude of creative ideas in this book and the vivid, artful way those ideas are described.  Ms. Morgenstern populates her circus with unusual, interesting supporting characters, many of whom turn out to be more important than you initially expect.  Their unexpected significance was something I especially enjoyed toward the end.

I do wish the central love story had been more gradually constructed, maybe through a little more character development with those two main characters.  And I never did come to enjoy the frequent forays into 2nd person; I think the "you" perspective is a pretty weak and hackneyed way to try to force the reader into the story.  Overall, the plot didn't blow me away and there weren't strong themes I could extrapolate and apply to life in general. 

BUT!  Don't let my criticisms stop you from picking up The Night Circus, especially if you like a bit of magic in your fiction. 

Verdict: Stick it on the shelf!

Reading Recommendations: Check it out if you enjoyed The Prestige.  The Night Circus takes place during the same period and sorta shares some basic plot elements.

Warnings: One very brief and tasteful sex scene.  Nothing to deter even the most conservative reader.

Favorite excerpts: “And there are never really endings, happy or otherwise. Things keep going on, they overlap and blur, your story is part of your sister's story is part of many other stories, and there is no telling where any of them may lead.”

“Secrets have power. And that power diminishes when they are shared, so they are best kept and kept well. Sharing secrets, real secrets, important ones, with even one other person, will change them. Writing them down is worse, because who can tell how many eyes might see them inscribed on paper, no matter how careful you might be with it. So it's really best to keep your secrets when you have them, for their own good, as well as yours.” 

What I'm listening to next:  The Postmistress by Sarah Blake

Audiobook Review: Bossypants by Tina Fey

Reviewed by Christina

Published: 2011

It's about:  Tina Fey is an actress, comedian, writer, and producer.  She's most famous for her work on Saturday Night Live (writer, Weekend Update anchor and Sarah Palin imitator), 30 Rock (writer/star) and several films (Mean Girls, Baby Mama). 
Bossypants is less a memoir and more a collection of humorous autobiographical essays.  She tells a funny, light version of how she became who she is.

I thought:  I love Tina Fey!  So I pretty much knew I would love this book.  I just think she's hilarious and so relateable- as one friend mentioned in her goodreads review, a big part of why Ms. Fey is so popular is because many women (me included) believe that if we knew each other in real life we would be BFFs. 

The audiobook really helped me maintain that delusion, since it's read by Tina herself.  Did you catch that?  A brilliant comedian reading her own book!  She does voices and accents and stuff!  All of the inflection is perfect, because it's exactly as it sounded in her head when she was writing it!   So, while listening, I got to pretend that my friend Tina was just telling me all about her life.  It was awesome.  And hilarious. 

It's hard to make recommendations in the humor department, but if you like the author's showbiz work, there's a good chance you'll dig Bossypants.  But don't come into it looking for a tell-all in which Ms. Fey spills her deepest, darkest secrets.  Almost all of the book stays well within the realm of comedy writing, which I thought was appropriate.

And if you're torn between audio and print, GO WITH THE AUDIO!  You might have a few embarrassing moments if it makes you uncomfortable to laugh aloud around strangers on the subway or whatever.  But it will be worth it. 

Verdict: Stick it on the shelf! 

Listening Recommendations:  Like I said, be prepared for passersby looking askance at you as you smile/laugh at funny things they can't hear.

Warnings:  Swears. 

Favorite excerpts: Way too many!  Here are a few, and you can read more here.
“Politics and prostitution have to be the only jobs where inexperience is considered a virtue. In what other profession would you brag about not knowing stuff? “I’m not one of those fancy Harvard heart surgeons. I’m just an unlicensed plumber with a dream and I’d like to cut your chest open.” The crowd cheers.”

“Now let me be clear; millions of women around the world nurse their children beautifully for years without giving anybody else a hard time about it. Teat Nazis are a solely western upper-middle-class phenomenon occurring when highly ambitious women experience deprivation from outside modes of achievement.”

And "The Mother's Prayer for Its Daughter"

What I'm listening to next:  The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Audiobook Review: The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall

Illustration by Jordan Awan, via

Audiobook reviewed by Christina [See Ingrid's review of the print version here.]

Published: 2010

It's about: Bumbling, apologetic Golden Richards goes to great lengths to avoid his four unhappy wives and their out-of-control horde of children.  He spends more and more time out of state, overseeing the construction of what his family believes is a senior living center.  The building is, in actuality, a fancy new brothel owned by a slimy, threatening semi-mobster.  Without meaning to, Golden falls for the boss man's wife.  He gets into very hot water at work as his family crumbles in his absence.

The narrative is told from the alternating points of view of Golden, his fourth wife Trish, and one of his sons, Rusty.

I thought:  Huh.  Well.  Sorta having trouble organizing my thoughts here.  I really disliked the first half of this book; I had to make myself listen to it.  I found all the characters interesting and unusual, but also pathetic and tiresome.  The story, such as it was, didn't seem to have much continuity or forward momentum, and I had trouble relating the characters' different points of view to one another.  And I just don't share the author's sense of humor.  There are LOTS of bodily functions in this book: people having to pee, sneezing, passing gas, hiding erections, etc.

But then, out of nowhere, comes this masterful section about the testing of an atomic bomb called, in the book, "Roy."  (Possibly based off of "Dirty Harry")  The personification of the bomb itself, the weaving together of witness/victim stories (including some of the main characters in The Lonely Polygamist), the amazing deftness of the descriptions and the storytelling... I don't often feel awe when I'm reading, but I did here.  This chapter blew me away.  It would make a beautiful story in itself, and it changed my attitude about the rest of the book.

I can't say I loved the second half of the book.  Udall never let up with the bodily functions, and Golden in particular failed to move me at all.  But as actual tragedies enter the story, the Richards family becomes a cohesive unit, fueled by shared motivations and a common past.  I found myself thinking about the nature of family, and the way trauma can pull people together in subtle (and not so subtle) ways.  So, overall, I can't help but feel that the quality of The Lonely Polygamist is uneven, and while Brady Udall is unarguably an excellent writer with a smart, snappy style, he doesn't quite live up to his potential with this particular book.

Oh!  Almost forgot to mention the reader, David Aaron Baker.  He did a great job- perfectly natural inflection and pausing, amusing but not obnoxious voice differentiation, all the things you want in a good reader.  And it's a good thing I enjoyed him, since this would have been a long 23 hours of listening with a bad reader.  Baker could have used a few pointers about pronunciation- he's the first person I've ever heard use a hard "ch" in the word "chasm."  And then there are the Southern Utah towns: Hurricane, Kanab.  To be fair, how could anyone know that the town isn't pronounced like the natural disaster?  So I can't really fault him to much for that.  I liked him, and would like to listen to him read more.

Verdict: In Between.  (Ingrid stuck it on the shelf, though, so you may have to check it out to decide for yourself!)

Reading Recommendations: This one might not grab your interest from the get-go.  Stick with it to get to the Atomic Fallout chapter, and you'll be good to go from there on out. 

Warnings: Quite a bit of language, fairly vivid violence, some sex, and the bodily functions I mentioned.  It's about fundamentalist Mormons, but it's probably too dirty to appeal to actual fundamentalists of any stripe.

What I'm listening to next:  Bossypants by Tina Fey

Audiobook Review: I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

Audiobook reviewed by Christina
(See Lucia's review of the print version here.)

Published: 1949; audiobook 2010

It's about: The Mortmains are a genteel but poor family living in a castle in England in the early 1930's. Precocious teenaged Cassandra narrates her own coming of age through the romantic escapades that ensue when the family meets a pair of wealthy American brothers.

I thought: Lovely! I really enjoyed this well-written, amusing novel. Cassandra is a delightful narrator, and I, like Lucia, loved her apt observations and descriptions of both natural nature and human nature. The eccentric Mortmain family get themselves into some pretty absurd situations, but there's very little high drama in this book so it's easy and pleasant to read. (It's the perfect polar opposite of my last audiobook endeavor, The Millennium Series.)

Emilia Fox reads the audiobook, and she does a decent job. She doesn't get carried away with doing a "voice" for every character, but there is enough of a difference to tell who is talking. Sometimes the Americans sounded a little Irish, but in general I was pleased with her performance. My only real complaint is that the book doesn't have chapters, and Ms. Fox didn't pause very long during section breaks. Sometimes she pretty much plowed right through, which I found disorienting.

Here's something kind of funny about this particular recording: it's punctuated occasionally by short classical musical interludes. Toward the end of some sections music would suddenly spring up behind the reader's voice, carrying on for a few seconds after she finished reading. I thought it was pretty cheesy and unnecessary. A couple of times it actually startled me. Has anyone else encountered this in an audiobook?

Verdict: It's not a life-changer or anything, but I'd still definitely stick it on the shelf!

Reading Recommendations: This short and sweet novel would make a great holiday read. I'd especially recommend it to any Jane Austen enthusiast. It has a similar but slightly more modern feel.

Warnings: none

Favorite excerpts: Cassandra is full of observations about life like these:
“Contemplation seems to be about the only luxury that costs nothing.”
and
“Perhaps watching someone you love suffer can teach you even more than suffering yourself can.”
and
“There is something revolting about the way girls' minds so often jump to marriage long before they jump to love.”

What I'm listening to next: The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall

Audiobooks Review: The Millennium Series by Stieg Larsson, read by Simon Vance

Audiobooks Reviewed by Christina
(We had a guest review of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo here)

Published: In Swedish: 2005-2007. English translation by Reg Keeland: 2008-2010

It's about: Unless you've been living under a rock for the last few years, you've probably already heard all about this hugely popular series of thrillers. So I'll be brief: the central characters are a determined journalist named Mikael Blomqvist and an antisocial hacker named Lisbeth Salander. Working together and separately they investigate and expose corrupt businessmen, murderers, thugs, and other bad guys.

I thought: Well. There's a lot to say about the Millennium series, and it's pretty much all been said by now. I guess I should start by admitting that I don't read thrillers or mysteries very often, so I'm not in a position to judge this series against others of its type. But I did enjoy listening to these books; the stories and characters caught my attention, and I can understand why they're so popular. The writing style is adequate, not masterful or artful, and I'd say the same about the translation. That's fine with me, and even suits the genre; I don't need flowery prose in a murder mystery.

I like the idea of the activism behind the books; Larsson's goal was to shine a light on the surprising rates of violence against women in Sweden, and the books are peppered with relevant facts and figures. I loved that Lisbeth, herself a victim of said violence, played a major role in obtaining justice for the various crimes perpetrated against women. Lisbeth intrigued me, and I'm sorry there aren't more books about her.

But there are plenty of things I didn't love about this trilogy. The first book is thrilling, but poorly paced, with a denouement that lasts ages. The second, The Girl Who Played With Fire, is the strongest in the series, but the third book has almost no story of its own- it's like an extremely long and boring epilogue for book two. That is, until the actual epilogue to book three, which is when we finally get some action. None of the characters really develop or change throughout the series, though I guess it could be argued that Larsson was planning a broad character arc or two that he meant to stretch through all 10 planned books. (He died suddenly, before completing the fourth installment.) I grew annoyed with several impossible plot points that I can't mention without revealing major spoilers. I also rolled my eyes repeatedly at the way nearly every female character who comes into close contact with Blomqvist throws herself at him and MAKES him sleep with her. Come ON.

BUT! Simon Vance is INCREDIBLE. He is, hands down, the best audiobook reader I've ever listened to. Each character has a distinct voice with a socio-economically and culturally appropriate accent, and that's saying something because there are a LOT of characters in these books. And the difference between each voice is subtle; I can't think of a single one that annoyed me or seemed hackneyed. The women sound like women without being squeaky; the foreigners have accents without sounding ridiculous. Honestly, I was amazed by his versatility and ability to change timbre and inflection at the drop of a hat.

Verdict: In Between. I liked the series, but I can only think of a few people to whom I'd recommend it very enthusiastically.

Reading Recommendations: The new movie from last year is so well done that I'd almost recommend seeing The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo rather than reading it. But if you're looking for a good thrilling audiobook, Simon Vance's performance won't disappoint.
(I haven't seen the Swedish movies yet, but I've heard they're also very faithful.)

Warnings: Language, graphic violence (including sexual violence) and all kinds of disturbing subject matter.

What I'm listening to next: I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

Audiobook Review: The Paris Wife narrated by Carrington MacDuffie

Guest-reviewer Kirsten reviewed this for us in June, 2011, and Christine-Chioma also reviewed the book yesterday

Wedding of Ernest and Hadley

Reviewed by Connie

Published: 2011

It's about: This recent historical fiction memoir tells the story of Ernest Hemingway's first wife, Hadley Richardson, and their doomed 5-year marriage. It follows Hemingway from a nobody in Chicago to an up-and-coming writer in Paris in the 1920s. We also catch glimpses of some of the Hemingways' famous friends, like Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and F. Scott & Zelda Fitzgerald.

I thought: I listened to this in audiobook format via my recent Audible.com membership (see the banner in the sidebar), and the first thing I had to get over was the narrator's voice. Though I grew somewhat used to her by the end, I was vexed by her presentation of Hadley's voice. It was one part whiny toddler, one part annoying mother baby-talking to that whiny toddler. Combine this with the fact that for the first half of the book, Hadley is as weak and annoying as those voices sound, and I had a rough time getting into it.

In fact, this audiobook made me consider my expectations for characters and how they affect my opinions of the book. Especially recently, I find that I grow annoyed with weak female characters. I want them all to be strong, solid, independent, and in the beginning, Hadley is anything but. She is needy and naive and sickeningly willing to fall into the background of Hemingway's life, and that made me despise her. Now, whether or not that's fair, or whether that's reason to not like a book, I'll have to save that discussion for another day.

Toward the middle of the novel, though, Hadley begins to change. There is one line in the book (I can't quote it exactly, as I don't have a hard copy) when someone refers to her as "Ernest's Hadley" and she says, "Maybe I'm my own Hadley." In a world of flappers and drunkards and "modern women" with bobs and short hemlines, Hadley remains her same old-fashioned self, still stuck on her long hair and her out-of-fashion clothes and her out-dated writers. But by the end of the novel, it becomes clear that though Hadley is no modern woman, she is ever the stronger for resisting the trend.

The book's beginnings sound like a bad romance novel, enhanced by MacDuffie's annoying voice for Hadley, full of "He held me close to him, and I wondered if he could feel my heart beating"s, but the novel follows the curve of the Hemingway's relationship, and by the end, I can comfortably say it is a natural and accurate progression. After all, I suppose we are all in a kind of bad romance novel when we first fall in love.

The writing is sometimes cliche (like the romance in the beginning) but sometimes really beautiful. MacDuffie's narration grew less annoying to me as well, so by the end, it was not a bad audiobook after all.

Verdict: Stick it on the shelf

Reading Recommendations: There's an interesting article on this book over at the Guardian, written by a writer who was named after Hadley. It's worth a read. Also, check out Ingrid's review of A Moveable Feast, Hemingway's memoir about this same time in his life. As a matter of fact, I think I'm going to start reading A Moveable Feast pretty soon, to get Hemingway's perspective.

Warnings: some drunkenness and other lasciviousness

What I'm reading next: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

  Purchase The Paris Wife: A Novel on audiobook at Amazon.com 

  Purchase The Paris Wife: A Novel in paperback at Amazon.com