Generally, I do not gravitate towards either young adult books (unless I am considering using them with my children) nor fantasy books. I did give this one a try for two reasons: a discussion on Play Book Tag (a Shelfari group) about authors who read their own work for the audio version and the fact that the tag for the month on PBT was magical realism.
I will agree that Neil Gaiman does a good job narrating, but I still think that authors should stick to writing. The fact that this audio followed a fabulous George Guidall narration in my audio lineup was probably not in Mr. Gaiman's best interest.The story line itself I found simple but charming. Once one has been absorbed into the Middle Earth of Tolkien, all other fantasy just seems trite and surface. I actually enjoyed the scenes where the main character, a young orphan being raised by ghosts in a graveyard, is in the graveyard or town, as opposed to the ghoul's underground land.
My eldest son also listened to this audio. Although he is a Neil Gaiman fan, he was not so impressed with this one and told me not to judge all his books up against it.
I liked the book, but after listening to Aimee Bender narrate her own The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, I won't listen to authors reading their own stuff again. I felt like scratching my own ears out, seriously. There is one exception, and that is William Peter Blatty, who has a wonderful voice.
ReplyDeleteAnyhow, I wanted to award you the Stylish Blogger Award. I'm working on the post right now...it will be ready soon.
Why, thank-you!
ReplyDeleteThe author I most dislike reading their own work would have to be Barbara Kingsolver...yikes!