Finding Home by Roisin McAuley (Audio book)
5/10
I always have an audio book on the go in the car, to help me survive the tedious motorway journey to and from work. Those who have read my reviews before will know that I don't listen to anything too exciting or challenging, in case of losing concentration. I tend to choose non-detective, non-murders, non-thrillers. Also not classical or depressing or philosophical and not too difficult to understand. As you can see this limits me a little. Also, I get my audio-books from the local library which is small and under-funded (I hate this Con-Dem government for starving its people of culture).
So - here I am with Finding Home. This is about two women; the story is told in their voices, first persons singular. Louise is from Northern Ireland, living in England and working for a film production company. They are looking for a 17th century house for their film and she finds just the one! Diane is the upper class woman who lives in said house, with her brother Henry. They have no money to mend the leaking roof and so the offer from the film company is A Good Thing. Especially since Louise thinks Henry is dishy.
The problem is that Louise's brother has been a member of the Irish Republican Army and Henry served as an army intelligence officer in Northern Ireland. Their blossoming romance struggles to over-ride their different political perspectives.
I'm sure you'll realise there is much more to it than this - there are plots and sub-plots, characters (real and part of the film-in-the-making) and mysteries.
Then blow me! Just as I was accepting the story as a gentle romance or two, interwoven, the book turns into a THRILLER!! NOOO! I don't drive to the sound of over-stimulating plots.
I got very heated approaching my motorway turn-off and nearly went twice round a roundabout.
All in all, it was not a great book, but then, I choose this type of book for driving, so that's fine. If I care too much about the characters or the plot, then the audio-book distracts me.
BUT - the main thing that I want to say is this. Often, the main star of an audio-book is not the author but the actor who reads it. Marie McArthy, who read this book, was fantastic! How can someone do such a convincing (to me) Belfast accent and then a posh English one. She was two different people! And then sometimes she was Henry, and John, and Rebecca, and the madman, and Chloe etc. Fab - what skills, to be able to be such different people on one audio-book. Fab.
5/10
I always have an audio book on the go in the car, to help me survive the tedious motorway journey to and from work. Those who have read my reviews before will know that I don't listen to anything too exciting or challenging, in case of losing concentration. I tend to choose non-detective, non-murders, non-thrillers. Also not classical or depressing or philosophical and not too difficult to understand. As you can see this limits me a little. Also, I get my audio-books from the local library which is small and under-funded (I hate this Con-Dem government for starving its people of culture).
So - here I am with Finding Home. This is about two women; the story is told in their voices, first persons singular. Louise is from Northern Ireland, living in England and working for a film production company. They are looking for a 17th century house for their film and she finds just the one! Diane is the upper class woman who lives in said house, with her brother Henry. They have no money to mend the leaking roof and so the offer from the film company is A Good Thing. Especially since Louise thinks Henry is dishy.
The problem is that Louise's brother has been a member of the Irish Republican Army and Henry served as an army intelligence officer in Northern Ireland. Their blossoming romance struggles to over-ride their different political perspectives.
I'm sure you'll realise there is much more to it than this - there are plots and sub-plots, characters (real and part of the film-in-the-making) and mysteries.
Then blow me! Just as I was accepting the story as a gentle romance or two, interwoven, the book turns into a THRILLER!! NOOO! I don't drive to the sound of over-stimulating plots.
I got very heated approaching my motorway turn-off and nearly went twice round a roundabout.
All in all, it was not a great book, but then, I choose this type of book for driving, so that's fine. If I care too much about the characters or the plot, then the audio-book distracts me.
BUT - the main thing that I want to say is this. Often, the main star of an audio-book is not the author but the actor who reads it. Marie McArthy, who read this book, was fantastic! How can someone do such a convincing (to me) Belfast accent and then a posh English one. She was two different people! And then sometimes she was Henry, and John, and Rebecca, and the madman, and Chloe etc. Fab - what skills, to be able to be such different people on one audio-book. Fab.
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