AudiobookThere were four voice actors involved in the reading of this story, as it was told from three distinct first-person perspectives and one third-person limited-omniscient. I was fine with the third-person reader: she was competent enough. I hated two of the first-person readers, actually going so far as to make childish faces and mock their stilted, stupid deliveries, even all alone in my car. But I lived for Leopold Gursky's sections (read by the brilliant George Guidall).
I think this book probably sucked. I was thoroughly uninterested in the portions read by the bad readers... I hated the characters and their small problems. I was entranced by Leopold, but could it be that I was actually just a little in love with Guidall's masterful delivery? Seriously, anyone who doesn't hire him to do their audiobook is a simpleton. No, I think that Leo's portions had to have been good stuff. I thought about them even when not in the car...there was poetry there.
But it wasn't "all Leo all the time," so it wasn't great. And, also, I felt betrayed by an endgame revelation -- an out-of-nowhere "that character was a figment" bomb. Horrible. So, one part awesome, one part not bad, two parts boring as hell, and one crappy reveal = not good.
C-
