Thought Provoking

Thought provoking with a wicked twist.

I struggled to not read the book in one session

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Brilliant

A very heart rending story beautifully written and very well read,sorry it had to end.This is one book that has kept the momenton going and still managed to have a twist at the end.thank you.

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Only enough plot for a short story

A good performance but disappointing book. The book has plenty of philosophising, all well written and some intellectually stimulating - but the whole plot could be described in all its richness in 100 words. For me, there just wasn’t enough story in this story.

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A real gem of a book

This book absolutely hooked me. The story is gripping and I found myself looking forward to the time when I could get my next chance to listen. The narrative accelerated rapidly towards the end and I did a lot of thinkling about it to pull the threads together but the reading is sympathetic and the characters well deliniated. The real pleasure is in the beautiful writing, expertly delivered by Mr Morant, making it a very rich experience.

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18 people found this helpful

Really thought provoking and highly enjoyable.

This book, narrated by a retired man looking back at key events in his life and finding he has to re-evaluate his interpretation of events, his feelings towards them and the people involved in them and, ultimately, towards himself, is riveting. I listened to it over the course of two evening walks - both of which ended up be far longer than originally intended just so that I had the excuse to keep listening. The ideas developed in the story - how much are we the editors of our own histories, what does the passing of time do to our understanding of ourselves, etc - are presented within a story which is itself fascinating with thought provoking twists at the end.

The structure of the book is very clever with sentences dropped in, the meaning of which you will have re-interpreted two or three times by the end. I found myself liking, dis-liking and re-liking the key characters as different views of the same events were presented and key facts revealed.

The story felt very natural however, there was no false forcing of issues. Some events in life we do not understand, others we think we do until we learn how other people saw them. This happens to us all and it happens very believably to the people in this book.

One minor word of warning - this book tells of the transition from teens to adulthood which inevitably involves adult themes. Nothing is gratuitous or in anyway unnecessarily graphic but I might not buy this for the 'maiden aunts' as it were.

Richard Morant's reading is intelligent and thoughtful and adds to your enjoyment. My only slight quibble is a couple of odd pronunciations, for example 'time deniers' being read as 'time [the measure of the thickness of stockings]' rather than as 'people who deny the passing of time', hence the 4 out of 5 stars. This in no way reduces the enjoyment of the book, it just jolts a bit.

All in all a book I am very glad to have stumbled across and one I will listen to again soon. Thoroughly recommended.

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1 person found this helpful

Wonderful!

This was a pleasure to listen to - the writing was sublime and the narrator was perfect

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1 person found this helpful

Book hangover

So many questions. I finished this book scrolling through the internet trying to find further answers. At times funny, crass, disturbing and saddening you'll not regret reading it! This is further helped by the brilliant narration. Highly recommended.

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1 person found this helpful

Enjoyable if Underwhelming journey through a life

Excellent narration lifts this beautifully crafted yet not fully rewarding journey through the examination of the life of a rather pedestrian aging (sorry, but 60s is not middle aged) man who obsesses over essentially trivial happenings (hardly events) in his life.

It never meanders, yet never really arrives either. Rather like an interesting mystery tour through pretty scenery that ends up at a drab tearoom.

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different and interesting

well worth a listen. it seemed a bit boring and predictable at first, but I found myself wondering about what would happen next. it's really a unique narrative and a genre id like to explore further. the ending was unexpected and shocking in a subtle way. considering how short the book is there is a lot of content. I will definitely be interested in reading other books by this author. thank you audible.

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A Good listen

Perfect for a car journey or dog walk. Perfect entertainment from an audio book. Thank you!

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