nx74defiant

The flat unemotional reactions of Meursault the Autistic boy in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

I know that wasn't what Albert Camus intended. He never heard of the Autism spectrum. But, that is what Merusault reminded me off. The lack of emotional connection with people. The observing details of his surroundings. It was as he didn't understand the question when asked if he felt bad about his mother's death.

A good thriller.

There are two story lines:
Oliver Stone's investigation of a librarians death leads to evidence of a spy ring.
Annabelle plots a con.

The two stories join together. And part is left to continue in the next book.

Listening to it with different voices and readers for each character made it odd when the narrator would say things like - he said, after a line of dialogue.

Glynn discovers a photograph of his beloved late wife in a cupboard. It is marked -destroy do not open. But open it he does and discovers he may not have known her heart at all.

This does a good job of showing each person's point of view.

But I didn't like any of the main characters. They were all to self involved. Glynn was to involved in his work. Polly cared more about how this inconvenienced her than anything else. Polly had no sympathy for her mother.

The only glimmer I saw was Elaine recognizing how a kinder sister would of reacted to a childhood incident and letting that effect her judging of a gardening contest.

I knew the basic story of course. But I learned so much more.
The attack on William H. Seward and Lincoln moved me to tears.
There was something so intimate about hearing it in a soft voice right in my ear.

Suze just want to be a normal teen.

I really enjoyed listening to this. Very cute and funny.

In the book has Dante saying - Satan argued with God because God wanted to give puny humans free will and Satan thought only the angels deserved it. I never heard that before. The bible shows human were created with free will. It never shows Satan claiming only angels deserved it.

I was glad the Mom admitted to herself that her having an affair was do to selfishness. I hated when she thought asking Daniel to straighten up ruined her life. She had a great life.

It is a rather depressing story.

It really reinforces to me that young teenagers shouldn't be allowed to date. Trixie is in way over her head. She gives up her friends to spend time with her boyfriend. Something young girls tend to do. She thinks her parents lied because she knows in her self involved teenage angst that she can't be anything she puts her mind to, that she isn't pretty, etc. She thinks she knows so much, but she doesn't realize that once she can get past this teenage angst period she will see what they are saying.

Jason doesn't see that he did anything wrong. Through out Trixie's changing story I can see why he wouldn't. Trixie was really hurt. She had gotten to involved in things that she wasn't ready for.

I really enjoyed this. It is the story of the Mirabal sisters Patria, Minerva, and Maria Teresa, otherwise known in the Dominican Republic as Las Mariposas, describes their suffering and martyrdom in the last days of the Trujillo dictatorship. I was unfamiliar with the story.

The author did a good job of giving each sister her own voice and personality. It did help to have a different narrator for each sister.

An odd story. It goes back and forth in time. A lot of things are never spelled out. There is much left unanswered. He uses the F word too much. But I enjoyed listening to it.

I got this an a playaway. It is the perfect size for bringing with on the bus. I don't like that you fast forward or back to the beginning of a chapter instead of the shorter intervals you get on a CD. But I like the size and convince of not having to change discs on the bus.

The book itself. I liked it. The char actors talk and have sex. Nothing really happens. Isabel problem with movies is my problem with recorded books. You can't really fast forward through parts. I was surprised how political it was. There is a lot of talk about the Iraq war.