audio book review - Aegypt: The Solitudes, John Crowley

[firecat]

Here's what I just posted to audible.com about Aegypt (Unabridged) by John Crowley, narrated by the author

5 stars out of 5

slow, meandering, and beautiful

Crowley develops his stories slowly with lots of detail and writes beautifully. His writing and ideas are meant to be savored and pondered. If you like the idea of listening to a 15 hour and 29 minute poem, with another poem inside it, then you might well like this book.

Crowley narrates the book himself, in a flat middle-American voice, with a quirky, slightly self-conscious manner. The narration worked for me. I found his voice easy to listen to, and his reading gave me more insight into what his artistic intentions are. But the narration isn't going to please everybody.

I wrote it this way because the current top review of the book is extremely negative. Some folks on audible.com really don't like slow-to-develop stories, and some folks are fussy about narrators. (Me included, on that last one.) I wanted to describe the experience of listening to the book in a way that would appeal to someone who might enjoy it, and deter someone who might dislike this kind of book.

Comments

[karenkay.livejournal.com]

I almost never read the reviews of books--I go by my reaction to the sample. If it's really positive, I'll go ahead and get it. If it's anything less, I won't, because past experience is that I won't be able to maintain interest. If my interest flags, I might go and read the reviews.

[firecat]

Ditto, although I mainly listen to get a sense for whether the reader would drive me nuts, as well as whether I'd be interested in the books. But I do review the books I read, in case other people work differently from you and me.

[opus119.livejournal.com]

Good for you! The leisurely development is one of the things I like about Crowley (or at least, about his later stuff). Nabokov's "Ada" has a similar pace as well; it would probably be very unpopular as an audio book.