Author: Roddy Doyle
Reader: Ger Ryan
Short Review: A novel featuring the engaging lead character from Doyle’s The Woman Who Walked Into Doors gloriously read in the perfect Dublin accent by Ger Ryan.
Long Review: Paula Spencer is a recovering alcoholic, recovering longtime victim of domestic violence, widow, house-cleaner, and mother weighed down by a lot of grief. The story could be awash in bathos, but it’s not. It escapes the bathetic because Doyle knows how to write, and Ryan knows how to act, and Paula appears to be winning her own personal war.
I’ve been a fan of Doyle’s for years, in part because he is able to write women far better than a lot of male writers can. I don’t know if we’re really that hard to understand, or if a lot of men who write never take the trouble to learn how to do it. Returning to Paula as his protagonist for a second novel must have been difficult–these can’t have been light books to write. But I love seeing her return, and I particularly love listening to this book because it is so personal and succinct. I lived in Dublin for a while once upon a time, and a North Dublin accent is one of my favorite in the world, in part because it is so often paired with plain, sharp speech in my experience. As an audio book, Paula Spencer is great because the prose is spare yet engaging, the characters are limited, and the plot is easy to follow. All of that combines to allow Ryan to really act as she narrates, and she is an immensely talented actor.
I’m sure some people would be turned off by the weight of the story–addiction and abuse are hard subjects to deal with for so many of us. But I don’t think that should scare anyone off. Yes, Paula Spencer and her kids live a hard life. But it’s a life worth seeing, and hearing. This book displays Paula’s triumphs, however small.
Overall, what I love most about the book is that it is entirely free of hagiography and martyrdom. Doyle doesn’t canonize Paula. Paula doesn’t canonize Paula. And Paula’s kids certainly don’t canonize Paula. Everyone in the book is deeply flawed, but they’re not wallowing in their failings or denying them. They just live, however they can, and try to be as decent as they can. It’s a more accurate portrayal of addiction and abuse than I’ve seen in a long time, and I think that makes it much more worthwhile than most of the pop-psychology influenced stuff on those subjects I’ve read.
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and its sequels. Once I got past that, the reading was just okay. Unlike some of my favorite audio book readers, 
The Goose Girl
, Spook Country revisits the present day world of Hubertus Bigend - but in this book Bigend is just one of many players trying to keep their fingers in the pie. In this story we find Bigend attempting to use his vast wealth and resources to see into the center of a series of hidden activities that he can sense the shape of - if not the meaning.
Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx
Author: Annie Proulx
Reader: Campbell Scott
Short Review: A ground-breaking story about the nature of love and sexuality, beautifully-read by one of my favorite audio book narrators.
Long Review: I’m guessing the plot of this story is no surprise to most. The film was a major success, of course, and the center of a great deal of controversy. But I hate that the jokes and the brouhaha tends to over-shadow the story itself.
Because the story is beautiful, and heartbreaking, and feels so very true. Annie Proulx describes landscapes and the particular culture of a time and a place like no one else. She also captures the emotions of reticent characters well, which is particularly important for these men in this period and place.
Annie Proulx’s short story garnered an O. Henry Award, helped Proulx make the Pulitzer short-list, and helped The New Yorker win the National Magazine Award for Fiction. Recording it as an audio book must have been an intimidating task. Thankfully, Campbell Scott was brought on board. The narrator of this audio book needs to be able to voice two conflicted, macho guys trying to fight stereotypes and realities of homosexuality in a sere landscape. Scott’s baritone is just right for the job, particularly when matched with his restraint, and his tendency to flatten his voice in moments of tension. His is the voice I will hear whenever I reread the story on paper.
This is one of the best audio books I’ve listened to, and I know I’ll listen to it again.
Brokeback Mountain is also available through both the Simply Audiobooks Rental Program and the Simply Audiobooks Dowload Club.
More reviews of Award Winning Audio Books, Short Story Audio Books, Social Commentary Audio Books, Annie Proulx, Campbell Scott |