3.5 Stars
Well, it took me nearly the entire 21 day checkout period to finish this audio collection, but I did it and I think listening was the right way for me to go. That’s not a comment I make lightly either since my drive time is so short and my attention span much like someone most are familiar with . . . .
I’ve repeated ad nauseum that short stories aren’t my bag, but the novella on the other hand??? Those could be my bread and butter. Joe Hill gives a great explanation for why the novella works so well in his afterward. You get the benefit of a fully fleshed out story, but nary a paragraph can be wasted if you want to keep the reader invested. The bonus (for me at least) in a collection of novellas is the fair to middling selections are easily dismissed and soon-to-be forgotten while the good ones will stay with you, quite possibly for a lifetime. Hill’s father’s The Body being the perfect example.
So without further ado let's talk about the first selection in Strange Weather called “Snapshot:”
This was my first experience listening to an audiobook performed by . . . . .
And now I never want anyone else to ever read to me again. Ever.
I fell in love with Wil Wheaton when I was just a little kid and he made me wish I was a boy coming of age in 1960 . . . .
He’s held a special place in my memories ever since. Fitting that “Snapshot” happens to be one about memory. 5 Stars for Wheaton’s performance, but 3 for the story itself which I thought would have been much more powerful if it had concluded at the end of Part 1 of the audio and the “Phoenician” and his “Solarid” camera being an imagined boogeyman conjured by the mind of a woman suffering from dementia rather than him actually being one. Props to Joe Hill for the Stand By Me soundtrack shout-out, however. That will be the selection that plays me through my workday today for sure.
I automatically assumed “Loaded” would be a miss for me since I prefer to keep my fiction and political opinions as separated as possible, but dagnabbit . . . .
I’m still not interested in discussing gun rights EVER on social media, but talk about a story that kept me hooked from start to finish. Every star. (But I will say the narrator chose a pretty weak delivery for the main female voice and that sucks because she wasn’t some Mary Sue.)
Which leads us to “Aloft” – a story about a guy who nearly shits his pants before jumping out of an airplane and ends up actually shitting his pants at some point after landing on a cloud . . . .
Sorry. I just can’t. 1 Star.
Last but most certainly not least is “Rain.” Narrated by Red, I had pretty high expectations for this one due to the choice of reader alone . . . . .
(Does anyone else tune in just to see what she’s reading??? That one she’s reading right there is a good’un)
Anyway, again I’m happy to report this did not disappoint. The narration was great, Honeysuckle was great, and what can I say about the story itself????
4 Stars.
I’m giving 3.5 Stars to the collection in its entirety. It was definitely not a waste of my listening time.
I’ve repeated ad nauseum that short stories aren’t my bag, but the novella on the other hand??? Those could be my bread and butter. Joe Hill gives a great explanation for why the novella works so well in his afterward. You get the benefit of a fully fleshed out story, but nary a paragraph can be wasted if you want to keep the reader invested. The bonus (for me at least) in a collection of novellas is the fair to middling selections are easily dismissed and soon-to-be forgotten while the good ones will stay with you, quite possibly for a lifetime. Hill’s father’s The Body being the perfect example.
So without further ado let's talk about the first selection in Strange Weather called “Snapshot:”
This was my first experience listening to an audiobook performed by . . . . .
And now I never want anyone else to ever read to me again. Ever.
I fell in love with Wil Wheaton when I was just a little kid and he made me wish I was a boy coming of age in 1960 . . . .
He’s held a special place in my memories ever since. Fitting that “Snapshot” happens to be one about memory. 5 Stars for Wheaton’s performance, but 3 for the story itself which I thought would have been much more powerful if it had concluded at the end of Part 1 of the audio and the “Phoenician” and his “Solarid” camera being an imagined boogeyman conjured by the mind of a woman suffering from dementia rather than him actually being one. Props to Joe Hill for the Stand By Me soundtrack shout-out, however. That will be the selection that plays me through my workday today for sure.
I automatically assumed “Loaded” would be a miss for me since I prefer to keep my fiction and political opinions as separated as possible, but dagnabbit . . . .
I’m still not interested in discussing gun rights EVER on social media, but talk about a story that kept me hooked from start to finish. Every star. (But I will say the narrator chose a pretty weak delivery for the main female voice and that sucks because she wasn’t some Mary Sue.)
Which leads us to “Aloft” – a story about a guy who nearly shits his pants before jumping out of an airplane and ends up actually shitting his pants at some point after landing on a cloud . . . .
Sorry. I just can’t. 1 Star.
Last but most certainly not least is “Rain.” Narrated by Red, I had pretty high expectations for this one due to the choice of reader alone . . . . .
(Does anyone else tune in just to see what she’s reading??? That one she’s reading right there is a good’un)
Anyway, again I’m happy to report this did not disappoint. The narration was great, Honeysuckle was great, and what can I say about the story itself????
4 Stars.
I’m giving 3.5 Stars to the collection in its entirety. It was definitely not a waste of my listening time.
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