theonionboy's review against another edition
3.0
Wow, that was a marathon. The audiobook took me over 3 months to finish, when most take only 2 weeks. It was WAY, WAY, WAY TOO LONG! Almost all audiobooks I listen to are about 7 hours. This was 14, but felt like 100. It needs to be edited WAY down to about 3-4 hours.
Many reviewers complained about the quality of the writing. I didn’t notice that.
The good: the story was very interesting and told well. The narrator was amazing, doing different voices and accents for each person. She never stumbled over difficult pronunciations. Even though at times I could detect little signs that she was not a seasoned book narrator, she still did a great job.
To be honest, what they call a king really should just translate into mayor in my way of thinking as an American.
Still, I have to admire all that Penny did for her community. She truly gave more of her personal time and finances than anyone would ever expect. Her love for her people shows.
One thing really irritated me: the constant refusal to punish flagrant serious crimes in any way whatsoever, just because the perpetrator was a distant relative. They boast of police chiefs who have no work to do because there just isn’t any crime there, then show on example after another of serious crimes that are unquestionably proven but blatantly ignored. The jails should not be so empty.
If you have a strong sense of justice, this book will really frustrate you more than it is worth.
Many reviewers complained about the quality of the writing. I didn’t notice that.
The good: the story was very interesting and told well. The narrator was amazing, doing different voices and accents for each person. She never stumbled over difficult pronunciations. Even though at times I could detect little signs that she was not a seasoned book narrator, she still did a great job.
To be honest, what they call a king really should just translate into mayor in my way of thinking as an American.
Still, I have to admire all that Penny did for her community. She truly gave more of her personal time and finances than anyone would ever expect. Her love for her people shows.
One thing really irritated me: the constant refusal to punish flagrant serious crimes in any way whatsoever, just because the perpetrator was a distant relative. They boast of police chiefs who have no work to do because there just isn’t any crime there, then show on example after another of serious crimes that are unquestionably proven but blatantly ignored. The jails should not be so empty.
If you have a strong sense of justice, this book will really frustrate you more than it is worth.
bonhomiebooks's review against another edition
4.0
Draw dropping. Couldn't believe this was a true story. From start to finish you will be entertained and going "Is this for real?"
llkendrick's review against another edition
4.0
Excellent book that I just happened upon at the library last week. One of the reviews compared it to The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency, which I really enjoyed. I was skeptical of this because that book was fiction and this is nonfiction, but it turned out to be a pretty accurate review! Peggy is such a wonderful person to get to know throughout this book and what she was able to do to a small village in Ghana was amazing. I would highly recommend this book!
shannanh's review against another edition
5.0
I read this for our book club meeting. I'm kinda surprised that I liked it. A real life fairy tale of an American Secretary who finds out that she is to become an African "King". Great story and plot line
kfreedman's review against another edition
This book was clearly ghost written. A Ghanaian woman who has moved to the US becomes chief of her village and then sets things to right. Gave some cool insight into Ghanaian culture, but was a bit predictable.
bryng's review against another edition
4.0
Fascinating read.
I had heard about this story when I saw King Peggy being interviewed on a talk show, I forget which one right now. This is a fascinating story about life in rural Africa and the trials and tribulations of going about trying to improve life there. It does make you grateful for the life we have here in America when you hear about people in 2010 having to get water from a dirty hole or not having access to a doctor. Thank goodness the ancestors picked to King Peggy to help her people.
I had heard about this story when I saw King Peggy being interviewed on a talk show, I forget which one right now. This is a fascinating story about life in rural Africa and the trials and tribulations of going about trying to improve life there. It does make you grateful for the life we have here in America when you hear about people in 2010 having to get water from a dirty hole or not having access to a doctor. Thank goodness the ancestors picked to King Peggy to help her people.
liralen's review against another edition
3.0
Five-star story with -- at best -- three-star writing.
The cover copy is a little misleading -- King Peggy is an American secretary, yes, but one who was born and raised in Ghana. The choice of her as king was certainly unusual, and unexpected, but not so far off course as one might think from reading the flap.
But that's a minor quibble. What kills me is how badly this story was handled. Oh, it's absolutely fascinating, and on that level I highly recommend it -- King Peggy's strength and character sing through, despite the butchery of the story.
I'd expected this to be a ghostwritten memoir -- most of the actual writing done by the second author (in this case, Herman), but in the voice (and in first-person narration) of the first author (Bartels). [a:Damien Lewis|103951|Damien Lewis|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1404477992p2/103951.jpg] is, to my mind, a ghostwriter who manages this really well.
This book is third-person narration (Peggy said this, Peggy did that), and it takes the reader way out of the story. The dialogue is appallingly stilted at first, though it gets better towards the latter half of the book, perhaps because that's when author #2 started tagging along on King Peggy's trips to Ghana and could quote the conversations more accurately. Fixing POV and dialogue would have gone a long way towards improving the writing, but really, the writing just doesn't do justice to the story.
But the story itself: It's fascinating. King Peggy presents as smart, no-nonsense, and subscribing to a mix of modern ways and old Ghanaian lore. She's idealistic enough to believe that she can effect change, but also realistic enough to recognise the corruption plaguing her village -- and that her elders do not necessarily want a strong king. Because she's strong, and stubborn, and determined to do right by her people, she barrels ahead anyway, applying her mix of modern and ancient to satisfy tradition but also bring the village forwards. One of the most powerful moments is when she gets proof that her elders are not behind her -- that they (some of them, anyway) don't care so much about the advancement of the village when the status quo means that they get more than their fair share.
Worth reading for the story, but I really, really wish the writing had been done better.
Jumbled thoughts on narrative choices here.
The cover copy is a little misleading -- King Peggy is an American secretary, yes, but one who was born and raised in Ghana. The choice of her as king was certainly unusual, and unexpected, but not so far off course as one might think from reading the flap.
But that's a minor quibble. What kills me is how badly this story was handled. Oh, it's absolutely fascinating, and on that level I highly recommend it -- King Peggy's strength and character sing through, despite the butchery of the story.
I'd expected this to be a ghostwritten memoir -- most of the actual writing done by the second author (in this case, Herman), but in the voice (and in first-person narration) of the first author (Bartels). [a:Damien Lewis|103951|Damien Lewis|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1404477992p2/103951.jpg] is, to my mind, a ghostwriter who manages this really well.
This book is third-person narration (Peggy said this, Peggy did that), and it takes the reader way out of the story. The dialogue is appallingly stilted at first, though it gets better towards the latter half of the book, perhaps because that's when author #2 started tagging along on King Peggy's trips to Ghana and could quote the conversations more accurately. Fixing POV and dialogue would have gone a long way towards improving the writing, but really, the writing just doesn't do justice to the story.
But the story itself: It's fascinating. King Peggy presents as smart, no-nonsense, and subscribing to a mix of modern ways and old Ghanaian lore. She's idealistic enough to believe that she can effect change, but also realistic enough to recognise the corruption plaguing her village -- and that her elders do not necessarily want a strong king. Because she's strong, and stubborn, and determined to do right by her people, she barrels ahead anyway, applying her mix of modern and ancient to satisfy tradition but also bring the village forwards. One of the most powerful moments is when she gets proof that her elders are not behind her -- that they (some of them, anyway) don't care so much about the advancement of the village when the status quo means that they get more than their fair share.
Worth reading for the story, but I really, really wish the writing had been done better.
Jumbled thoughts on narrative choices here.
hoppma's review against another edition
Oh King Peggy. You deserved so much better. There is a really great story in here. But I could not wade through the day-by-day, repetitive, unnecessarily detailed writing to get to it. The author somehow made this (14 hour!) audio sound like it was made to be read aloud to a group of 4th graders. I am off to find an article on how she changed this village.