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A review by hpstrangelove
Maya's Notebook by Isabel Allende
2.0
Audiobook review. Narrator: Maria Cabezas
THERE NEEDS TO BE A GREAT BIG TRIGGER WARNING FOR ALL SORTS OF THINGS WITH THIS BOOK.
I realize some people, including me, hate spoilers, but if you are a survivor of rape and it is a trigger for you, you definitely want to pass this book by.
With some proper editing, this could have been a very good book. It ended up being boring, hurt by an extremely slow start. It was much, much too long, and with nothing apparently happening, I came very close, after four hours, to having this be my first DNF. As this was a book group selection, I did not want to go to our meeting having given up on it.
The narrator did a great job, so it was with some disappointment that I switched the speed of my audiobook to 'fast' after listening for six hours so that I could get the story over with. It was 14 1/2 hours long and I just wanted it to end so I could get on to something else.
I think seven hours would have been a more appropriate length, cutting back on some of the more gruesome and unneeded details in the middle, and deleting much of the 'telling' parts at the beginning. The background mystery of Maya and why she was sent away was interesting. I did find myself caring for many of the characters, both in the States and on the island, but the story just seemed to go drone on and on and on, with no end in sight. Then suddenly, with about 90 minutes left of the story, things picked up and it got really good. I only wish it could have been as exciting in the beginning and middle as it was in the end.
THERE NEEDS TO BE A GREAT BIG TRIGGER WARNING FOR ALL SORTS OF THINGS WITH THIS BOOK.
I realize some people, including me, hate spoilers, but if you are a survivor of rape and it is a trigger for you, you definitely want to pass this book by.
With some proper editing, this could have been a very good book. It ended up being boring, hurt by an extremely slow start. It was much, much too long, and with nothing apparently happening, I came very close, after four hours, to having this be my first DNF. As this was a book group selection, I did not want to go to our meeting having given up on it.
The narrator did a great job, so it was with some disappointment that I switched the speed of my audiobook to 'fast' after listening for six hours so that I could get the story over with. It was 14 1/2 hours long and I just wanted it to end so I could get on to something else.
I think seven hours would have been a more appropriate length, cutting back on some of the more gruesome and unneeded details in the middle, and deleting much of the 'telling' parts at the beginning. The background mystery of Maya and why she was sent away was interesting. I did find myself caring for many of the characters, both in the States and on the island, but the story just seemed to go drone on and on and on, with no end in sight. Then suddenly, with about 90 minutes left of the story, things picked up and it got really good. I only wish it could have been as exciting in the beginning and middle as it was in the end.