Juno Beach

Well done book, narration annoying

This is a Canadian telling of the Normandy landings. Overall, well done. The narrator has a problem distinguishing the plural form of abbreviations. So he talks about an LCA (Landing Craft Assault) and when he sees LCAs, he doesn't see that as the plural form of LCA. He reads it as L C A S. It was confusing as I had to catch on that he wasn't talking about someting different. (I had never heard of an LCIS, but I knew what an LCI was.) He also makes some other mistakes like referring to Drop Zone 5, when it's supposed to be the letter V, but he refers to V Corps instead of 5 Corps. If the narration hadn't had these ongoing annoyances this could have been a 5 star book.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

Good book Terrible narrator

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Yes for someone who is interested in Canadian history.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

Get a new narrator, one who has some idea about Canada and has some idea on French and German pronunciation.

How could the performance have been better?

Get a new narrator, one who has some idea about Canada and has some idea on French and German pronunciation.

Did Juno Beach inspire you to do anything?

Read more Canadian history.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

Disappointed

What disappointed you about Juno Beach?

The narration is mechanical, stilted, and rife with mispronunciations - especially with respect to German or French names or terms. I hope this is not the case, but it sounds to me like the narrator did not read the book in advance or do any preparation. Listen to the book to get a different perspective - a Canadian perspective - and not a British, American, or German one - but be prepared to have to suffer through the narration and a writing style that could have used better editing.

What was most disappointing about Mark Zuehlke’s story?

I suppose it's necessary to tell readers the back story about the run up to D-Day, but the story as told by Zuehlke contains very little new facts and so, if one does know the history, is a rather boring start. I also disliked the insistence on using the abbreviations for the types of boats, or the full name of officers, etc. The first time it's

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Steve Kehela?

Someone like Robertson Dean - an expressive voice, who can also separate out narration from quotes. And who clearly does his homework in advance.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

Revealing the Canadian experience was important. It did add to my understanding of the battle and the perspective, though poorly delivered, was valuable.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

History Little Known...

I really enjoyed listening to this book. I found the stories written from a first person's experience to be interesting. Although there were often mis pronunciations, the story was still compelling.

Canada is famous for being a steadfast ally but little is written about the important role played during D Day. I'm very glad the Canadian soldier's story and sacrifices has finally been told.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

The WORST narrator ever

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

This book might be good for someone who doesn't know or doesn't care at all about the correct pronunciation of places, names, units, acronyms, or even English words.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Clearly this narrator has no understanding of Canadian military history. And nobody bothered to do any production work to ensure an appropriate standard in the quality of the narration.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Juno Beach?

No scenes, just the editor.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Interesting and unfamiliar side to the d-day story

What did you like best about this story?

It's similar to the common narrative we frequently read, but gives us the perspective of the "other end" of the Normandy beaches. So if you are into the Normandy story, this is a great addition.

What three words best describe Steve Kehela’s performance?

Bad. Reads like he's half computer. Absolutely horrible German pronunciation - something you'd think they'd screen before narrating a WWII book. Doesn't detract for the story however.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Great book, but the narration.....

You would think that if the narrator was going to read a book about Canadian soldiers in France, he would learn how to pronounce Canadian cities & vernacular, and perhaps some French words.

Honestly the content is excellent, but it was hard to get past the poor narration.

Detailed, Delightful & Emotional

Full marks for this audiobook, the narrative thread is very strong which helps capture the personalities of those involved in Juno Beach on D-Day whilst not dropping the ball on providing facts and figures in great detail.

The narrator was very good, but seemed to be struggling with the French and German names, this may have been in an attempt to mark them clearly. He also, after being so exacting with the continental names still didn't get some British place names correct, this wasn't an issue, just a source of a little ammusememt.

I fully reccommend this book. 🇨🇦

Horrible mispronunciations

Would you try another book from Mark Zuehlke and/or Steve Kehela?

This author is the only one to research and write these important Canadian histories, so there's little choice of material if you're interested in this topic. It's thorough and engaging writing, but horribly performed with an incredible number of mispronunciations... and not just weak for the French and German words.

Would you be willing to try another one of Steve Kehela’s performances?

I would not try another of this performer's works; he didn't do enough research to correctly pronounce real events, places and names in a non-fiction work.

Any additional comments?

This was so badly performed it was frustrating to listen to and should be embarrassing to everyone involved in the audio production. While it might be understandable that the performer might need extra steps with German and French words, it's unacceptable that English words and Canadian place names are pronounced in wildly erroneous ways.

I'm not a sailor but even I know how to pronounce "davit," "gunwale," "lieutenant" and "boatswain."

I certainly know how to pronounce "Regina," "Rideau canal" and "North Shore New Brunswick Regiment."

This performer does not.

For a book about Canadian soldiers' heroism and sacrifice, it's incredibly disrespectful that the American reader and the American producers didn't care enough to pronounce these Canadian hometowns and regiments correctly.

I would seriously consider asking for a refund.

Great research, some odd pronunciation.

the book was very well-researched and was very immersive the only thing that took me out of the story was some of the odd pronunciations the speaker chose to do, for example luftwaffe and Regina we're very badly mispronounced. Other than that this was an excellent book and a much-needed account of the Canadians at Juno Beach.