Terrible Background Noise: Sweet Story

This middle grade novel about a robot that gets stranded on a wilderness island is so sweet. I know, I know. You're all thinking, really? A feral wilderness robot is sweet? Yep. It sure is.

There are no people in this novel. Roz, the bot, has to learn how to adapt, survive, and communicate with the animals of the island, after she's shipwrecked, washed ashore, and accidentally activated by an otter. She is involved in an accident that causes the deaths of a family of geese, minus one small gosling, which she then adopts and raises.

This is a charming, adorable story about how great a place can be when there's someone there, even just a robot, who simply wants to do what is right and make life better for everyone, no matter what creature or species you may be. There's something to be learned here about the strength of society, and what makes for stronger communities. It's touching to watch her learn and grow, and to see how the other animals change and adapt with her. She has a positive influence on the whole island.

The only bad thing about the audiobook is the terrible symphonic additions at the start and end of the book. The music is cued up so loud that I can barely separate out the words and focus on the story, which is absolutely frustrating. Don't get me wrong. I am not opposed to music or sound effects with audiobooks. I have my undergrad degree in music, so bring on the orchestra.

HOWEVER, additional sounds should never supersede anyone's ability to hear and focus on the actual story, ESPECIALLY DURING THE CRUCIAL START OF A BOOK. This is so common, and it MAKES ME SO ANGRY.

When the noise/music is louder than the story, that's an utter failure on behalf of the individual who was responsible for adding sound effects and music to the book. That's just wrong and bad on every level. Not everyone has perfect hearing, perfect speakers, and/or a perfect listening environment. The people who cue music for audiobooks need to take the book out with a set of crappy headphones and listen to it in a busy location.

Then, and only then, should they make decisions about the volume of the background music and sounds. If they are sitting in a high tech studio, then they're mixing the book for themselves, not for the everyday audiobook user, which is just frustrating.

Luckily, the very loud, brain impairing noise lasts for only about the first 8 minutes at the start, so if you turn the audiobook up to double speed, you can get through the uncomfortable segment in just over 4 minutes. Hang in there. After those 8 minutes, you'll be able to hear and appreciate this adorable story, despite having basically missed the entire start of the book. Regardless, you'll be able to follow along with the story, even if you take very little out of the section cued with music, because while I hate missing the start of a story, I didn't struggle to figure out what was happening in the story once the noise violence ended.

I did almost quit listening, because somewhere around the 3 minute mark, I suspected the loud music may be cued throughout the whole book, and I knew I couldn't handle that. It's not. Hang in there.

77 people found this helpful

Warm Hearted, Positronic Woman

I DON'T EAT ANYTHING, INCLUDING PARENTS
I, a 58 year old truck driver, loved this. I have always liked most things Robot, especially Asimov's, The Positronic Man. 500 robots are in crates on a ship, which goes down in the ocean. One crate makes it to an island, in which no humans live. Seals open up the crate and the robot is born, not knowing what a human is. What results is a great loving story in which the animals accept this robot.

YOU KNOW HOW THEY ARE AT THIS AGE
The robot becomes a parent to a goose. The story teaches about co-operation through storytelling not through speeches. It touches on several life issues without dwelling on them or boring the reader. This is always entertaining.

73 people found this helpful

Great reader, great story, HORRIBLE sound effects

The beginning is ruined with too loud, too jarring sound effects. We were about to give up, but then they mercifully ended. At the most critical, dramatic, climactic moment at the end, the horrible, jarring, too loud sound effects start up again and basically ruin the ending. It's awful. It's so distracting and bad.

31 people found this helpful

Thoroughly delightful

This is a wonderful book and a wonderful performance. My son (8 years old) and I enjoyed it immensely .

22 people found this helpful

Good until the end

The story takes a little while to get going but once it starts moving it is excellent until the very end. This story teaches so much to the listener (i.e. patience, caring, friendships) but I do not understand adding in the machine guns and hunting at the end. Isn't there already enough violence in the world for our young listeners. Very disappointed that Mr. Brown felt he had to go this way at the end.

20 people found this helpful

Great book! Makes perfect sense if you don't code.

I do some coding in my spare time, and find that this author vastly underplays the extreme complexity of a robot like Roz. "She wasn't programmed to be violent." for instance... It would have been more appropriate if it were written "She was programmed not to be violent." at least giving a nod to the work behind such an endeavor.

Now that that's past, I must say, this book is well written, and is made interesting enough to catch the reader's attention. The questions it poses are excellent, and give one pause, as if to say: "We can see where this is going, are we ready for it?"

The story itself is nice, although it begins rather slowly, and shows clearly that this is the author's first novel for children. As the story moves onward though, it picks up considerably, and winds up with the reader wondering what else happens to this robot, and her adopted goose.

I have seen some reviews for this book that complained about the fighting at the end, and I will say that these complaints are justly made, yet truly... Throughout the rest of the book, there was very little conflict, and it was primarily character development, and I can see how the author felt that he needed to give the book some kind of climax. On top of that, the destruction, although not involving humans directly, shone a little bit of insight on how starkly humanity contrasts with his ideal situation. In other words, the end shocked a little bit of reality into an otherwise rather soft story.

The interactions between characters were rather interesting to watch, because one does not often get a peek into the mind (If it could be called that;) of a robot. The building of the lodges (which I won't go into too much detail about, so that you can find out about them by yourself if you buy the book;) was one of the more memorable parts of the story, instilling several chances for thought.

My favorite characters, besides Roz, were probably Brightbill, Chitchat, and, oddly enough, Fink the fox... Can't exactly say why, but he just struck me as humourous, and as a rather witty addition, even though he was a carnivore. When they mentioned him exiting the lodge, and Roz looking down at a heap of feathers and fur... I was slightly confused for a moment. That was probably the worst sentence in the book.

The bears, although gruff at first, branched out into a dynamic set of characters, which turned out to shed a whole lot of light upon the book.

There is no language in this book, and the chapters are split up into short sections, Ideal for young readers, and listeners. It is gentle enough that you can stop for the night at the end of any of the three minute chapters, and let your child drift off.

Not to say that this won't be interesting to parents and older kids though, they will probably feel as if the story is a bit slow, but will probably enjoy it enough to want to keep listening, and most likely continue to the next book.

The music that blares throughout the first and last few minutes of the book isn't as bad as some people are making it out to be, sure, it may sound just a little bit like an old video game, but if you can either ignore it or embrace it, you should be able to survive.

All in all, The Wild Robot, was good little read, something to spend a credit on when the kids want a new book, but you are sick of looking for something new that will hold their attention long enough to survive that trip to Grandma's house.

12 people found this helpful

I cried

This is the best book I've ever heard. I even cried at the end.i rate it 1000000000000000000000 stars.

11 people found this helpful

The Wild Robot

I loved this story. It was really brought to life through the narrarator and the voices. I especialy loved the music!

-Katarina Fuhrmann, age 10

7 people found this helpful

Audio The Wild Robot

What a simple but delightful story! I listened to it ahead of reading it aloud to my 3 rd graders. The performance was good and the reader allowed the story to shine through rather than "over acting" the story as some audio books tend towards. Definitely a book I'm excited to share with my 3rd graders!

7 people found this helpful

Fantastic!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Absolutely, not a long book, but the storyline goes at a good pace, and I fell in love with all the characters.

What did you like best about this story?

Vivid storytelling, great characters

Have you listened to any of Kate Atwater’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No, but she was great

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Yep, was totally worried about how the book was going to end, deeply invested in the characters

Any additional comments?

Beautiful story beautifully read

7 people found this helpful