Narrator ruins it

Great book by one of my new fave authors - but yikes! The narrator! She sounds like Ringo Starr. Heavy accent probably won't faze the UK listeners but really hard to understand for me - and not helped by the fact that she speaks very rapidly, runs all the words together, and tends to mumble and fade out at the end of sentences. Even weirder, she not only doesn't bother to change voices with different characters, she actually goes up when voicing the character of Ben. Makes him sound like a little girl. Almost impossible to distinguish what characters she's voicing with little or no change - or an odd change like with Ben. The storyline is great, but this is one that might have been better to purchase and read!

16 people found this helpful

couldn't get past the accent

I had a lot of trouble understanding the narrator due to her accent so I wasn't able to get very far or enjoy the story.

11 people found this helpful

Narration was BRUTAL

I could not clearly understand the narrator's accent. I would listen again with a different narrator.

10 people found this helpful

Horrible narration

The narrator was impossible to understand. It was not the accent as much as her stringing words together to create incoherent sentences. There was no change in her voice, speed of speech, or tone for different characters so it was impossible to follow and understand which characters were speaking. I should have listened to other reviews and skipped this one, but I liked "Here's looking at you" so much, I had hoped the story would be enough to overcome the narrator. Very very disappointed.

9 people found this helpful

Audible listeners beware!

I wish I could give a detailed description of the book but I can't because the audible version is a HEAVY Irish accent and was impossible for me to understand. I made it through 3 chapters and had to archive it. Not only was it impossible to decipher the readers accent, but trying so hard to listen gave me a headache! Disappointed!! I should have played the sample longer!

5 people found this helpful

Narrator ruins it

The narrator spoke as if she got paid extra to get out as many words in one breath as possible. And honestly the dialogue seemed more like pointless blathering, maybe it wouldn't have with a different narrator. I only got through a chapter or 2 because I didn't see a reason to subject myself to this any further

3 people found this helpful

Good (vague spoilers)

Any additional comments?

The accent was there, deal with it. Yes it was heavy and a little garbled at first but you can acclimatize. I found it disappeared after a few chapters.

I think this author is a bit of a star. I've listen to other British chick lit (Kinsella, Keyes, etc) and this one is the best easily. Very sharp, funny analogies and a gifted ability to observe the world, which is what the best kind of author does. If you're going to tell us about things we see every day for God sake make it fun.

The only reason I didn't give it top stars was the ending. Yes it was happy, as these things have to be, but it was VERY rushed a bit incongruous when you compared it to the rest of the story, which was extraordinarily slow and quite values driven. There was a lot of angst in this book about extramarital/extra-relationship affairs. I'm not very moralistic about these things. I can quite happily read a book about an affair. But given the outspokenness of all the characters about the wrongness of infidelity, the final union of Rachel and Ben - even though a divorce was in the works - didn't ring quite right. I think the author wanted to skirt a controversial line but didn't want to commit to it. She should have committed.

3 people found this helpful

Awfully Read

Would you try another book from Mhairi McFarlane and/or Julie Hesmondhalgh?

Can't understand a word of that guttural voice and I am not reviewing the story, as I cannot listen to this. But I can't send the review without giving the story stars too. So sorry if I am unfair with the story.
The reading is ghastly. Is this scottish? I have nothing against scottish, just don't understand it and I thought I was buying an english book. Should have warned me.

What was most disappointing about Mhairi McFarlane’s story?

Nothing

How could the performance have been better?

In everything, specially in the accent and the aesthetics of the voice.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

irritation and impatience. Makes me want to cancel my Audible subscription.

Any additional comments?

I find it difficult to download the books onto my iMac, but that may be my own ignorance. The audible manager works only for windows.
I think the world is separating not into left and right, first world and third world, but into Apple freaks on the one hand and Microsoft freaks on the other. Those people really unbelievably totally disrespect and hinder each other!

I hope Audible can help me get the books onto iTunes on my iMac. (By the way, I have nothing against Microsoft, they have many advantages, but I just happen to have an iMac.)
And then onto my iPad and iPhone. Would be grateful for your help.

3 people found this helpful

Clever, witty and Surprising

The writing and performance are effortless amusing and simultaneously convey all of the anxiety and pain of unrequited love. Never cheesy or trite. I really enjoyed the narrator’s performance and genuine northern accent but I can see how American, or non-British listeners, might have difficulty understanding her. You’ll also miss out on a lot of the gags and wit if you don’t have a healthy knowledge of 80s to date Brit pop culture.
Great listen and lots of twists and turns.

2 people found this helpful

Realistic love story

I will first say that I'm so lucky I was able to tolerate the narration long enough to partially acclimate to the accent. There really should be a version for American listeners. I'm sure it's missed out on some great parts because it was so fast and difficult for me to understand. However, the story really was worth it. I really appreciate the humanity of the characters, the humor, and the authenticity of the interactions.

2 people found this helpful