Stands out from the crowd

What did you like most about Speak?

I loved the depth the narrator performance brought to this story - or rather, series of interweaving stories. The audio experience brought the intimacy of confession, which I don't think would have the same power only in print.

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

Yes - I got really involved with the emotional journey of each character. The balance between hope and sadness; what is, has been and could be.

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Excellent although the ending was a bit weak

Beautifully performed and the story weaved seamlessly though different points of view and different generations all connecting together I just thought the ending could have been a bit stronger.

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Wonderfully told story

I have read this book twice. The first time I read it, I got it all wrong - probably rushed and not taken in correctly, because the second reading was amazing. I listened to every word. An imaginative tale which jumps through time and generations, to bring you a wholesome story. A book which draws questions, evokes emotion and gives you an answer. I could not stop listening once I had established some of the story. This book jumps forward, backward and through time with several different stories, eventually congregating into one. Confusing, complex and compelling. A great book.

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Less than I imagined

This book was clever and well written, but not interesting. Fortunately some of the performers were quite good for their parts, but about half way through the book it became apparent that this was an exercise in research rather than storytelling. Clever and well written and researched unfortunately does not make it work reading or listening to. There needs to be something, that catches the imagination, a character that is empathetic, but unfortunately not.

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7 people found this helpful

A Mediocre Listen

Within the first few minutes of listening I came to the conclusion that, perhaps, an audiobook is not the best medium for a story which consists primarily of diary entries and chat transcripts. I would argue that there is never more of a waste of a narrators talent than to have them simply read out chat transcripts. This story consists of extracts from the fictional diaries, personal correspondence and online chat transcripts of two Jewish refugees from WW2 Germany (the Dettmans), a young puritan girl on a journey from England to America (Mary), a fictionalised Alan Turing, an imprisoned computer programmer (Stephen) and an artificial intelligence named Mary3 respectively.

I was never enraptured by the story but I was interested in seeing where it was going. I was convinced that if I just kept listening the author would draw the threads together into a coherent and focused conclusion and that I would be left thinking "oh, that was clever". However, after waiting and waiting the book simply finished and I was left wondering what the point had been. Indeed, as there is no real over-arching plot I would really hesitate to call this a "story" at all.

However, it is not without it's merits. Occasionally the author would hit upon something which would cause me to ponder for a while and some of the turns of phrase and passages of prose are quite well written. In particular I was quite taken with the fictionalised portrayal of Turing and with the young puritan girls story (although the latter is left woefully unfinished). Further, the author does a good job in differentiating the writing style of the different characters so that they do not all speak (or write, I suppose) in the same register.

The narration too is a mixed bag. Unfortunately I cannot credit specific narrators as I am unaware who voices whom but I thought the narrator for Turing was particularly impressive and the narrators for the Puritan girl and Stephen were good too. It seems unfair to judge the narrator for Mary3 too harshly as, after-all, it must be hard to make any sort of performance out of chat logs and so she gets a pass for a somewhat stilted narration. However, what I couldn't make sense of was the narration choice for the Dettmans. They are supposed to be German immigrants yet Mr Dettman speaks in what I would describe as a "wise old farmer" voice with no hint of German accent and Mrs Dettman speaks with what seemed to me to be an eastern European (vaguely Slavic) accent rather than a German accent (although it kept slipping).

Overall, while there are no parts to this story that I particularly disliked there aren't many parts that I did enjoy either and I was left feeling that I had wasted my time in listening to it. As such, this is not an audiobook that I can recommend.

P.S. (In the spirit of the Turing sections of the book) I also feel that this book has proved a rule that I have long since suspected. If a novel tries to piggy-back on the success of another book or author in order to sell copies it is not likely to be a great book. For example in this case; "For fans of David Mitchell and Margaret Atwood comes this poignant novel." In this case I think such a comparison would be rather unflattering to Mr Mitchell and Ms Atwood whose works I have enjoyed very much.

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3 people found this helpful

Didnt really connect

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I enjoyed this book but just felt something was missing. I didnt quite connect with any of the characters or care enough.

Would you recommend Speak to your friends? Why or why not?

no

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

the narration was well cast

Do you think Speak needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

no. it is about the end...

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Hauntingly Beautiful

From start to finish I loved this book, the beautiful mix of lives and stories left behind in one machine.

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Awful disconnected boring diary extracts

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

A different author

What will your next listen be?

Neal Stephenson's Interface

What didn’t you like about the narrators’s performance?

I liked their performance but not the story

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

The words

Any additional comments?

This author doesn't know how to write a science fiction story. None of this was really scifi, it was just broad personal accounts of vaguely relevant issues. Dull. Incoherent. Going to ask for a refund.

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