Audio Review: Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

Title: Life After Life: A Novel

Author: Kate Atkinson

Narrator: Fenella Woolgar

Publisher: Hachette Audio

Format: Unabridged Audio

Length: 14 hrs 34 mins

Publication: April 2, 2013

Source: Library

Genre: Historical Fiction

Amazon|B&N|Goodreads|Website

Synopsis: On a cold and snowy night in 1910, Ursula Todd is born, the third child of a wealthy English banker and his wife. Sadly, she dies before she can draw her first breath. On that same cold and snowy night, Ursula Todd is born, lets out a lusty wail, and embarks upon a life that will be, to say the least, unusual. For as she grows, she also dies, repeatedly, in any number of ways. Clearly history (and Kate Atkinson) have plans for her: In Ursula rests nothing less than the fate of civilization.

My Thoughts: Ursula is unique. She gets to relive her life many times. During each of her lives events happen that cause her an untimely death. When she encounters these events the second time around Ursula has uncanny feelings and is able to to make different choices. 

I really enjoyed this read. I connected with Ursula easily and I wanted her to have a happy ending. Given the times and situations that was not always possible. I was heart broken with each of her deaths including the final one. During her lives Ursula is an abuse housewife, friend and confidant to Eva Braun, and a single woman doing what she can for England's war effort. This story left me wondering if I could change anything about my past and do it differently what would I change and how would that one change effect the world? 

Grave Mercy

Author:  Robin LaFevers

Title:Gravy Mercy

Publication: April 3, 2012

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children

Genre: Young Adult, Historical Romance 

Pages: 560

Audience: 15 and up

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Source: Public Library

 Goodreads Synopsis:Seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the gods of old. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts—and a violent destiny. If she chooses to stay at the convent, she will be trained as an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to Death. To claim her new life, she must destroy the lives of others.

Ismae’s most important assignment takes her straight into the high court of Brittany—where she finds herself woefully under prepared—not only for the deadly games of intrigue and treason, but for the impossible choices she must make. For how can she deliver Death’s vengeance upon a target who, against her will, has stolen her heart

My thoughts:
I'm not really into  historical romance novels, but this young adult novel takes it up a notch. There is death, poison, lies, and betrayal behind every page.
 Ismae is a really strong willed character and I loved her for it because historically, women we to be looked at- not heard. Even though she is strong willed and intelligent, she was a bit too full of herself on occasion and there were times I wished that she would just get over herself. Having said that, I understand she was a guarding herself, being an assassin and all.
 Duval is another character I loved. He pushed all of Ismae's buttons. When she would push him, he would push her back (not literally). He was also intelligent and very observant, not to mention- sexy!

I wish there had been more about the covenant and I wish it had more darkness too it. I feel like it rushed the beginning, the middle lagged a bit, and the last 200 pages had me  on edge to find out who did it.

I've been talking with Cricket and the next book is due out this spring. We think the next book may be darker as it is to follow Sybella's story, which I am dying to know more about! She was a mysterious character who was not fully explained in the first book.  I enjoyed this book and cannot wait for the next one in the series!

Audio Review: Butterfly's Shadow by Lee Langley

Title: Butterfly's Shadow
Author: Lee Langley

Narrator: Laurel Lefkow

Publication: April 15, 2011

Publisher: Story Plant

Source: Purchased

Genre: Historical Fiction
Length: 10 hours 54 minutes
Format: Unabridged

Audience: 17 and up

Rating: 4.5 out 5

Amazon|Goodreads

Synopsis: In a Japan still rigid with tradition, an apprehensive 15-year-old tea-house girl prepares to welcome her first client. In his gleaming white uniform, Lieutenant Pinkerton walks up the hill to a house in Nagasaki to find the female he has purchased for a few weeks. When he sails away, she waits, aching for his return. It is one of the world's great love stories. And, as the curtain falls on Madame Butterfly, Cho-Cho hands over her son to his American father, before killing herself...

Lee Langley's bewitching story of lost hope and thwarted love opens where Puccini's opera ends. In America Joey grows up torn between two cultures, haunted, like his parents, by their memories of what really happened on that fateful day. But just as Joey's fate is inextricably linked with the country of his birth, so too is the fate of America, and both of their paths will ultimately lead to Nagasaki.

My Thoughts:  PageTurner says I read the saddest books. I have tried to disagree with her but I'm beginning to think she is right. This book holds a place on my sad book list. I really enjoyed this audio. I didn't know anything about Puccini's Madame Butterfly before I began this audio. Having some knowledge of it would have prepared me for the sadness in the story.

This is a heartbreaking story of Joey and his parents. This story begins in 1923 and spans 20 years. The reader gets to experience the highs and lows this family face throughout the years and how the country (USA and Japan) changes during that time. The story opens with Joey's mother, Cho-Cho, waiting to meet the man who is to become her husband. She is full of hopes and dreams that will lead her to America. She is very young and naive. 
Joey's father, Pinkerton, on the other hand is looking for a good time while he is in Japan; the marriage is just a formality to him. This marriage changes their lives forever. He didn't plan on Cho-Cho getting pregnant nor does he believe that the child is his. He thinks that she is just some tea house girl that will say anything.  

This is a single voiced production narrated by Laurel Lefkow. She did a wonderful job narrating this. Her pacing was perfect for the story. Each of Lefkow's characterizations added to my listening experience. Lefkow differentiated the characters clearly through tone, tempo, accent, and inflection.  I found it easy to identify the character who was speaking. Lefkow's variations in gender and accents was done very well. I only had one complaint during the entire performance and that was the long pauses between chapters. Other than that the pace was well maintained during the production. There are no sound effects or music used during the production. I don't feel that it would have enhanced the production in any way.