Audiobook Reviews - Room, The Secret Life of Bees, and The Glass Castle

The Audiobook Review is a series of articles posted for anyone looking for good audiobooks to read. Each issue will contain three reviews. For this first issue I chose three audiobooks that were exceptionally well written and narrated.

Five-year-old Jack has never been outside of room. He likes room well enough - it's his entire world! Everything on TV is unreal; nothing there really exists because those things aren't in room like table, and rug, and skylight... and Ma.

Jack's paradigm is about to shift, because Ma desperately wants out of room and is going to ask Jack to make it happen, now that he's five.

The entire story is told from Jack's point of view. The readers were perfect in every way; there are four of them: Michael Friedman as Jack, Ellen Archer as Ma, plus Robert Petkoff and Suzanne Toren as supporting characters. Every one of them reads superbly! There were no flaws in the narration.

I wondered if a book meant for adults but narrated by a child would work. I mean, would it hold an adult's attention? Would it become irritating after a while? I can say, for me, it was no problem at all, and I very much enjoyed the entire reading.

Though this book's main character is a child, it definitely is not a children's book as there are mature situations you probably wouldn't want your children to read about.

I've listened to the audiobook and seen the movie. This is one of those times where I can honestly say I liked the book better.

The movie was lovely, and I thought the acting was perfect, but seeing the women and everything in action took away a lot of the mystery and mood engendered by listening to the audiobook. Let's just say I'm glad I listened to the audiobook first; after that, the experience of the movie was sheer gravy.

Fourteen-year-old Lily longs for a mother she barely remembers. Her father's misery drives her away, so she sets out in search of her mother's home town with only her nanny, Rosaleen, as company. There she meets three sisters whose livelihood is honey, and discovers great secrets about her mother, and about herself.

Jenna Lamia is the narrator; she does an excellent job. Her voice is perfect for the part and I remember listening to this audiobook as an extremely delightful experience.

Jeannette Walls had a terrible childhood, punctuated by moments of sheer beauty. Her father was an enthusiastic, idealistic adventurer with alcoholic tendencies. Her mother was an artist who seemed to have problems with attention deficit disorder. How these two stayed together, it is hard to imagine, but somehow they did, and raised three children. Jeannette was the younger of two girls, plus they had a younger brother.

Living at times in an old car, and at other times in substandard housing, somehow she grew up with enough of a vivid memory to relate to us exactly what happened. You don't get any whining or complaining in this autobiography; she sticks with the bare facts which are often shockingly unpleasant.

This audiobook is narrated by the author.

Thank you for coming by to visit this hub: Audiobook Review #1: Room, The Secret Life of Bees, and The Glass Castle!

More Audiobook Reviews:

Audiobook Review #2: Leviathan, Anthem, and Water for Elephants

Audiobook Review #3: Hillinger's California, Siddhartha, and St. Iggy