I joined an Audio Book Club to have some worthwhile listening material in the car. So far I have tried to get books that have been critically acclaimed/recommended that are not "canon classics;" I prefer to devour every line of those.
I proofread several reports on this book for a college course I did not take. Those reports peaked my interest in this emotional and poignant-sounding book.
Obviously, one can expect a decreased quality in the 'reading' experience when a book is abridged, whether it be in print or on tape. However, that was not my problem with this version of 'A Lesson Before Dying'. What lacked in my experience was the horrendous narration of this book on tape.
Every time I heard the prisoner's voice (differentiated by a change in the narrator's voice, of course), I CRINGED. A whiny, high-pitched, exaggerated drawl covered up whatever sympathy I could muster for the boy. The narrator made the aunt believable (and the other narrator made the preacher a booming, grand voice), but the main narrator failed at delivering a listen-able performance.
Recommended:
