Unabridged Audiobook
Loving the topic as I do, I really wanted to like this audiobook, unfortunately, Mr. Hill's presentation is jarring, too loud, and just not good narration. (This is straight narration, not performance which is fine. Not every book must be performed). Every sentence seems to be colored by a hint, an edge, of sarcasm and I swear, argument (as in rhetorical argument) perhaps this is because of his over enunciation, loudness, and hard declarative tone. The delivery sounds like he's biting the sentences off. There is no flow in the presentation which means we listeners do not pickup the flow of the prose. This book calls for the reader to give us a conversational tone. There is no sense of conversation in Mr. Hill's tone, a sense which is clearly in the prose, from Neil Gaiman's Forward to Philip's Introductions. This is combines to create an off-putting experience. To the producer of the audiobook: Please rehire him to re-do the book with a director able to help him to mark off beats in the prose to manage his breath and tone, notice and stop the sarcastic edge, remind him to cultivate a conversational tone, and refrain from a.) Leaning too hard on his voice, b.) Shouting into the mic, and c.) Enunciating too hard and reading every sentence as though it's a point to be argued. I'm sure that if Mr. Hill did all that work and listened, really listened to his presentation, that his next effort would be a good one. The depth and timbre of his voice is quite nice and his accent is appealing. If Mr Hill would like an example of what this book needs, I direct him to Simon Vance, Michael Malone, Jot Davies, and David McCullough.
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