A great book spoiled by an over-the-top narrator.
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Having read and enjoyed all of Brysons books, I decided to buy the audio version of my personal favourite; A Walk in the Woods, primarily to listen to in the car. However I found that the narrator, Kerry Shale, ruined the experience somewhat. Essential characters to the story, Katz, Mary Ellen etc, are given ridiculously over-the-top accents, when non are necessary. It seems to me that the narrator has focussed solely on the humourous aspects of the story, and emphasised them to a cringeworthy degree. Despite saying this, his reading of Brysons narrative is just about bearable, but this is probably due to the quality of the writing. Had the characters been portrayed to a more realistic level, this would have made a quite entertaining purchase, but, as it stands, it is spoiled. A great shame, and a wasted opportunity.
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Dark and deviously funny! from John T
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Dark and deviously funny is how I would describe "A walk in the woods". To say it is a book with a conscience would maybe over emphasise its informative content and trivialise the book's deviously funny side. Bryson weaves a story of a well-meaning adventurer that gets caught out by the size of his ego. A 22000 mile journey that was to trouble him like nothing he had done before, yet was to deliver us a book that will only give you trouble if you don't like to laugh! Bill Bryson tells the story effortlessly moving through anecdotes and facts about his environment that can be so darkly humorous you are not sure whether to laugh or cry. Whether it is his annoyance with the occupants of the trail or his fear of bears, Bryson eloquently describes his feelings with verve and intense humour. His story will leave you laughing until the last of his tales fade from the mind. If there is one lesson Bill has taught me after reading this it would be to not read about killer bears if you want to go and sleep in their back yard! A great book which I would recommend to anyone.
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