Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Sex Lives of Cannibals

The Sex Lives of Cannibals
By J. Maarten Troost

272 pages
8 hours and 35 minutes listening time

Grade C-

FINALLY! This book has been on my To Be Read list for AGES. And when I say ages, I mean AGES. Because I am one for covers, I picked this book up probably 4 years ago at the book store because of it's catchy title and it's interesting cover. I have moved this book from house to house, from room to room, and then eventually I succumbed to the truth that I was just never going to read it and donated it about 6 months ago. Well on one of my online book clubs, we did a buddy read, and this was one of the only books that my "buddy" and me had on our lists. So I went and found it on audio so I could finally do the almighty cross off the list.

As much as I wanted to like this book, because I really really really did want to like it, I struggled, and struggled. It took me a week and a half to finish an 8 hour audio book. After the first half, I started to get a little more into it. This couple, Maarten and Sylvia move to Tarawa, an island that seems to have been forgotten by the rest of the world. But their adventures are pretty neat.

The power is only on for parts of the day, there isn't hardly any water. The natives eat dogs and cats because there isn't any wildlife on the island. The islanders only listen to the Marcarena, and their customs are very strange. However the author's humor is very dry, which is usually something I really like. So I am not sure if it was the narrator that I wasn't 100% in love with or what. But it is a funny book, but I was kinda let down after all the years it took me to finally read it.

7 comments:

Mardel said...

You might have liked it better reading it rather than listening. Then again, not all books are interesting.

How do you like listening to audio in general? I've never tried it, myself. I remember one time reading the book, The 10th Kingdom, then later saw the movie and one of the characters was totally ruined for me after watching it. In the book I pictured him kind of sly, yet attractive (the wolf) but in the movie he whined - seriously whined a lot and it bothered me. So I'm a bit hesitant to listen to books.

Randi@SowderingAbout said...

Sometimes that happens with books, I find I might enjoy them better if I read them than listened to them, however I usually only realize that when I am either almost done or completely done and by that time, I just stick it out.

I LOVE audio books. Certain books are wonderful on audio, like Harry Potter, Thirteen Reasons Why, Will Grayson Will Grayson, and a few others.

I particularly like books on audio if they have a lot of foreign words because I like to hear how they are supposed to sound as opposed to how I think they sound in my head. Like The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series. It was easier to listen to those books because there was a lot of words in those books that I couldn't pronounce (I listened and read the first two of that series)

However, there have been a few books where audio sucks. The Gurnsey Literary and Potato Pie Society was one of them. I started that on audio and couldn't keep up, so I just picked it up in paper and was done in about 4 days.

If you are going to try audio, start with the Harry Potter series. They are narrated by a guy named Jim Dale who actually won awards and is in the book of world records for the most "character" voices done in a book. I love Jim Dale, he is honestly my favorite narrator.

Good Luck!

Daddd said...

U know why cannibals don't eat comedians?.......Because they taste funny!......So when can I "borrow" the Kindle?

Shauna Bo Bauna said...

Time to Start "To Kill a Mockingbird"

Daddd said...

So I guess everyone already knew why cannibals don't eat commedians...

Randi@SowderingAbout said...

It wouldn't be because they taste funny would it?

Daddd said...

Maybe if I explained the joke?