The Telling Room

Listener Reviews

1. 3.0(1)

   Digressions on top of digressions on top of....

   I thought this book would never end! The author was very unfocused and rambled on and on. His digressions were endless. For example, while telling of the cheesemaker and how he ended up driving a truck, he somehow got onto the history of Pringles potato chips, which was more then I ever wanted to know, on to some German man, etc. Wait, wasn't this a book about a cheese? He constantly deviated into his tales of woe writing the book and communications from his agent and publisher and excuses as to why he hadn't been able to finish the book. To make it even worse, he was totally unable to maintain a professional distance from his subject. OK, the book did contain some interesting historical information, but it was lost in all the digressions.

   Emilee Rosario · January 28, 2023

2. 3.0(1)

   Unbearable narration.

   Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

   No. The narration made it impossible for me to stick with this book. The reader was over the top and stilted--cringe-worthy. He mispronounced a number of words and was just wrong for the book. Maybe he'd be good with self-help books, but not literature.

   What did you like best about this story?

   Terrific story and well written.

   How could the performance have been better?

   The narrator read this as though he was reading a storybook to children. His delivery was just too emotive...I tried to block it out so I could hear the words, but it was too much for me. I want to point out, however, that many Audiobook readers appeared to like the narration, so it just may be a style that doesn't work for me. I like a flatter, quieter reading so that I am hearing the words, not the narrator's PERFORMANCE of them. This narrator was like a very bad actor in a high school play...again, that's how it came off to me. Best to listen to a clip first.

   Was The Telling Room worth the listening time?

   Not sure. Depends on whether you can accept the narrator's style. Would recommend reading the print version, though. I think it's probably a wonderful book.

   Betsy Abrams · November 17, 2022

3. 3.0(1)

   A little too long but good nevertheless

   Is there anything you would change about this book?

   First time I've found the reader to detract. Too much artifice/contrived in words chosen.

   What did you like best about this story?

   Humor, learned a lot about Spain, history of Spain and world incorporated in to story,

   Who would you have cast as narrator instead of L.J. Ganser?

   ANYONE.

   If this book were a movie would you go see it?

   No.

   Any additional comments?

   Too long - not enough pace in story. Too much digression and redundant.

   Genesis6 · October 17, 2022

4. 3.0(1)

   Overly long and meandering.

   Would you try another book from Michael Paterniti and/or L.J. Ganser?

   Probably not

   If you’ve listened to books by Michael Paterniti before, how does this one compare?

   n/a

   Did the narration match the pace of the story?

   Mostly OK narrator, but he consistently butchered the pronunciation of several Spanish words. That was a serious problem throughout and could have been corrected since the words were fairly common and not difficult.

   Was The Telling Room worth the listening time?

   Moderately so.

   Any additional comments?

   The story line of Ambrosio and the Spanish village is reasonably interesting, although the angle of an overworked American discovering a link to a simpler time through Ambrosio is a bit simplistic. A bigger problem is the meandering nature of the digressions, including too many details about the author's own writing of the book. That part is frankly much less interesting and the book would have been better at about 2/3 of its present length. At times the writing style is too self consciously clever and that detracts from the overall flow. The message that each person's own story constitutes a unique distortion of reality is not surprising and a bit predictable.

   Ryan Thurman · November 21, 2021

5. 5.0(1)

   Culture of Spain

   Loved it. Hard to get going but then you get sucked in and mesmerized. It's not about cheese really, bit then it is. It is about family and Spanish culture and wine making and drinking and campadrees and love and friendship.

   Flora Denneny · November 12, 2021

6. 3.0(1)

   Narrative

   I had to stop listening because the narrative was too boring. I listen while I drive and was falling asleep. The story really interests me but I couldn’t get beyond the narrative.

   Diane Burns · December 13, 2020

7. 3.0(1)

   Great story

   But very poor performance. It's a pity to spoil such a vibrant story with an act that does not have any relation with the spirit of the story, the flow or of the tradition. raksBooks consider the re-recording of the book...

   And while listening, have some cheese to eat around, you will not resist:)

   Abbey Steele · October 9, 2019

8. 3.0(1)

   awfully long winded ...

   and not much point to it. At times lyrical, then boring. I struggled to finish it. If it hadn't been a book club group read, I would have stopped about 1/3 in. The author probably thinks he is enticing us all to move to Catalan. It sounded unbearably grim. All those fueds and grudges! The story-telling elements were interesting.

   Camille St. James · March 24, 2019