Admirable and impressive but hard to care about

It’s brilliantly written and I found the character of Sadie interesting and well drawn. But overall it felt more like a demonstration of research than a novel so I learned stuff but didn’t feel or care much.
This fit the character but, on top of the very detailed, slow story, made for near boredom on occasion.
I also had very mixed feelings about the narration.

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I don’t get it

Why is this book so hyped up? I loved the mars room but this no thanks. Im surprised it’s short listed

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Wonderful

Great story and characters. Funny and moving. Love to hear Rachel reading too. Can’t wait to read and listen to her next book.

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Creative writing

I found this very difficult and wasn’t keen on the narrator/author. There’s no doubt the writing is brilliant but I don’t think it transfers well to audible. I will read the book some time. This could win the Booker 2024

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intelligence Ain't Everything

Intelligence is a weapon, and Sadie knows how to employ it with cold precision and an air of superiority. Intellectual superiority is a theme in this strange soup of a book, which left me feeling like a fish on a hook from the lake that Sadie spends time at while she infiltrates a French environmental activist commune, finding her way into people's heads and beds, whilst pursuing her own agendas. I am all for a calculating and ruthless female protagonist but Sadie is detached and in many ways devoid, filling her time manipulating almost anyone and everyone.

Her only real fixation is on an aged and mysterious activist named Bruno who she only knows via a hacked email account. His treatises on the truth of the neanderthal, histories on ancient civilisations and our western assumptions of superiority are peppered like university lectures throughout the novel, and informs Sadie's framing of her own story, feeding the intellectual curiosity that is required to outsmart, snare and convince her prey, and to justify and position herself, to set her above the mileu she is ensconced with.

It's a lovely unrequited affair of sorts, as Sadie critically evaluates her world in relation to Bruno and his acolytes, an empty vessel shuffling through philosophy and experiences seemingly looking for existential meaning that elevates a life that casts all this aside at a whim.

A very beautifully described but slow thriller (not too many thrills) that almost languishes in its self-reflective athletics. Sometimes intellectual curiosity can feel a chore, and this elevated spy story , like Sadie herself feels just a bit too self-satisfied in its superiority.

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speed up narration

The book itself is extraordinary. The narration nearly killed it. It is so monotonous and slow. I found myself wondering if it was AI and if not, had the narrator even read the book. I couldn't believe it when I spotted that the narration was by the author.

At 1.3x speed, the narration was tolerable, and I did make it to the end. It's a beautiful and amazing book, that deserves a better recording.

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Good tale; horrible narration

An interesting tale, full of oblique information and wisdom, but let down by a truly awful narrator. The flat, harsh monotone of her voice was like a strand of barbed wire, her French pronunciation was neither accurate nor consistent and her complete lack of either inflection or apparent familiarity with each sentence read made listening a real trial. Moral of the story: avoid books read by their author unless that author is a professional actor, presenter or comedian.

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Needs to be re-recorded to do the work justice

The narration is painfully insouciant, detracting from what seems to be a brilliant book. If it is re-recorded, I would definitely repurchase.

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Originality

Good blend of fiction and fact. ( Presuming of course that it was indeed responsibly interpreted)

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Not for me

I DNFd this. I kept waiting for something to happen and got so bored, I couldn’t give it the time or patience any longer. A very frustrating read.

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