I have heard Simon Vance narrate before and I am well aware of how others have gushed over his narration. While in the past I found him good, I had not found him exceptional… until now. Simon Vance’s narration of The Other Story totally turned me into a Vance fan! ~ Sheila
Best selling author Nicolas Duhamel (Kolt) is staying at a beautiful Tuscan Island Resort with his girlfriend, working on his second novel highly anticipated by his huge fan following and his editor. His debut book, The Envelope, stemmed from his finding out something about his father’s past and the book just flowed….
now..
he doesn’t have crap.
Lying to his editor, his girlfriend, and his many fans who all assume he is on the island fiercely tapping out something amazing, Nicolas instead is spending his time on Facebook posting pictures and watching the “likes” work their magic into the hundreds. He is hanging on Twitter basking in the attention he receives by typing in anything into that 140 character slot what he is eating, profound (so he thinks) thoughts on anything… and watching people… especially the beautiful girls who find him a temptation as a famous author.
And now, years later, as Nicolas feels on the brink of self-destruction, he discovers that there is more to his family history then he had even uncovered… and within that… is,
the other story.
I listened to this book on audio because 1) I have enjoyed Tatiana De Rosney in the past, 2) it’s the story of a best-selling author and 3) Simon Vance narrating is something I did not want to pass up.
My thoughts…
Nicolas Duhamel is an ASS. He is a walking ego having lived off the success of his first book and then making himself a social media icon. HIs ego is so big that it overpowers the book. On Facebook and Twitter he can be a God… when in real life he is a life sucking worm (my words) who leaves destruction in every life he touches.
*whew*
*Dusts off pants.* *stretches*
Ok. Now that I got that out-of-the-way. Never underestimate the power of writing a story about an author… or a book store…. or a book lover… or a book thief :). Many of us readers… LOVE the literary topics. And, as I mentioned above, that was one of the draws to this book.
Narrator Simon Vance ROCKED this audio. He was so engaging, as he discussed the puketastic (my word) Nicolas that I became quite engaged in the story line… probably mostly because I wanted to know
what would happen?
would he write another book?
what would it be about?
My gosh… am I so infatuated with authors that I will forgive them anything? No. In fact, if I would have went the book route with this one, I probably would have given up on it. While beautifully written and descriptive, it felt L O N G. There is a whole lot of story…. and I did not feel a decisive plot. Is the plot the writer’s block? Or something else? Even as the book closed I found myself questioning if there was a set plot.. .or was the whole book a plot?
If I say it enough.. the word plot loses all meaning. And that sounds about right.
There are some good qualities to the read, I would rate it a 3 out of 5, and certain do not rely on my opinion alone on this one.
*Note – this book has some crude, highly sexual chapters that may not be appealing to some readers (including this one)
Please watch this site for June audio book related posts, like this one. For every post you comment on in June that has this audio book symbol:
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Book Journey 
I think I loved one of this author’s first books but after that I wasn’t that interested in her books…yep…not a fan of crude anything!
Its hard to review a read that I enjoyed the writing, enjoyed the narration… didn’t attach to the story 🙂
I … don’t think I have much incentive to read this book.
I was not an excellent promoter here 😉
Good thing that’s not your job! 🙂
Right! I would suck at it! 😛
Ah I could listen to Simon Vance read the phone book… you say giveaway in the title but I can’t see how to enter maybe because I am checking your site on my kindle no other option right now. I want to win. Ehc16e at yahoo dot com. Thanks
The giveaway is at the bottom of the post – the one I have been running all month – comments on all Audiobook posts I write in June enter you 🙂
I really need to give audio books a chance. Maybe start with borrowing from my local library. 🙂
Oh yes!!! And the Library is a great place to start 🙂
Though I’ve meant to I haven’t gotten around to reading any of Tatiana De Rosnay’s books. Based on the your first paragraph under “My thoughts”, this may be the one. I sort of enjoy books that have characters that I can openly and unapologetically dislike.
I hope you enjoy this one Yvonne 🙂
I love audiobooks and I usually end up loving a genre I don’t usually enjoy reading. Having said that, I might give this one a shot just to see if I agree with you 🙂
I love how audio stretches us! I hope you do give it a shot – there is quality to the book… I just became frustrated with it really not going anywhere.
Everyone raves about Simon Vance. I can’t believe with all the audio books I have listened to I haven’t run into him yet! But I can’t wait till I do. … probably not with this book though, LOL
I loved his voice in this one… that’s probably why I finished it 🙂
I enjoyed reading your review. I imagine there would be stress for a writer resting on their laurels. I’m sorry this book did not have more to it.
You know, I wasn’t the biggest fan of Sarah’s Key either which is also by this author. My book club read and for the most part loved it but now that I think about it I think I had some similar thoughts on that one.. I remember there was a romance thread through the book that I did not feel fit…. oh well 🙂
I generally like a bit more plot to my story. It can be beautifully written with strong characters (even if they are asshole egomaniacs) but, if there’s no discernible plot, I have a hard time reading the entire thing. Sounds like the audio version was worth it, though!
It took me a while Mary (because I was caught up in Simon’s voice…) before I realized it seemed to be going …nowhere. 🙂
Agreed! Most of us love how we can relate to bookish people so yay for this. I’m so glad that you loved the audio version and agreed, sometimes books in physical form can be not enjoyable rather than enjoyable ad the audio can totally make a book shine. Vice versa too. Sorry it wasn’t perfect, but glad you enjoyed, Sheila! 🙂
Thanks… it is a weird review… 😛 I like it… but I don’t.
Not sure this story is for me, but I am curious about the narrator on this one.
The narration – or narrator in this case, is definitely worth a try 🙂
Sorry to say…I had the book and gave up on it. Gorgeous cover but nothing interesting inside.
It was no way as good as Sarah’s Key. I just couldn’t get into it.
Thanks for your thoughts.
Audio got me through Elizabeth, I dont think I could have read it to the end.