Terrible accents - don't waste your money

What could have been an entertaining enough story (even if I was shouting at the stupid, illogical lead character decisions at times), was absolutely ruined by the narrator's unbelievably terrible attempts at Welsh / English accents. I cannot fathom why you would get an American to narrate a book, at least 50% of which includes dialogue by non-American characters, who has no aptitude for foreign accents and has clearly never even bothered to listen to a Welsh accent, never mind English accents. His appalling (and frankly insulting) attempts at accents completely distracted me from the story so much that I just couldn't get into it. And to top it off, as he was clearly having so much trouble doing the accents, all the characters spoke so slowly that they all seemed to have learning difficulties. His one attempt at an Irish accent (speaking as an Irish native myself) was equally pathetic. Do not waste your money on this terrible audiobook!!!

104 people found this helpful

COR BLIMEY G'VNOR!

Would you try another book written by Ransom Riggs or narrated by Jesse Bernstein?

I would try another book by Ransom Riggs; indeed I'd quite like to finish this one, but Mr Bernstein's Welsh/British/Dick Van Dyke/Goodness, Gracious Me accent made me want to shove a sharpened screwdriver into my ear canal, so I have had to abandon it as my grimacing was scaring fellow tube passengers.

I guess that answers the second question?

Who was your favorite character and why?

Didn't get that far. None of the pseudo Welsh characters, suffice to say.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

See above.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children?

Didn't get that far.

Any additional comments?

For the love of God, if you have Welsh characters in a book, why not employ WELSH actors as voice artists? Ever heard of Rhod Gilbert? Ioan Gruffudd? Rob Brydon? Goldie fricking Lookin Chain?

My cat could do a better job than Jesse Bernstein and HE'S got a harelip. Just AWFUL.

68 people found this helpful

Interesting book ruined by narrator

What would have been a quite engrossing listen with a new twist on the alternate reality/gifted children YA genre is ruined by the narrator's appalling attempts at british accents. It is really destroying the book for me as I can't concentrate on the story when I'm busy wincing.

At the beginning of the book it is also stated that a .pdf with the photographs mentioned in the book comes with the download. It would have been great if Audible could make that available to those who have purchased the book.

If, unlike me, you are able to overlook the narrator's shortcomings then this should be an enjoyable listen. For the rest, I would suggest getting the paper edition as the book itself really is pretty good and probably quite engrossing.

41 people found this helpful

TERRIBLE ACCENTS

Would you try another book written by Ransom Riggs or narrated by Jesse Bernstein?

I think I need to read the book - not listen to this version on Audible. The American character's narration is fine - until he comes to Wales when the other voices are a drawling, idiotic Mockney. It's so irritating. I can't listen to any more, even though the story is intriguing. What a shame. Very disappointed.

39 people found this helpful

Jesse Bernstein is an idiot

Someone please send Jesse Bernstein to Wales immediately. His narration is embarrassing. Couldn't enjoy the story.

34 people found this helpful

A great tale with some terrible accents.

Loved the story a mix equal parts fun, intrigue, the creeps and down right heart in your mouth scares. Shame however that Mr Bernstien has the worst set of UK accents I have ever heard. It's like Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins and Don Cheadle in Ocean 11 raised a family of many many many people with equally terrible accents. Everyone sounded like they had a bad cockney accent despite many supposedly being from Wales. When he really went to town the locals sounded more Scottish. The best way I found to get through it was reason that the book is told by Jacob the main character, he was American and so possibly if he was telling me the story in person he may have been bad at accents. As an Englishman I would have stopped him however 5 words in to his first attempt and told him to stop it. If you can get past it then great. I'll probably just buy the next two on my kindle.

22 people found this helpful

Terrible accent meant I couldn't finish the book

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

I was enjoying the story and interested in it until they got to Wales. Unfortunately I had to stop listening to it shortly after that because I couldn't get past the accent. How on earth someone thought it would go unnoticed that the narrator is doing a worse cockney accent than Dick Van Dyke, for people who are supposed to be WELSH, is beyond me!!
It was great up to that point. I would have had no problem with the narrator had it stayed in America. He was doing fine up till the change of country.

Would you be willing to try another book from Ransom Riggs? Why or why not?

Yes, if the accents were better.

Who might you have cast as narrator instead of Jesse Bernstein?

Anyone who can do an American accent and a Welsh accent.

Did Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children inspire you to do anything?

It's the first book I've stopped listening to.

Any additional comments?

If it was brought out again with an improved version, I'd buy it again because I was enjoying the story.

22 people found this helpful

Mostly excellent

What made the experience of listening to Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children the most enjoyable?

The most enjoyable part is the writing. The delivery when set in US was fine (for a children's book.) The story itself is really good.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children?

The most memorable moment was realising the reader was modeling his WELSH accent on Dick Van Dyke's cockney in Mary Poppins

Who might you have cast as narrator instead of Jesse Bernstein?

Gosh, anyone who has even a faint grasp of accents. It would have been better to carry on with his representation of an American Teen (apparently whiney) throughout, instead of trying to do such a dreadful massacre of speech. It was literally painful to listen to what sounded like someone making fun of learning disabilities! If only his 'Welsh' accent was on the sample, I could have saved some money!

Any additional comments?

Such a shame he chose to try an accent. It totally spoiled the experience.

20 people found this helpful

Why would you release this audiobook?!

Seriously?! The reader can't do any accents other than his own! It's massively distracting and hugely detrimental to the enjoyment of the story. All the characters other than Jacob sound the same, and they sound like deranged and brain damaged cockneys!
How difficult would it have been to audition for a voice actor who can actually do other voices like on all the other thousands of audiobooks?

17 people found this helpful

Story ruined by poor narrator

The story was fairly enjoyable. It was unusual, but I did find myself getting a bit bored in places. Mostly, though, I found it quite engaging. For fuller reviews of the story, see Amazon website. 

However, the audiobook was narrated by an American man whose Welsh and English accents were so terrible it was actually pretty funny. Except that it spoilt the book because you just couldn't take it seriously or get into the story. It made it feel farcical all the time. It's a shame. I'm not some fussy pedantic Brit. I can put up with a lot. But this was beyond terrible. It sounded like Dick Van Dyke's accent had been put in a blender with various other strange accents that resembled nothing I've ever heard. There are some excellent voice actors that can do lots of different accents, and you can forgive a lot. I would have preferred just to have a bland English accent instead of this terrible attempt at Welsh or whatever it was he was trying to achieve. The story was strong enough for this not to put me off listening altogether. It's a pity about the awful accents, because the narrator read the prose with feeling and at a good pace.

16 people found this helpful