Giving the Narrator One Star is Generous!

I couldn't listen for more than 30 minutes because the reader is HORRIBLE! Why would anyone choose him over Dick Hill? I recommend buying the Kindle edition for a more enjoyable experience.

82 people found this helpful

Terrible Narrator - Really, really BAD

What would have made Natchez Burning better?

Someone else reading it. A pro like Scott Brick or Dick Hill. Lorelei King would have been a million times better than this guy!

What could Greg Iles have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Love Greg Iles - hate this narrator's performance so much that I could not get through the first chapter.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

In everyway possible. Over-acted, no enunciation, way too much voice inflection. Just terrible, terrible performance. The company that released it would do well to just toss this performance and get someone else to read it.

What character would you cut from Natchez Burning?

none. I couldn't get through the first chapter because of the narrator.

Any additional comments?

I vote to permanently ban the narrator from ever performing on another audio book.

115 people found this helpful

Can't get past reader

What made the experience of listening to Natchez Burning the most enjoyable?

Just started book but worst reader ever. I can't hear story because of extreme theatrics of reader.. This is very disappointing.

120 people found this helpful

Mississippi Burned

The audio version of NATCHEZ BURNING is such a disappointment. I'm finishing it in hardcover.

Perhaps I'd have a different view had the narrator (and the producer) not decided that this should be orally portrayed as a Shakespearean tragedy to be shout-acted from the stage.

Maybe that too could have worked if he could call on the range of voices needed for the myriad characters introduced in the first quarter of the book (I've heard). But, he doesn't; nor does he have the requisite acting skills. His gaudy effusions evoke a blushing empathy and recollections of my summertime TV conflicts with Mom to drown out the latest, worst soap opera hero.

Our narrator here sounds as if he's going for the voice of a 1960s Southern black from the documentaries on the civil rights battles of the 50s and 60s: FOR ALL OF HIS CHARACTERS (with some slight moderations), from the 1960s African American to the numerous KKK rednecks-from-hell to the lily-white main character, a Southern mayor in the 2000s.

In short, the narrator gets in the way of THE STORY. I bought the audiobook because of THE STORY. It seems like the publisher would want to hire a narrator that at least, if he couldn't help the story, would not hurt it.

On the bright side though, I've purchased the book in hardcover and look forward to finishing it in the ink. My parents grew up in Natchez during the early period of the book so I was looking forward to this in audio. Oh well.

83 people found this helpful

WHERE IS DICK HILL????

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The narrator! I am having such a hard time listening to this. I think I would be better off reading it. Story is great but I am having such a hard time enjoying this because of the narrator.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

This is the worst narrator I have ever listened to. After listening to all of the previous with Dick Hill who is wonderful, I am so disappointed. His inflections and candece is just wrong and no southern accent.

Any additional comments?

Who picks the narrator? They should be forced to listen to this!

91 people found this helpful

Worst narration of an audio book in history!

What disappointed you about Natchez Burning?

I have been a fan of Greg Iles for a long time and have been waiting for this book for YEARS! The previous narrator in the series (dick hill) was THE voice of these characters and the nuance he added to the story helped make them my favorite audio books. Why they would change to a new narrator is beyond me and why they would use someone who from the sound of it has never actually heard someone from the south speak is flabbergasting. I've never been more disappointed in a book in my life.

What did you like best about this story?

The end of the screeching

What didn’t you like about David Ledoux’s performance?

Nothing to like. AWFUL

72 people found this helpful

I enjoyed it.

Perhaps more than one narrator would have made the performance better. At times Mr. Ledoux and his various accents left a bit to be desired. Other than that, I love Greg Isle and I'm getting ready to start Bone Tree right now.

41 people found this helpful

Great story about prejudice in the South. In the past and the present.

Greg Iles is one of my favorite authors. The main reason is that his novels can not be easily categorized. I usually prefer crime/mystery stories . And this one is both. And very suspenseful. Not a moment goes by when you've really calculated which way the story will go next. I also appreciated the narration. Overall the perfect southern story. I've always lived in the southern US, and unfortunately know many of these opinions still prevail. My only hope is that future generations will grow up without all the ingrained bias the 50's and 60's .

5 people found this helpful

Bloated

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

I have no idea who might enjoy this book. Maybe people with short term memory loss; people who need to hear the same episodes and the same ideas repeated over and over and over. How many times do normal people need to hear that Penn is worried that the APB might be dangerous for his father?

Would you ever listen to anything by Greg Iles again?

Probably not.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

I do not know how much my distaste for the book influenced my opinion of the narrator's performance.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

I was very disappointed. I have enjoyed the Penn Cage series up until this turkey.

Any additional comments?

This book seemed bloated to me. Too many characters really did not add much to the telling of the story. Too many things written about as though they were important and then abandoned. Why tell us about Albert's records in the fireproof underground records if they are not going to play a part in the book. Too many characters that behave like no one would ever act. If this is a prequel to another book, it is way too long. The action was not believable. Henry went from ICU to hero. Penn shot a tempered steel chain in two.

11 people found this helpful

Iles Returns to Writing, Returns to Natchez-Almost

After a near death collision in 2011, Iles has struggled back to give readers what he says is the *first of a trilogy,* the very ambitious Natchez Burning. From what little I've read about his accident it seems a miracle the author made this return. It's good to know that Iles is recuperating well and will continue to write. Whether or not I'll continue to read...I'm still uncertain. The word *trilogy* attached to this 800 page behemoth has me feeling like someone just offered me a piece of pie after I just finished a pie eating contest.

I've liked this author's previous books and especially found his portrayal of Mississippi seductive. Though his novels are consistently heavy on the violence, the morality of Penn Cage and his dedication to family, truth, and justice, as well as his love for the South, have always kept me wanting to return. Natchez Burning was the first of his books that I've had to force myself to continue. Substantial in both page count and story, Iles has over achieved in ways, and may have sacrificed some of the important points he is trying to make regarding the racial history of the American South. In comparison with the previous Iles novels I've read, this one was poorly edited (very poorly edited), congested with an overabundance of psychopathic sadists, and stuffed with pointless digressions and repetition, repetition, repetition. For me, much of the book seemed implausible, and the focus drifted from the civil unrest of the South that I was interested in following, to the gratuitous violence of Iles' characterizations of vitriolic *good 'ol boys* in white hoods.

Dick Hill has always been as much of the Iles novels as Will Patton is James Lee Burke, Ray Porter and Jonathan Mayberry...but I came to accept Ledoux, more than I accepted this work of Iles. There is a good and entertaining story here, but in so many ways, this was not the Iles I'm used to. Sadly, not up to my expectations.

35 people found this helpful