Sopranos fans must listen to this audiobook

I love The Sopranos, the fictional characters, the actors who brought them to life, the unparalleled writing, the laughing out loud humor, the fascinating parts about organized crime and, of course, the superb music used to elevate and enrich the experience.

I have watched the series 3 times and now I am re-watching it with my wife due to the fact that HBO added audio descriptions which also offer a lot of insight into the story and the characters. Really excited that they did this in 2021.

This is one of those incredibly rare shows that gets even better every time you are watching it again. The Woke Up This Morning audiobook dives even further into all the events surrounding the show and each of the guests will share with us those facts in their own voice, which I always appreciate.


I’ve been waiting for this audiobook for a few months now and today I am really excited to be able to finally listen to it. From cast members to writers and other people involved with the production, each of them will tell their story about how they were a part of The Sopranos.

The Talking Sopranos podcast is also a great resource for those who love the best show in the world and I highly recommend it as well to real fans.

If you are the fan that I think you are, you cannot pass the opportunity to listen to this audiobook! And, by doing this, you will discover behind-the-scenes details about our favorite show.

12 people found this helpful

Really frustrating if you’ve listened to the podcast

I’m a huge Sopranos fan and wanted to love this, but I feel like it was marketed completely inaccurately. There’s nothing new here if you’ve listened to the podcast. I already knew every single story and recognized so many sections as direct transcripts of podcast interviews. (And one huge advantage of the podcast is that you actually hear the actors’ real voices. Here, you’ve got Michael and Steve, but the rest of the voices delivering the interviews are not the actual actors but people who sound eerily like them! I found this so distracting and odd.)

Save your money and listen to the podcast. This is a transcript, not a book.

11 people found this helpful

Not a fan of the "fake" arguing or stilted dialog

If you have listed to the Talking Sopranos podcast you will know that Michael and Steve get into it sometimes over fan theories. Steve doesn't believe any of them and Micheal gives credence to some of them. I'm not a fan of that on the podcast but at least it feels organic. In this book it's dated and forced. In two years no one will know about the podcast and these reenacted arguments will sound even more out of place than they do today.

Also, the dialog between Mike and Steve is stilted at times. Maybe it looks good on paper but spoken aloud it doesn't sound like they are having a conversation. In some places it sounds like Michael is mailing it in.

The book itself is okay. If you listened to the podcast you probably already heard 70% of the content. Still, well worth the credits if you have a ton of them like I do.

8 people found this helpful

Listened to the podcast? This is a transcript.

Nothing new if you listened to the podcast. Don't waste a credit. I could be wrong but it seems like the other narrators imitate the guests.. It's jarring. I heard literally everything on the podcast via YouTube. It's free. I recommend getting The Sopranos Sessions. They did fantastic job and the narration is much better.

5 people found this helpful

Liked it, for the most part.

I only recently discovered the Talking Soprano podcasts. I was excited about the prospect of starting with the first podcast and working my way to current episodes. Then I noticed that most podcasts ran well over 2 hours, which I found a daunting prospect for binge-listening. So rather than feeling disappointed that Woke Up This Morning is derived from those podcasts, I was thrilled. The Sopranos was such a wonderful series, and I loved learning about the many facets of its production as related by the actors, directors and behind the scenes staff. But that leads to my one disappointment with the book. The actual voices of participants in the show are not recorded in the audio version, either in most cases or in all of them. I found it disconcerting to hear Steve and Michael fake speaking to the individuals they interviewed and have the responses delivered by actors who in many cases sounded nothing like the real people they were meant to portray. That was rather off-putting. But most importantly, the content remained interesting and enlightening. I’m not sorry I added this book to my library. I’ll take my time enjoying the podcast episodes so that I can listen to the actual cast and production staff.

2 people found this helpful

Great Book, But... (Audio version)

Excellent repertoire between Michael and Steve; however, they did not have the actual actors in the audio. Somewhat disappointing. Expected to hear from the actual actors, Lorraine, Edie, Jamie Lynn, Robert, Jerry, et. al. and not voice actors.
What a shame. Disclosure should be included in beginning of audiobook.

1 person found this helpful

Amazing return to the sopranos world.

This book brings me to tears hearing stories about Jim Gandolfini. Miss his presence in this world tremendously but Steve and Michael do an amazing job telling these wonderful stories of what transpired during the filming of the sopranos. Thanks for bringing us back guys!

1 person found this helpful

Got Myself A Gun

Interesting insight into the Sopranos. At times repetitive, sometimes worthless information, sometimes humorous. It did have me go back and rewatch the Sopranos.

enjoyable

Loved hearing the back story. Michael and Steve are very entertaining with back forth banter.

Loved it!

A must-listen for all Sopranos fans. I can't say enough good about this book! it brought back so many memories, I'm binge- watching the show again!