Just Listen

Book: Just Listen

Author: Sarah Dessen

Narrator: Jennifer Ikeda

Book Rating: A

Audio Rating: A

The Book:

Talk about amazing characterization. I loved the various stories going on, how Annabel came to discover important things about others and herself, and, of course, the romance. Thank God it ends up happily! If I were going to make any changes, it would probably be to have fewer explicit mentions of the glass house metaphor and how the glass makes it seem like you know what's going on when you really don't. But fantabulous book. I think Dessen did a great job of writing a book that will be fairly timeless, not just in terms of issues but in terms of pop culture references (or lack thereof).

THE AUDIO

The Good:

Just a really great performance. Ikeda sounded great and appropriate for Annabel, and she did a wonderful job of differentiating all the characters' voices and making them sound appropriate. Wonderful narration and voice inflection. The CDs even told you when they were over! I loved this performance.

The Bad:

Not a lot. There were a few parts where I would have used a different inflection, but over all it was just great.

(How many times did I use "great" in this post?)