I don't often write about the books I listen to on audio. I'm a very finicky listener as I've mentioned before, and I have a whole list of criteria that an audio book needs to meet before I know I'll be satisfied by my choice. Even then if the experience doesn't meet my very exacting standards I will abandon it without any qualms. If the story is good, but the reader isn't to my liking I know I can always pick up the actual book. I tend to listen to a lot of radio dramatizations to be on the safe side, which are fun and entertaining and usually don't require more than a couple of hours attention easily met by a week's (or less) worth of walks to and from the bus stop.
As for actual novels my listening experiences have been hit or miss. I think I can count on one hand (certainly less than two hands' worth in any case) the number of audio books I have listened to--glued to my headphones so to speak and loved the story, reader and overall experience. Now I can add Alex Marwood's The Wicked Girls to the list. The book recently won a 2014 Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original, so it was a coincidence that I happened to have loaded it onto my player several months back and had finally gotten around to listening to it (all 14 hours and 11 minutes). Listening to mysteries (the same is true for nonfiction--so many details!) can be an iffy prospect. If you get distracted (and I walk outside while listening) and miss some important clue, the story tends to lose some oomph.
Everything came together perfectly this time out. The story is utterly engaging. Marwood takes her time spinning out the story, but of course this is a suspenseful tale so once she has your attention (and she had mine pretty early on) she lets out a little line and then reels you in, then lets a little more line out and then reels in faster and faster until those last urgent moments of the story. And since this is audio the other part of the equation is how the reader presents the story. This is not a dramatization, so there are no bells and whistles, just the steady but very capable voice of Anna Bentinck reading the story which has a number of characters and narrators and each is carefully distinguished from the others. She was almost too good to be honest. There are one or two rather smarmy characters and whenever their thoughts took center stage I practically shuddered.
The Wicked Girls is all about perception and reality. It's a story filled with many shades of grey. It's about culpability and what it means to commit a crime that you don't intend to commit. A crime you don't even realize you are committing, because you are young and have had no guidance. You might be from a good family or one filled with problems. In either case there are no adults around to look after you properly. But are you responsible for your actions. You alone and no one else? There are always two sides to every story, though unless you are intimately involved you won't know all the sides. You only know what is presented to you, and what is filtered through the perceptions, beliefs and morals of others. The Wicked Girls gets intimately into the minds of two young girls who commit an unspeakable crime and must spend the rest of their lives living with their actions and trying to create some sort of decent life for themselves.
I won't go into too much detail about the story as part of what makes it so good is to let it spin itself out slowly. There are two parallel stories and while there is a mystery to it all, it's not what you think of as being a proper mystery. You know the crime and the culprits from the start. Marwood just fills in the details, which you know are coming but as you get to know the characters you are inwardly cringing for them wishing what happened, what is going to happen, will all turn out differently.
It's all neatly done. It does take some attention to line up each character from that one horrible day in 1986 when two eleven-year-old girls meet, who spend only a few hours together but whose lives will by the end be shattered and changed irrevocably, to twenty-five years later when a series of crimes takes place in a seaside town. Happy childhood memories of days spent on the beach and the piers next to Fun Land, hands sticky with cotton candy, take on a menacing and sinister tone as the author shares the seedy underside and strips bare the realities and hypocrisies of a small town and its narrow-minded residents.
I am never quite sure whether to add an audio book to my sidebar list of books read, but in this case I think it counts. The dilemma now is how to follow up such a good listening experience as this. I have quite a few unlistened to audio books ready to go, but for some reason the list is heavy on nonfiction, which I think I am not in the mood for (to listen to that is), as well as a classic. There are several partially listened to books that I think I won't go back to now as I didn't like the reader. I could pick another book read by Anna Bentinck. Most likely I will browse the new audio books lists for something that sounds good (literally and figuratively in this case). This is one of the rare instances where I do read the reviews and will be swayed by bad ones. Have you listened to anything especially good lately?
Can't wait to give this one a try. I'm not much for listening to books on tape, though. I'm happier holding the book in my own hands. :) (That way I can always skip ahead to see what's going to happen next.)
Posted by: Lark | May 22, 2014 at 04:14 PM
I just enjoyed Juliet Stevenson's reading of Virginia Woolf's "A Room of one's own"
A good reader adds to enjoyment a Bad causes the off button to be depressed ..but it is very subjective. I prefer accents to match the book and generally prefer a Straight read to 'voices' that don't match the character for some reason. Gosh I sound picky...I probably am. But a good book well read is a real pleasure and a great treat :0)
Posted by: Val | May 22, 2014 at 05:35 PM
That's funny, I just posted my review of this book today, too. I thought it was pretty excellent. I didn't expect it to be as much of a character study as it turned out to be, and I liked that it had that *and* enough suspense to keep the pages turning.
Posted by: Megan | May 22, 2014 at 07:16 PM
How fun that you found a good audiobook! I think they definitely count as books you read so add them to your sidebar! I only really like listening to audiobooks on road trips and since I haven't taken any of those in quite a long time I haven't listened to any books either.
Posted by: Stefanie | May 23, 2014 at 09:34 AM
I am a very picky audio book listener, so I can perfectly understand your hesitation. If there is a book I really want to read I might listen to it on audio *after* I read it, but otherwise I always choose to read a paper book. If I am sort of interested in a story but unlikely to read it any time soon, then I might listen to it on audio. Sounds weird, but it actually works.
Posted by: Danielle | May 23, 2014 at 10:49 PM
I am very picky, too, and I don't think your preferences sound in the very least unreasonable. I also like the accent to match--but a real accent please and not someone just trying to sound British or Australian or whatever.... I like a good reader who can differentiate voices based on gender and class but that can be hard to pull off too. I have not thought of trying Virginia Woolf on audio--I think that might be a good approach to her work--listen AND read--thanks for the idea. And I will look for Juliet Stevenson, too!
Posted by: Danielle | May 23, 2014 at 11:03 PM
I will check it out this weekend! :) Serendipity! I was pleasantly surprised as well. I thought it would be a fluffy sort of listen which is why I picked it. But it was completely absorbing and well written, too. The author actually gives you lots to think about and not just a straight crime story. Definitely a page turner!
Posted by: Danielle | May 23, 2014 at 11:05 PM
Yup--I decided to add it! I tend to listen to audio books more in the spring and summer (in winter it is just way too cold to try and mess around with ear phones). They can be quite enjoyable when I am walking outside (my walk to the bus stop is about 20 minutes and walking to downtown for my library visits about half an hour)--so I can get in some decent listening time if I am not too lazy to pull out my MP3 player and get it ready for listening.
Posted by: Danielle | May 23, 2014 at 11:08 PM
I found the Virginia Woolf at the library it was downloadable ..so easy to access and free! I love the way they allow you to listen to a sample before borrowing an audio book..it makes a difference doesn't it :0)
Posted by: Val | May 23, 2014 at 11:24 PM
I have an Audible subscription (though before I used the library a lot for audio books on my MP3 player). Yes, I could not do audio books (at least not pay for them) without being able to listen to a sample first. It takes lots and lots of browsing and sampling before I find something I think I will like. I need to listen to more classics--it's actually helpful to read and then listen (or vice versa). I keep thinking I will listen to The Iliad and then read the story....eventually anyway.
Posted by: Danielle | May 23, 2014 at 11:31 PM
Now I really wish I'd picked up a copy of this book when I saw it in the supermarket. I considered doing so many times but then hesitated because I hadn't read a review! Anyway, I will definitely pick it up now - I do like the sound of it.
Posted by: litlove | May 24, 2014 at 10:51 AM
I thought this book was excellent too. Read it on the strength of someone's blog review (can't remember whose). I reject a lot of audiobooks too. It has to be just the right book, at the right time. One I did enjoy was Reconstructing Amelia, by Kimberley McCreight. The narrator nails the teenage girl tone, and it's an engaging, if also sad, story.
Posted by: Anne Simonot | May 25, 2014 at 10:30 AM
I will have to pick this one up. maybe even on audio! (gulp) I loved your description of being a finicky listener, so much that it got me thinking about my own criteria for listening to books instead of reading them.... and that inspired my latest blog post. So, thank you!!
Posted by: Byrd | May 25, 2014 at 12:26 PM
This does sound good but I'm really not much of an audio book person. I wonder which genre works best. I think crime.
Posted by: Caroline | May 26, 2014 at 01:28 PM
I do the same thing--sometimes a book sounds good, but....good enough to buy untested? I think you would be safe with this one. I really thought it well done--the reader was excellent but I am sure I would have enjoyed reading a paper copy, too!
Posted by: Danielle | May 26, 2014 at 04:27 PM
Hi Anne, thanks for the suggestion--I will give it a listen--I always check out lots of samples on Audible before choosing. Did you listen to this one or read it? I had actually checked this one out from the library initially but then didn't get it read before it had to go back to the library. I am so glad I decided to give the audio a try. It has been the best audio experience I have had in a long time!
Posted by: Danielle | May 26, 2014 at 04:29 PM
Hi Byrd--will have to go and check it out now--you have me intrigued. I like the idea of audio books but if the reader doesn't have just the right voice it will ruin the experience and I can't imagine spending ten or even more hours listening to it! A good reader, though....this one was excellent. If you can--I think you don't even need to belong to Audible--give the sample a try and see if you like it. I thought she nailed the voices!
Posted by: Danielle | May 26, 2014 at 04:31 PM
I can't listen to books that have too much detail, so an intricate mystery would probably be out--I might listen to a book I have already read, though. In this case, it was more crime/suspense which worked out perfectly. Even if you don't think the audio is for you, you should check out the book--the story is really well done, and the book won an award, too.
Posted by: Danielle | May 26, 2014 at 04:32 PM
I read this on your recommendation and loved it--- thank you so much!! Started off on audio but needed it to go faster so I switched to the book.
Posted by: Byrd | June 30, 2014 at 05:38 PM
So glad you liked it, too! I think it would make for a great read--I tend to waver on audio books. I start to listen and then will often set it aside, but I have to say I was riveted to this one! I think she has at least one other book out--I was looking on the UK Amazon site--may have to look into her other books now!
Posted by: Danielle | July 02, 2014 at 09:37 PM
I just read her latest (A Killer Next Door) and loved it too! She somehow managed to make it the same style and same sort of book as The Wicked Girls, yet completley unique.
Posted by: Byrd | January 11, 2015 at 09:13 AM
Ooh, must add it to my wishlist now and will go look it up. I am guessing it is only in hardcover at the moment? I love it when an author can pull off another book as well as the first (though she might have a number of books published?) and still make it fresh and new! Thanks for the heads up! :)
Posted by: Danielle | January 11, 2015 at 05:15 PM