Customer Reviews

Island Beneath the Sea CD

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

In the past I have greatly enjoyed the audiobooks of Isabel Allende, narrated by Blair Brown. I have listened to Daughter of Fortune, Portrait in Sepia, Zorro, and Ines Of My Soul. It seemed to be the perfect blending of narrator and author.

I'm not sure why Blair Brown was dropped for Allende's latest novel, Island Beneath The Sea, but her talent is sorely missed here. Allende is pretty much top notch, though the story is a bit more soap opera than usual, meaning that the characters seem to go through a lot of plot without necessarily being motivated in that direction. Perhaps that's to show the victimization by circumstance of all of the characters by the institution of slavery? Perhaps.

Nevertheless it's quite entertaining, fast moving, well researched, and involving, though maybe not on the same level as Ines Of My Soul.

The real problem for me was the narration. The reader seemed to be reading the material for the first time. You could tell that the author was really trying to enunciate, but that just got in the way of the storytelling. And when she wasn't enunciating carefully, she ended up mumbling a bit, or dropping parts of words. My ears struggled quite a bit.

Ms. Merkerson sounds like she is reading a book, whereas Blair Brown sounds like she is telling a story. It makes all the difference. I give this four stars for the novel, and two and half for the narration.

For fans of television's popular series Law & Order S. Epatha Merkerson is a familiar name. However, although her six year stay as Lt. Anita Van Buren on that program brought her many accolades, it is only a small part of her resume.

Raised in Detroit, Michigan, Merkerson was a dance major at Wayne State University until a friend asked her to come to attend the friend's drama class. It was there that she discovered what she truly wanted to do. So, after graduation she headed for New York City to carve out a career as an actress.

It was not too long before her gifts were recognized - she earned a Tony nomination for best actress for her role in The Piano Lesson as well as the Drama Desk Award and the Helen Hayes Award. Television and screen roles followed.

Many of us recall not only Merkerson's first-rate performances but her voice - a tad husky yet clear, resonant. Listeners will thoroughly enjoy her reading of Isabel Allende's spellbinding ISLAND BENEATH THE SEA.

Set in the French colony that will later become Haiti and using the revolt of 1804 plus several historical figures in her narrative the multi talented author relates the story of Zarite, called Tete. Her life is a mirror in which we see reflected the horrors of slavery, and the brutality of the lives endured by those who worked on the sugar cane plantations.

Tete is the mulatto daughter of a mother she never knew and a white sailor. When Toulouse Valmorain arrives in 1770 he intends that his visit will be brief. However, he inherits his father's vast holdings - plantations and hundreds of slaves. He buys Tete as his wife's slave little knowing how their lives will intertwine. Days are perilous during the slave revolt and although Tete hates her master she has borne him two children, so she escapes with him to New Orleans to protect her offspring.

It is there in an entirely different world that Tete attempts to create a life for herself.

As is her wont Allende has created complex, fascinating characters, unforgettable people whose lives have been caught up in situations not of their own doing. Tete' is a remarkable figure, struggling against almost insurmountable mores and odds.

- Gail Cooke

I wanted to comment even before reading, that a poster commented that Halle Berry would be good as the actress in a movie.
Just looking at the beautiful cover, Thadi Newton(sp) comes to mind, the girl on the cover even resembles her. Now on to some great reading.

Audio Book: The Island Beneath the Sea (2010)

Author: Isabel Allende

My Story with: I got this audio book from the local library during Spring Break, but I just finished listening to it today. Before you ask, I did renew it (so, no fines for me). It took me a little to start listening, but after half way through I finally picked up the pace. In reality it took me way longer than I was hoping, but I used a 14 yrs. old CD player without a memory.

My Listening Experience: It took me a minute to get use to the narrator tone and pronunciation. I listened to the book's English translation with Creole, Spanish and French vocabulary. It was a little difficult to understand the names and places the first time over, but after couple of times you get used too it. In general the narrator provided a great experience and sense of individuality to each character and situation.

After Listening: The story itself, as many of Isabel Allende books, starts with a bang and brings you in quickly, but by the end it was lacking a direction and a well deserve resolution. If this was her first or second novel, it will be a five on my rating. Since I started reading her work when I was 14 yrs. old, I expected more from her. Maybe she is planning a sequel or simply she concentrated on the main character without considering relevant the secondary characters stories.

There are many characters with intrinsic stories that call for more development. It will be great to present them as a group of short stories in which the reader can learn a little more about what happens next with them since they are only mentioned loosely by the end of the book.

The material was well researched and the characters felt real. So real I did some research myself after I finished reading to see if I could find anything else about some of them (especially the Valmorain descendant). The époque, life styles and locations were a main component and backdrop for the novel.

What I like the most: the story itself was great and worth many volumes. It was easy to imagine yourself looking at the story developing from a corner.

I wanted more: information on what happens to some of the characters after Zarite narrates her final thoughts.

Who should read it: Any Isabel Allende lover. Plus, anyone wanting to learn more about Caribbean history and its relationship with its colonial origins.

This is the single worst reading of an audio book I have ever heard. The reader mispronounces words in French, Creole, and English. She seems especially uncomfortable with French, and mispronounces important names and terms over and over again. In English, she gives unexpected pronunciations and sometime pronounces common words differently at different times.

She reads with no insight whatsoever, annoyingly emphasizes adjectives inappropriately, and breaks up phrases to the point where there are nearly incomprehensible. There is nothing in her reading that suggests the natural rhythms of speech.

Good readers understand what they are reading, know where they are going, communicate the author's tone, irony, and sense of humor, and vary the pace. In short, they help the listener understand the text.

This reader does none of these.

If George Guidall is the best reader, this reader is the worst.

Isabel Allende has again written a powerful novel. She includes historical characters along with her fictional ones to strengthen her narrative.
Ms Merkerson has a rich voice and articulates beautifully in English. However her French pronunciation is flawed and as I was listening I found myself correcting her. With her skill I'm sure she could have been effectively coached in a language which was obviously unfamiliar to her. Her poor French spoiled the experience for me.

Isabel Allende, a popular, best-selling author is also a writer who clearly does her homework. This is a well researched story with fully realized characters, set in a tumultuous time period. The women and men in the book struggle to find a life of meaning and some measure of happiness during slavery, civil war and forced exile. Island Beneath the Sea, published within a year of the devastating earthquake in Haiti, also helps to put into perspective some of the history of this troubled land by making it personal. S. Epatha Merkerson does an excellent job with the French, Spanish and Creole dialects, as well as the African names. Her voice resonates with the languid language of the plantation as well as the passionate voices of the revolution. It is rich, fluid and deep like the people in the book. Though I usually enjoy actually reading Allende's books, I'm glad in the end that I chose to listen to this rich story on audio instead.

If only every narrator could be as wonderful as S. Epatha Merkerson! Merkerson's narration is stellar, and she makes Allende's lyrical novel come to life. (Some listeners may recognize her as the police chief in Law and Order) Her performance elevates an already amazing book. Allende's latest historical fiction brings readers to 18th century Haiti where young slave Zarite is sold as a household servant to a French plantation owner. Her life trajectory eventually brings her to New Orleans shortly before France sells the region to America. Allende works her usual magic, and fans will delight in this exotic tale. With Haiti and New Orleans dominating the news presently, Allende will educate readers on the violent history of both regions. Merkerson's performance is masterful! Her pace is perfectly swift, she slips seamlessly between French and English, and strikes a balance between dramatization and narration. This is the best audio production I've listened to all year.