Thérèse Plummer's over-the-top narration and several mispronunciations of celebrated people's names are distracting elements in this audiobook. The author presents it as having both new information and new perspectives on the troubled life and somewhat mysterious death of American movie icon Marilyn Monroe. Emphasizing her final two years, the audiobook has an emotional tone that is frantic and given to the sensational. Plummer's attempts to assume the voices of many of the characters are less than spot-on. Monroe's boundless ambition and psychological struggles are set against the times in which she lived; details and anecdotes are backed up with significant detail and research. Listeners will decide from their own perspectives whether fresh insight and facts are present here.
Pub Date: Aug. 14, 2018
Duration: 12 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781427297846
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
James Michener tells the real stories behind the man and his books. The recording is read with skill and consistency although the reader does little to enhance the robust, larger-than-life incidents related in the book. Due to the first-person narrative format, there is no opportunity for the narrator to change his voice. This makes some chapters monotonous as they go on and on in the typical Michener style. The listener may also become confused because the stories are not told chronologically. This is not a great choice for the audio format, but Michener fans may stick with it to the end.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 22 hrs
Publisher: Books on Tape
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
In a quest for a sense of inner contentment and self-worth, Gloria Steinem brings the reader on a journey of investigation and discovery. Steinem reads the text herself in a straightforward and friendly, but not intimate, presentation which is so easy to listen to it invites repetition--thus ensuring the painless relearning of the lessons of the book. It's difficult to tell from the reading that this audiobook is abridged; each section can stand alone. Nonetheless, the listener wished the book were unabridged. Steinem left me wanting to learn more.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 3 hrs
Publisher: Dove Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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