Sandi's Reviews > Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang
Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang
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I think that Kate Wilhelm's Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang really needed to be longer. The scope of the novel is much too large for for its short length. (The audio version is about 11 minutes shy of 8 hours.) The story covers several "generations" and many decades.
I found Wilhelm's prose to be beautiful. Her descriptions of the Shenandoah Valley are richly detailed. She brings each season to life in the imagination with words. The problems I had with the story were mainly with the SF details. I just couldn't believe that the clones from any given genetic stock would be so much of a hive mind. I also found it difficult to believe that the clones would fail to value individuals who were born the old-fashioned way as something more than clone material once they realized that there were outer limits to the number of generations that could be cloned from one individual. I would have especially thought they would have encouraged individuals and individuality simply so they could have people who could travel away from their "siblings" for their much-needed explorations.
The audio production of this story is okay. Anna Fields does a fine job even though she does seem to have a bit of trouble with male dialogue. I do question the use of a female narrator for this book. It is told from the points of view of 3 people of differing generations. 2 of the three characters are men. The woman's part is the shortest of the three and most of the book's characters are male. I think it would have made more sense to use a male narrator or two narrators.
I found Wilhelm's prose to be beautiful. Her descriptions of the Shenandoah Valley are richly detailed. She brings each season to life in the imagination with words. The problems I had with the story were mainly with the SF details. I just couldn't believe that the clones from any given genetic stock would be so much of a hive mind. I also found it difficult to believe that the clones would fail to value individuals who were born the old-fashioned way as something more than clone material once they realized that there were outer limits to the number of generations that could be cloned from one individual. I would have especially thought they would have encouraged individuals and individuality simply so they could have people who could travel away from their "siblings" for their much-needed explorations.
The audio production of this story is okay. Anna Fields does a fine job even though she does seem to have a bit of trouble with male dialogue. I do question the use of a female narrator for this book. It is told from the points of view of 3 people of differing generations. 2 of the three characters are men. The woman's part is the shortest of the three and most of the book's characters are male. I think it would have made more sense to use a male narrator or two narrators.
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Reading Progress
December 2, 2010
–
Started Reading
December 16, 2010
– Shelved
December 16, 2010
– Shelved as:
2010
December 16, 2010
– Shelved as:
post-apocalyptic-dystopian
December 16, 2010
– Shelved as:
sci-fi
December 16, 2010
–
Finished Reading
Comments Showing 1-4 of 4 (4 new)
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Philip
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Dec 29, 2010 09:39PM
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It is a quick listen.
Philip wrote: "I often wonder if I would like audio books more or less if I read the text."
I think it really depends on the book. I've listened to some that I thought would have been better in print. I've listened to others that were just amazing in audio, but get average to poor reviews for the print version. Many, like this one, are neither better nor worse in audio than in print. I do make it a point to listen to the clip on audible before downloading to see if I think the narrator will be good.
Agreed.
That's a good idea about listening to the clip first. The production of the book can make all the difference too. I downloaded A Christmas Carol and it was just aweful... but I didn't have much money, so I got the cheapest one. I listened to a clip of a different version on i-Tunes and it sounded so much better.
Most of the time though, I get my audio books from the library, so if I don't like it I end up listening to something else.