Paper Palace

THE WALKING BOOK CLUB SNEAKER RATINGS:

Motivation to Move: 3.9 Sneakers
Quality of Narration: 4.0 Sneakers
Overall Experience: 4.0 Sneakers
Moving and listening time: 12 hours 37 minutes. 10 hours 31 minutes at 1.2 tempo

REVIEW: New England in the Summer

I’ve enjoyed many Reese’s Book Club picks, so I opted for another selection from her list when I needed a new audiobook for moving and listening. The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller didn’t grab me right away but was a worthy selection in the literary fiction genre.

Cowley Heller is gifted with descriptive prose. If you’ve ever spent any time on the New England coast in the summer, she magically captures the sights, sounds, smells, tastes, textures, and subtleties of the area. This aspect of the audiobook was enjoyable, hence a solid four Sneaker Rating for Overall Experience.

McNamara does an excellent job at voice differentiation of the various characters. As a result, the listener will notice different accents that assist in the enjoyment of the audiobook. For example, Peter’s English accent works. Still, I question whether I was not too fond of the main character’s mother, Wallace, because of how McNamara chose to vocalize the character or Wallace’s personality. I tend to speed up the narration, but The Paper Palace is well-paced at normal.

The Paper Palace is a solid audiobook but not one that will have you eager to move more. However, Cowley Heller’s story is a good audiobook option if you’re looking for something easy to plug into and put down when needed. Thus, the Sneaker Ratings for Motivation to move fall a little below four.

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