Burial Rites (audiobook Review)

Title: Burial Rites
Author: Hannah Kent
Narrator:
Pub. Date:
Publisher: Hachette
Length: 9 hours

Audio Book Info:

Set against Iceland's stark landscape, Hannah Kent brings to vivid life the story of Agnes, who, charged with the brutal murder of her former master, is sent to an isolated farm to await execution.

Horrified at the prospect of housing a convicted murderer, the family at first avoids Agnes. Only Tóti, a priest Agnes has mysteriously chosen to be her spiritual guardian, seeks to understand her. But as Agnes's death looms, the farmer's wife and their daughters learn there is another side to the sensational story they've heard.

Riveting and rich with lyricism, BURIAL RITES evokes a dramatic existence in a distant time and place, and asks the question, how can one woman hope to endure when her life depends upon the stories told by others?

Author Info:



Hannah Kent was born in Adelaide in 1985. As a teenager she travelled to Iceland on a Rotary Exchange, where she first heard the story of Agnes Magnúsdóttir.
Hannah is the co-founder and deputy editor of Australian literary journal Kill Your Darlings, and is completing her PhD at Flinders University. In 2011 she won the inaugural Writing Australia Unpublished Manuscript Award.
Burial Rites is her first novel.

My Review:
Hmm... Where to began? This audiobook sounded so interesting and different I couldnt wait to give it a listen but for the most part I had mixed feelings and wasnt impressed with this audiobook.

The plot is interesting, being that its based off a true story. The only problems with the plot though are that the reader knows what is going to happen at the end and that the plot is boring and very, very depressing. I mean I dont mind depressing books, sometimes I love them but this one just seemed to drag on and on and I lost interest quickly in the audiobook.

The characters: As a reader one is very interested in learning about what Agnes is like, why this happened, what got her to this point, etc. However I find Agnes character to be very flat and bleak, which for me as a reader turns me off of the story. There of course are other characters but they are all pretty flat and bleak as well. In the end, I could not really find any redeeming qualities in these characters nor could I relate to them, so I did not really like any of them.

The setting: It is different and unique! I wanted to learn more about a country I dont know much about so this is another reason I wanted to listen to this audio and I did learn some things but the setting did not fully captivate me, which was a bit dsisappointing.

The writting was good, not great yet, I think with practice this author this author could be great because I see a lot of promise! Like I said above there were parts in this audio that dragged and were very boring and I think some parts didnt need to be there as well. I do give this author alot of credit, being that she is young and she must have done lots of research for this book and also she wrote a book that was different.

The narration: I wanted to like the narration because lots of times it can make or break a book and I thought if it was good enough it could make this ok audio into a good one, but alas the naration was ok but not great. The narrator did act a little bit and gave characters different voices (however they wer not very distinctive). I hate to say this but I think the narration of this book also adds to its depressive mood or tone and makes it uninteresting to listen to.  Overall I thought the narration was monotone, flat and lifeless.

Sadly I would not reccomend this audiobook and I dont think it would be better in print either, as I think the names of characters many readers would struggle to read in print. If though as a reader you think you might like this book dont let my review stop you because there might be some readers out there who would like it, sadly I am not one of them. I must admit the book was not horrible but I think its just so depressing and boring that readers lose interest in the book fast.

I would like to thank Mitch from Hachette for letting me listen to and review this audiobook.