Look away, Look away (audio book review)

Title: Look Away, Look Away
Author: Wilton Barnhardt
Narrator: Scott Shepard
Pub. Date: August 20 2013
Publisher: Macmillian Audio
Length: 16hrs

Audio Book Info:

Jerene Jarvis Johnston and her husband Duke are exemplars of Charlotte, North Carolina’s high society, a world where old Southern money and the secrets behind it meet the new wealth of bankers, real estate speculators, and carpetbagging social climbers. Steely and implacable, Jerene presides over her family’s legacy of paintings at the Mint Museum; Duke, the one-time college golden boy and descendant of a Confederate general, whose promising political career was mysteriously short-circuited, has settled into a comfortable semi-senescence as a Civil War re-enactor. Jerene’s brother Gaston is an infamously dissolute bestselling historical novelist who has never managed to begin his long-dreamed-of masterpiece, and their sister Dillard’s unfortunate life decisions and losses have rendered her a near-recluse.

As the four Johnston children—smart but reckless Annie, good-boy minister Bo, might be gay but that’s okay Joshua, and damaged, dangerous Jerilyn—flounder in their adult lives, Jerene must take action to preserve the family's legacy, Duke’s fragile honor, and what's left of the dwindling family fortune. She will stop at nothing to keep what she has—is it too much to ask for one ounce of cooperation from her heedless family?

  In Lookaway, Lookaway, Wilton Barnhardt has written a full-bore, headlong, hilarious narrative of a family coming apart, a society changing beyond recognition, and an unforgettable woman striving to pull it all together.

Includes a bonus interview between Wilton Barnhardt and George Witte, editor-in-chief of St. Martin's Press.

My Review:

When I frist read that this book was to be a satire I knew I really wanted to listen to it because I like satires alot but this one not so much.

In the first place I do not understand how it is even considered a satire the book is not funny its just boring and droning and pretty terrible. There are several reasons I say this audiobook is terrible.

1. The writting is bad: The plot does not make sense and jumps all over the place. The plot is also very boring and the reader loses interests in it quickly.

2. The characters are very shallow and unlikable. I didnt enjoy reading about the plights of any of this characters and didnt care what happened to them. I have met people like this in real life who were also unlikable so I could relate to the characterization somewhat but it just reminded me how annoying people like these characters are and how I dont like them.

3. The themes: This book takes place in the south, so a theme is presented of how the South still talks about the Civil War and lives in the past. Another theme we see is these southren characters dislikes of certain groups like Gays and Blacks for example. I understand how these themes came about and while some people are like that still living in the past and disliking certain people, its not true of everybody and hatred can be found everywhere. The annoying thing about these themes it seemed like the other kept repeating them and repeating them and it was for me like " alright already we get it!".

4. Another thing that is annoying is there is alot of swearing. While I dont mind swearing sometimes I think the author just put it in here just to swear.

5. The stories about college life in the Frat and Sorroities that some of the characters are in is also annoying. These stories are cringe worthy in the first place and only make you dislike these characters even more. It also is of the assumption that the author is trying to push his view that all Greek Life is like this. While some Greek Life may act like that it is not true or all but basically the author shows Greek Life in a negative light and it is annoying.

I thought however that maybe the narattion might help this book out a little, but boy was I wrong there as well.

The narrator was southren (or sounded southren) and that drawl just made the book worst. He spoke so monotone he made me want to fall asleep and made it difficult to get through this audio book. Tp best describe it for me it sounded like a boring old grandpa telling you a story you didnt want to hear and then the person drones on and on.

I would not recommend this audio book to anyone, it is actually a really horrible audio book. It is not enjoyable to listen to at all and I dont think the print version would be any better.

I would like to thank Susan from Audio Book Jukebox for letting me listen to and review this audio book.