Audiobooks discussion

I wanted to ask if it's a dealbreaker for people who dislike the narrator's way of telling the story.
Do you listen anyway?
Do you just buy the book?

I listened but not out of choice. The book, The Island by Victoria Hislop, was chosen by my book club. The book is bad enough but the narrator was dire. I did finish it but is was purgatory.

I try to slog on through, usually find myself upping the speed to get to the end quicker. Then, if I feel I missed out on a what may of been a good read I go buy the book.
Only once found the narrator so "unlistenable" I couldn't even finish the book and returned it.
Funnily enough this was an old favourite I had read a while back and I wanted to reread, so maybe he just didn't read it how I had visualised it all those years ago!

I'm guilty of never listening to the sample audio before purchasing a book. What can I say I'm an optimist despite listening to some terrible narrators? If I were to listen to the sample and dislike the narrator I wouldn’t purchase it. Since I don’t listen to the audio prior to purchasing I suck it up unless the narrator is intolerable but rarely a narrator, to me, completely ruins an excellent story. I think an excellent story supersedes a bad narrator 95% of the time but I'm sure many will disagree.

I look at the rating on the narrator and listen to the sample before I purchase a book so I haven't had to stop listening. If the book itself is good enough, I think I can tolerate a bad narrator and finish the book.

I do listen to samples and read reviews about the narration before buying so I rarely get a dud narrator any more. I also know that any book narrated by Frederick Davidson/aka david Case is a no go--his narration will drive me batty before five minutes have passed so I won't buy any book narrated by him. Charlton Griffin is another with female character voices that are so bad I can hardly bear it. I'm on hold with his version of North and South because a main character is female and his voice for her is horrific--I will continue eventually, one chapter at a time, just to say I'm not a quitter, but I'm not looking forward to it.

Since I have an audible account, if I don't like the narrator to a point where I am not going to continue with the book, I will return it and get my money back and move onto another book. Luckily, that has been rare, most of the time I truck on to finish.

I had one I had to give up because of the narrator just couldn't do it.

Erica, wow good for you and Joy too! I absolutely find that a bad narrator ruins even the best book for me. I didn't realize you can find reviews of the NARRATOR? Where is that review found? If I flub and forget to listen to a narrator before I buy the book and it's awful, I have no problem contacting Audible and telling them why I want to return the book for a credit. They have always been AWESOME about that. I think it's a smart policy bc it makes for happier customers. I should make a list of my favorite narrators and ones I don't like but I already have so many lists of books I want to read and books I have read and my family thinks I have lost my mind.

I had no idea that you could listen to snippets of the book or narrator beforehand!
I must start doing this!

Yes the sample feature has saved me from a few I knew I wouldn't care for. Another reason I have made a return because of the narrator is with series where the previous narrator was unavailable for the newest installment. Ex. House of Hades by Rick Riordan, such a monotone voice it was horrible. Just bought the e-book, at least the good narrator will be back for the final book..actually he won't be back so that's the end of that series in audio for me :0

I'm another who won't listen to anything David Case/Frederick Davidson narrated. I have the Charlton Griffin version of the Sherlock Holmes collection, and I completely agree that his voices for women (fortunately, there are only a few in SH stories!) are awful.

I don't force myself to listen to a narration that I really dislike. I do listen to the excerpts offered at Audible, Tantor, OverDrive (pub library) and other sources of audiobooks before buying, but I sometimes still make a bad choice. And sometimes the sample isn't enough to decide that the narrator isn't going to be enjoyable. It's nice that now Audible, at least, will let you return a book you hate - they didn't always do that.

I've never been too bothered by a narrator to quit a book (probably because I listen at a faster playback speed these days), but I will say that I came close to quitting while listening to David Case narrate Shogun. That's a long book, and it's a LOT of David Case's grating voice.

The series I'm currently listening to, the narrator was extremely hard to enjoy. It was the way she inflected on words, as well as how she conveyed the writing of the book. It felt very forced for the first half of an 8 hour book.
I eventually got into the story, and the narration really improved once the story moved along and the character's personalities evolved a little.

Now I have listened to the second in the series and am about to begin the third.

I will say that, except for voices I have developed an aural allergy to, I can overcome even rotten narration if I like the story. I listened to Norse Code, a tale about the Norse gods and the Ragnerok (end of the world) legend. It had lots of cool action and brought the Norse stories to life so that when I re-read Hammered from the Iron Druid chronicles I actually got all the references, finally. But the narration sounded like an amateur's first ever read-through of the book using a cheap cassette recorder while sitting in a shower stall--blech! Even that didn' stop me from enjoying the story. So, apparently, it takes something particular about a narrator/narration to make me avoid buying it or finishing it.

Kayla wrote: "I wanted to ask if it's a dealbreaker for people who dislike the narrator's way of telling the story.
Do you listen anyway?
Do you just buy the book?"

A) I never buy an audiobook. For me, the ultimate experience of any book is still to read it. Not that I don't listen to audiobooks, because I listen to them a lot, but if I'm going to buy it, I'm going to buy the book. For audiobooks, I go through Overdrive and just check stuff out.

B) I absolutely put it down if I can't deal with the narrator. If I am excited about the book, I'll check it out from the library/buy it and just read it the old fashioned way. If I'm not that excited about the book, I may never get to it.

Kayla wrote: "I wanted to ask if it's a dealbreaker for people who dislike the narrator's way of telling the story.
Do you listen anyway?
Do you just buy the book?"

No way - I never buy such audiobook, rather chose the paper book. Good example of such narrator is Scott Brick..

Audible's sample narrations have prevented me from buying several books. But people differ, a lot. I have to read Alan Bradley's Flavia series on paper because I can't stand the narrator whom most people loved. On the other hand I have really enjoyed many of David Case/Frederick Davidson's narrations. Difference of opinion makes........

I have avoided many of Nora Roberts's Daring to Dream series because of the narrator. Though people say she's a good reader, I find her to be a terrible reader.

I tried listening to FINAL CUT. The first in the new FBI series Catherine Coulter is writing. Renee Raudman isn't a bad narrator, but MacCleod Andrews is a terrible reader. That is one of the reasons I never finished the NEXT ALWAYS series. I returned FINAL CUT to Audible and got my money back.

I wish the narrators were vetted better, then that way better narrators could be chosen to read the books of our favorite authors.

Kayla wrote: "I wanted to ask if it's a dealbreaker for people who dislike the narrator's way of telling the story.
Do you listen anyway?
Do you just buy the book?"

I used to just trudge my way through listening to the audio, but not anymore. If I can't stand the narrator the audiobook goes back and I pick up the book at the library or buy it.

I agree with the others - the narrator is a personal thing. I couldn't stand the woman who read the Debbie Macomber books (too monotone and phone operator-sounding) or the guy who read Marcus Zusak's I Am the Messenger. I made my way through the first but stopped listening to the second after just two tracks. (And I LOVED the woman that read the Alan Bradley Flavia series! lol)

I don't have the time to sit and read so it's an audiobook or nothing for me these days.
If I don't like the narrator, then I don't "read" the book in any format.
Not as bad as it sounds as I have still have over 100 books I already own and lots more on my TBR and various wish lists.
I always listen to the samples before I buy...sometimes if it's a new narrator, I'll listen to samples from several books before I decide to buy the one I want.
So far there hasn't been a narrator bad enough to make me quit a book, but there have been several that after listening to the sample made me not buy the book.
I'm still fairly new to audiobooks compared to some here, and I've only listened to about 100, but that's enough to have a good idea of the main narrators and the ones I like and the ones I don't.

I'll still listen, if it is an author I really like, but it will be much lower priority. Eg, Greg Egan is an author I really like, but one of his narrators I find a bit hard to listen to, but I do persist with it.

A narrator can ruin a book for me, so I won't read a book if I don't like the narrator. I'm pretty ruthless about it too - they get half an hour worth of listening to wow me, and if they fail, then that book gets returned to the library (or Audible, but that is rarer since the samples help me to avoid narrators I don't like).

I've been very fortunate or am just deaf to a bad narrator until recently. For the book I'm listening to now, the narrator will remain nameless because for the most part is doing a great job. However, when he switches to the voice of the young boy it sounds like an alien and it's so incredibly disconcerting that I've had to rewind to figure out what he said! Some people on this thread have complained that when a male narrator changes his voice to a female character he sound like a drag queen! lol. I supposed I can hear that, but this little 9 year old boy's voice is bizarre. Fortunately he doesn't have much to say since children in the 19th century are seen and not heard. Thank God.

In the beginning I did not listen to samples but after listening to a few narrators that literally gave me a headache I listen to all samples before I buy audio books now. If I really want to get a book and do not like the narrator I prefer to get the kindle edition, if whispersync is available I can always add it later if I change my mind about the narrator :)

Briar Rosé, I am like you. I feel brutal but there are too many amazing books and amazing na

Stupid phone. Anyway there are too many amazing books and narrators out there to waste 8-20 hours of my life on one that I can't stand. ;)

I try not give up straight away, sometimes I get over it and land up loving the narrator and book any way but the narrator can definitely make or break a book and I have given up on books that I feel are narrated badly. In one book recently the narrator made all woman sound like hags in a horror story, his reading style was so forceful that I felt like I was being shouted at, it actually upset me to listen to it, it was like verbal abuse....

I think the odds of having a star narrator are highest with mainstream publishers who will spend the time and money to connect with stars, book high-end studios, and seek a polished product. The time to listen extra hard to narration samples is for self-published works and the products of very small publishing houses. An audiobook can be the most expensive version to create, especially since authors can now access nearly free print-on-demand and 100% free digital book production. I am self-published, but will spend serious money on editors, production people, studio time, and an excellent narrator. Many authors will not or cannot do that.

i have kind of problem that is similiar to that
not cant stand the narator but "only" bad language and lots of it in books that i dont expect it
im an adult and yes it realy ruins my listen!
i chose less popular audiobooks dont blame me
last ones were the amount of sh** in romance breakble
and in beautiful ruins where is diversity of them
where i like the narator
should i change my book criteria?
fine lit? female narator? only classics?
puting ya aside not in mood now

why am i so sensitive?

For me the narrator makes all the difference. If I like the book but can't stand the narrator, I'll finish it on Kindle (through Overdrive lately). I have also returned books to Audible and gotten credits. I'm very sensitive to voices, accents, etc. On the other hand, I will look for books narrated by a great narrator (Juliet Stevenson, John Lee, Edoardo Ballerini, David Rintoul are some faves). Sometimes I will give a narrator a chance for a while and eventually get used to them. I always listen to the sample and read other people's reviews on Audible as well.

I have found that sometimes it starts to make sense later. I have started listening to a book and absolutely hated it, only to realize later that 1) I got used to it and it didn't bother me so much and 2) it actually fit the character.

My problem is when there are multiple narrators and the sample only includes one of them. Just have to take a chance, I suppose. Also if it's a just different narrator in one book of a series, no matter how good he or she is, it's really annoying. I listened to all the Aubrey/Maturin novels in cassette back in the day, narrated by Patrick Tull. For one of them my library only had a different narrator. I listened to it but it just felt wrong the whole time.

I had to stop listening to a series when there was a change in narrator. I couldn't get the old narrator out of my head and it just ruined the book.

sometimes I can get used to a narrator that doesn't initially grab me, so I will usually keep going if I really want to read the book. In a few cases I have decided against a book based on the audio sample and definitely decide what to listen to next based on my willingness to invite the narrator into my car and head for the next few days.
The new John Scalzi book Lock Inwith two options for narration is driving me batty. I have not selected the book yet because I can't decide between the male or female narrators.

Ann wrote: "sometimes I can get used to a narrator that doesn't initially grab me, so I will usually keep going if I really want to read the book. In a few cases I have decided against a book based on the audi..."

I had no problem with that, to me Wil Wheaton IS the voice of John Scalzi, it's a big reason I picked the audio rather than print. However, Audible sent me a code to get both versions, I don't know if it's just because I preordered? If you have that, you could start with one and switch to the other if you weren't happy with it.

Good to know about the code and advice on selecting the Wheaton version. Thanks, Robin!

It depends on my mood. If I'm not in the right frame of mind, I may stop listening and listen to the book later if I have gotten it from the Audible. If I got it from my library I return and may download it later.

There are a few narrators I stay away from because I can't stand their narration. Nor I can stand their voices.

Thank God for the sample button in Audible. There have been a few of my favorite Nora Robert's books I wanted listen, did not get them because of the chosen narrator.

I wish better the publishers or agents would pick better narrators. It would help in not so many books be rejected by audiobook listeners.

Putting on my listener hat for this one :)

I try to find several samples of the same book to listen to. My reason for this is two-fold: (1) Audible usually grabs something fairly random as their sample and the compression (sound quality) on the samples often distorts how the narrator sounds; (2) I usually get more bits and pieces to judge by.

For example: one of the projects I recently worked on has three narrators. Audible has two versions of the book up, and two different samples. One if of the versions has a snippet of one us (the least representative of how the book actually sounds after that first tiny bit) and the other version has a snippet of one of the other narrators. If listeners click on both, they will at least get to hear 2/3 of us :) Once the book sample is up on another service (Downpour, Audiobooks.com, Overdrive), listeners might get yet more clips to judge by - might even get to hear the third narrator if they are willing to pop around to other sites.

Seems cumbersome, but might provide y'all with a bit of relief from the surprise of a narrator you just can't live with for the duration of a book. Definitely has saved me (as a listener) several times.

Bad narration can ruin the experience for me but changing narrators or choosing the wrong narrator in the first place just pisses me off as happened with Karen Marie Moning's Fever series. The narrator for the first two books was awful but improved greatly with the next three when new narrators (Phil Gigante and Natalie Ross) took over. Thank god I was able to get them through Overdrive.

I listen to as many samples as possible before I buy but I've still ended up with some stinkers. Those were pretty much because of the story though.

Question for you audiobook narrator experts. What is the name of the narrator who plays the part of Alex Cross and does he narrate all of the Cross books ( sorry, author is James Patterson) and the voice of Samson? I think Michael Boatman is the voice of Alex and usually the voice of Samson sounds great but I am listening to Alex Cross, Run and Samson's voice sounds MESSED UP. Also if any of you are Cross fans, please tell me Boatman narrates as Cross for all of them bc he does a great job. I think Denzel Washington should play him on the big screen. Such a great family subplot as well as the actual cases. Thanks in advance. Anne

There are narrators I don't like and won't buy, unless I really want to listen to the book. But generally, if I'm listening to a book and the narrator is so-so or grating, I'll struggle through it. If the novel is good I usually get caught up in the story and stop hearing the narrator anyway.

HBJ

The only kind of narrator I don't like is the kind who because of a heavy accent or mumbling makes it impossible to understand what is being said. I can put up with a dull or miscast narrator but have a real problem with one who makes your ears work extra hard.

Probably the one who bothered me the most was the narrator of Island Beneath The Sea by Isabel Allende. Blair Brown had been the perfect narrator for Allende's books but for some reason they didn't use her for this one.

Leona wrote: "I try not give up straight away, sometimes I get over it and land up loving the narrator and book any way but the narrator can definitely make or break a book and I have given up on books that I fe..."

This reminds me listening to "Crime and Punishment" narrated by I forget who. I thought the narration was so uninspired and pedestrian that, in a way, I was able to concentrate on the text more. And I realized I either didn't like the book or didn't like the translation! I sometimes feel that way in the theatre. A great performance sweeps you into it, but a really bad performance can make the play stand out in your mind, and you begin saying the lines differently in your head.

Well never mind my question. I had someone message me. Thanks anyway.

I have been lucky in that I've only (so far) come across one narrator I couldn't take. Most of the ones that I have had so far have been fine, with the exception of one or two that literally swept me away.

It's funny the things that drive you batty. I can no longer get the Kevin Hearne books in audio due to the narrator's opinion on what the wolfhounds sound like. It actually makes me jump every time. Just horrible. I have such bad memories of those that I will never give them another listen.

I'm finding that I am enjoying narrators with accents. Maybe because I hear nothing but the flat westcoast 'no' accent all day, but I like variety, whether regional US or british, african, whatever. As long as they enunciate, its all good to me.

Jesslyn wrote: "I have been lucky in that I've only (so far) come across one narrator I couldn't take. Most of the ones that I have had so far have been fine, with the exception of one or two that literally swept..."

Just more proof that it's all a matter of personal taste... I love the Iron Druid Chronicles specifically because of Oberon's voice. One man's meat is another man's poison, even aurally I suppose. To each his or her own.

I am listening to VISCOUNT BRECKENRIDGE TO THE RESCUE. The story is okay, but I am close to returning to the digital library of my local library.

Matthew Brenher, the narrator chosen for the Cynster Sisters Trilogy is driving me crazy. If he could read just a bit faster, I think I could tolerate this story. I know enunciation is important, but this narrator is taking to a level I am not willing to tolerate.

I got partway through Angelfall audiobook but I couldn't take the narrator seriously when she started doing her "angel voice" -- sounded too much like a bad version of Castiel from Supernatural. I had to stop listening to it and I've put the book on my To-Be-Reread list.

Is it possible that an audiobook with a computer generated voice be labelled with a narrators name, as if a real person had read it?

A few months ago I listened to an audiobook narrated by, let's call her " Jane Doe". However, I could swear the voice was computer generated.
That wouldn't be allowed would it?