December 10th, 2008
The Wordy Shipmates (audio book)
The Wordy Shipmates
by Sarah Vowell
Before I start, I should mention that I don’t really like audio books. I find that I tend to think about what I am hearing. With a book, I can simply stop reading for a moment and do my thinking. With an audio book, it is more difficult as the reader keeps going in spite of my no longer listening. It’s also hard to skim through an audio book and skip the boring parts. Truthfully, I got this audio book by mistake, not realizing that this was not the print version. That being said…
First, the reading… Sarah Vowell does a noble job of reading her book. However, some people may find her voice annoying after a few hours. She makes a good attempt at speaking clearly but I found it hard not to think of Violet Parr from “The Incredibles” as I listened. The occasional musical interludes were pointless enough to get me to push the next button.
Second, the text… The book is about the Puritans and how they came to this country to build the city on the hill. Ms. Vowell does an excellent job of showing how our understanding of the Puritans and what they actually meant by that “city on a hill” (Hint: it was not Ronald Reagan’s “shining city on a hill”) is mostly wrong. Unfortunately, the book is not nearly as good as Ms. Vowell’s earlier books. Her wandering through “The Brady Bunch” and “Bewitched” did not move the story along and was not particularly humorous. Her frequent allusions to the Bush administration were funnier but dated the book and would probably not be funny in a year or two. And bringing up Ron Paul will surely make many readers think, “Who?” not too long from now, if not now. Anyway, Ms. Vowell has obviously done extensive research and her book is rather interesting ignoring Marsha Brady’s broken nose.
My conclusion is that if you enjoy audio books and you are a fan of Ms. Vowell then you will surely enjoy this audio book version. If you are not already familiar with Ms. Vowell’s work, then I would recommend “Assassination Vacation” before this book. If, like me, you enjoy the print version of books, then I would recommend you skip this and buy the old-fashioned paper version.
