Not very shiny Gilded Mountain

The story was hindered by annoying narration. The narrator made all Southern voices sound like backwoods hillbillies. How people speak has long determined what group people belong to and which group people are welcome to be apart. This is a book about class in the Southeast in the early 20th C. Southern elites of that era had drawls but their speech was distinctly distinctively different than mountain people, and the uneducated. Class struggle is central to the storyline, as is a love story about individuals from different stations in society. The audio book would have been more enjoyable—and believable—if the narrator’s voice distinguished class more accurately.

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Good historical novel

this novel was well written about the struggles of the working laborers in the early 1900's. the author brought in a little romance, a little violence and painted the picture of quarry life that struggles for survival. The wealthy are portrayed as the oppressors and the union's as the defenders.

Marble Mining

This was a captivating historical fiction, set at the beginning of the 20th century. Fictional Sylvie gets involved with the robber barons and the development of unions as she tries to help her family and community in the marble mining town of Moonstone, CO. I enjoyed listening to this story and the narrator when she was speaking English, but when she spoke with the accent of other languages, such as French, she was hard to understand.

Great story, beautifully written

Loved this book! Narration with caricatured voices for many characters was a distraction from the beautiful writing but I still highly recommend.

Loved the Narration and Characters

I was drawn in by the descriptions and voices associated with this book. I was gripped by a need to know what happens next. This book was wonderful

The worst reader

The story was interesting. Nothing amazing about it though. The reader was the worst I’ve ever heard, I’ve listened to 200 books in 12 years. The narration was terrible. The voices were monotonous. The French spoken was awful. And the singing was terrible. Don’t bother listening to this book. I recommend that you read it instead. I wish I had done that!

Good story

Good story, well written. But character development is lacking. Characters are one-dimensional, stereotypical. But worth reading.
Narrator was okay but her accents, esp. French, were not particularly well done and so were often distracting.

pretty tough to get through

While I was drawn in by the politics of the story, the narrative is too thin a cover for these more historical and philosophical aspects. The characters lack depth, and the accents of the narrators are extremely distracting and irritating. I can't finish this one.

Narration is a Complete Joke

This narrator is the worst I’ve ever heard, and I listen to one or two audiobooks a week. You won’t hear how bad the narration is through the sample because the narrator’s natural voice is fine. Except for the main character, all the other characters have accents that are beyond annoying, which is why I said the narration is a joke. It’s a million times worse than nails on a chalkboard. It’s impossible to evaluate the book after listening to and being so offended by this narrator. What a shame.

French accent just no

I’m French and I could not understand any of the passages in French Canadian. Not a single bit. The story is great though. I have to pick up the actual book.