What is with this Audio Book ? GRRrr!

[mrblonde]

I listen to 90% of the books I consume being on the road and on planes 4 days a week. I muscled through some crappy narrators to listen to a good book, but this one is KILLING ME! This guy whispers the end of every line like it's his dying breath. I have tried 4 times and can't get past the first 15 min. Anyone else annoyed by this guy?

[GNTLGNT]

I haven't heard it, but I'm surprised that Frank Muller would deliver anything but a fantastic read...

[Elemeno P]

Hate to agree with you because Frank Muller just knocks it out of the park on the DT series.

I'm not sure if I just got used to it or he changes, but that one second of breath really adds up.

If it's any consolation, he does Black House too and it's not so pronounced. It sneaks in every now and then, but I remember being where you are at the start of The Talisman.

[boogerb53]

Sorry...I disagree 100% Frank Muller was the greatest thing that ever happened to audio books. He had a flair the dramatic and for voices without being silly. It's a shame he died so tragically.

[Elemeno P]

I went back to listen to some of the DT, BH and TT audio to compare and contrast.

It's his pacing that's the difference. He reads faster in the DT and BH. His speed does pick up later in TT.

When he reads slower it does come out as a whisper when he finishes non-character text.

Personally, I was so used to hearing him through the DT that it took me a while to get used to the slower pace in TT.

[mrblonde]

I have listened to the 1st DT, and was fine with it. I didn't realize it was the same guy! Crazy!

[ArtGirl]

I listen to audio books while working in my studio - I just started "The Talisman" and couldn't make it any further than about the first 15 minutes due to my dislike of the narrator's voice -- I came to the message board to see if anyone else had had the same problem. Although Mr. Muller is a noted narrator, for this book he is using a voice suitable for a dastardly cartoon villain -- I was SO looking forward to listening to "The Talisman," but I just can't -- the voice just doesn't work for me.

[TEDG65]

I noticed it too........probably in comparison to a local radio station's ad guy who does the same thing....but I got through nearly all of it so far...

One other annoying reader was Mare Winningham reading Lisey's Story...whenever she did the psychotic Southern father impression, it drove me nuts........although I like her narrative of The Gingerbread Girl.

[Mr. Birkegaard]

Hello there
I had the pleasure to speak with a few members of the Danish society for the blind (not sure of the translation) recently, and they told me they preferred audiobooks with a very plain voice - they hated if there was too much "acting" and I realized their "problem":
They don´t have a choice.
People with normal vision and reading skills can just read the books themselves, but the blind is forced to live with the voice which is often decided by the publishing house. The "problem" with that is that audiobooks (at least in Denmark) is becoming more and more popular amongst people with normal reading skills, and they expects an "added experience" when listening to an audiobook, so a plain voice is not enough - they want the acting (of cause there are probably many exceptions to this). Danish is a small language so its very rare that more than one audiobook, and the blind is feeling left out because the growing market is for the people with normal vision and reading skills.
That makes me sad.

[dsurrett]

I thought the reader did a great job with The Talisman, putting character into the different character's voices so that everyone didn't sound the same. To each his own I guess. The only audiobook I've ever stopped listening to due to the narrator's voice was an Evanovich book. The lady who narrated it had a nasally voice with a strange regional accent (I'm from the south so don't have an accent) that I could not bare.

[fushingfeef]

I'm currently listening to The Talisman on audiobook and although I like Frank Muller, I know you mean by his voice in this book...there's a definite "raspy" quality to his words, an airy hiss at the end of some of the sentences. It kind of reminds me of how when Dana Carvey used to do an impression of Mickey Rooney where he said "I was the number one star...in the world...!"

Anyway after one disc I'm used to it but every once in a while it hits me.

[TheBanker]

LOL - that's hilarious! It is like Dana doing Mickey Rooney!

[TheBanker]

I have to say that I totally agree with you on this topic. The narrative portions of the book were annoyingly dramatic to me on a line-by-line basis. I will say that I enjoyed most of the choices Frank made for the different characters...except for Wolf. I thought he sounded like Peter Boyle in "Young Frankenstein." :laugh:

[whitepawn]

I actually registered for this site just to bring this up. Muller is great on other works, but this one is impossible to listen to, which is a shame because I've read the hard copy 5 times. Elmore Leonard? Muller is awesome. Other works too. But he is fail here. In the Talisman, Muller does this breathy, deliver each sentence like he's posing a movie promotion byline each time which makes me have to shut it off by the time Jack meets Speedy. William Shatner would do a better job. I can't get into it because I'm distracted by his terrible delivery. Yes people, he is typically a good reader, but anyone can have a bad day.

It's worth a re-record. Some of these great defenders should try listening instead of judging by the name on the cover.

The other piece is that it's still on cassette, at least through my library, and very fuzzy to the point of bordering on the teacher in Peanuts cartoons. I acquired a different copy, same difference. Mildly better clarity but the delivery is still awful.

Great book, terrible recording. Hellblazer was ruined by delivering Constantine through Keanu, the person performing the work DOES matter, so please commission Muller, or someone else, to update this work.

[whitepawn]

So I take it one of my favorite books, ever, is doomed to have this as the only available audio reading of it?

[dsurrett]

I've been through the audio twice and didn't mind the voice. Different folks have different preferences, I guess. The only audiobook I've ever stopped listening to was a Janet Evanovich where the reader had a high, nasally voice.

[fljoe0]

I've not heard The Talisman but I do own it. It's just waiting in kind of a long line to get on the mp-3 player.

But I've liked everything I've heard from Frank Muller. It doesn't mean that one won't rub me the wrong way one of these days. Sometimes, no matter how good a narrator is, they just don't work for a particular book. One thing I love about Frank is that it never sounds like he's reading.

[MDamanda]

This might be an off-the-beaten-path response to those who do audiobooks all the time for a variety of reasons, but if you're turned off by the narration of this particular audiobook and have the chance, this is a book worth reading as a book or on your kindle. It's the best collaborative novel ever written, rising to the top of Straub's craft and near the top of King's, in one reader's opinion.

I was sorry to read of Frank Muller's passing--I had no idea :(