Degrees of Affection

For my review of the book, please click here.

Barbara Rosenblat continues to amaze me. The way she reads these stories and plays these characters has me seeing the book in a different light.

All the various voices are good and in keeping with their personalities. But it is the reaccuring characters that stand out. Marla's voice is big and slightly bossy but also kind, as she is. Arch is wonderfully done, a kid's voice that can be both whiny and wise beyond his years. And Tom; ah Tom. He rivals Goldy as my favorite character; I can't decide which one I like more. Rosenblat does such a perfect job with him, capturing his strength yet gentleness, his intelligence and his special way of interacting with Goldy. One of my favorite parts is how she has him say "Miss G," his name for Goldy even after their marriage. She gives it just the tone I always heard in my head.

Finally, Goldy is just perfect. At the end of every book, Rosenblat narrates the recipes given in the book. She does this in her own voice and you realize here Goldy voice is not terribly different...and yet it is. There are few people who can create a full character for me with just heir voice. Jim Dale, Jenny Sterlin (narrator of the Mary Russell series), and Emily Grey (narrator of Thursday Next and Parasol Protectorate series) are the only others that come to mind besides Rosenblat. Her way of voicing Goldy, her way of saying things and the emphasis she places on certain things in her first POV, made me look at these books in a new way. The book hadn't changed, but I had and my understanding.

These books are good...but the narrator makes the audiobooks even better, IMO