He Said, She Said

Here and there, on and off, I've picked up Jennifer Crusie through BookMooch. I started out with one of her novels with great disappointment. Hailed in her reviews as somewhat of the premiere of romantic comedies, I had originally been really excited to read her. I love a fun comedic-romantic romp especially lying under the lazy sun on weekends with nothing to do but breeze through a book with a bottle of sunscreen on the side and something cold to drink close at hand. But my first Crusie was such a disappointment. The chemistry was lacking, the characters were too many, and I found myself utterly confused and I gave up trying to work out who was related to whom, which couple was interested in each other, what their backgrounds were, etc. 

But times went by and as usual, I ran out of things to read so Crusie was once again making my reading list. And it got better. Marginally. I found Anyone But You mildly entertaining even though I'm not always a fan of the older woman-younger man plot simply because I feel that many authors simply concentrate on the age and it feels like they're beating a dead horse. But the characters were fun and the dog in the story provided some interesting moments and I closed the book with a shrug and a decision to give Crusie another try. Next was Getting Rid of Bradley. It sounded fun and uncomplicated and though I thought a lot of the Bradley mixups were a bit eye-rolling-worthy, I went with it and enjoyed it on the most part.

When I found a copy of Manhunting on BookMooch as well as a downloadable version of it as an audiobook via the online library catalog, I thought Crusie would provide another brief respite between my bouts of reading heavier books. As this was now my fourth Crusie, I was able to pinpoint what I enjoyed and what I found disappointing with her books. 

While her books do provide some fun characters and the tension is adequate, I find that she would serve as a 'lite' sort of romance read. The kind where the tension slowly builds, but not a frenzy fever-pitch kind of tension, just a slow pressure cooker that boils up to a quick simmer. The sexual chemistry is enough but doesn't melt the reader and the sex scenes are more vanilla and tame in terms of not being graphic. There's usually one single sex scene, the first, and the others are not as explicit and evoke more of a 'lead the reader up to the moment where they hit the bed and the scene closes.' While it's not the lack of sex that doesn't hit the spot with me as a reader, it's the simmer-type of tension that leaves me feeling that something is lacking. The tension and connection between the hero and heroine seem to be just enough but not quite enough to make me truly care for them and be totally involved in the story. The tension, or lack thereof, makes me just want to read to the end for the sake of finishing the book because I know they'll end up together. 

Back to Manhunting. Specifically, what I just mentioned above about the tension applies to Jake and Kate. Yes, the reader can see the underlying attraction between the two even though they each respectively think that the other doesn't fit the bill for their idea of a perfect mate. Obviously, as the reader, we can see the currents when they're out together every morning 'fishing.' But when they got that jolt touching while playing pool, I wasn't surprised. And when they had that moment where Kate was giving Jake his beer and he flirted, I was only thinking, "Geez, finally." The tension between the two of them just simmered.

But the purpose of this post and its connection to Manhunting is the audiobook version. First off, I have to concede to the point that I did enjoy the narrator voicing Jake. There was a slight southern drawl that was just enough and not over the top. Plus, her 'man voice' was low enough to convey a male character without seeming outrageous as I've complained before. However, I do have some complaints about this one. The narrator does not allow enough time between sentences and characters to give the listener a true distinction between narration, dialogue, and switching of characters. It seems that the sentences flow together too quickly, as if I was just reading the book out loud instead of hearing it acted out on audiobook. And while the first complaint is dependent solely on the narrator, the second one isn't. I just noticed it more because I was listening to it.

Crusie uses a lot of 'he said,' 'she saids.' Take a look. At first I really didn't notice. But then it became really apparent. Especially when the narrator rushed through the 'Kate said' and 'Jake said.' The lack of adequate pause exasperated the problem because right after the dialogue, I would be hearing, "Kate said." It got to a point where I could just speak along with the narrator while I'm driving even though I'm just guessing when the next 'Kate/Jake said' will appear. Come on, Crusie, vary it please. And perhaps other descriptions would work just as well without having to use the words, 'he/she said.'

Funny how a book can take on a whole new face when listened to in an audio format. Some authors are just not meant to be converted into audiobooks. My favorite author in audiobook format? Though it's not in the romance genre, the honor would hands down have to go to Orson Scott Card. Quoted as saying that the ideal way to enjoy his books is through an audio platform, the cast of characters are properly voiced with amazing talents, the characters are acted out for the listener without being overdone, and overall, it adds a new dimension to enjoy Card's books. That's the ultimate audiobook achievement: being able to give the reader a new and higher level of appreciation of the book. If the audiobook gives the reader new insight on top of what the print version provided, then the audiobook is a success. 

Understandably, it's much harder to make an audiobook a success even if the book is a raving hit.