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The Coma Monologues

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The Coma Monologues

By: Mario Milosevic
Narrated by: Michelle Babb
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Summary

For Gary Hawken, life in a coma comes with few perks. Nurses care for him and people sit by his bed and tell him stories, but the glorious mess of life passes him by. In a world where survival depends on his ability to understand his stories, Gary must recognize the value of his own soul. A hypnotic tale of one man's struggle to find the truth in his own epic life.

©2011, 2014 Mario Milosevic (P)2015 Mario Milosevic
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Where does The Coma Monologues rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Not a great audiobook, would have preferred to read this on paper.
It has a fantastic premise, it is well written and very distinct, but as an audiobook I'm afraid I wouldn't recommend it. The narrator is ABSOLUTELY ROBOTIC - she speaks sooooooooo slowly and sometimes without emotion. I had to listen on double speed to keep the flow going and my temper down.

What did you like best about this story?

The unusual changes in 'voice', from the coma patient's family, to his house, a crow, Death!

Who might you have cast as narrator instead of Michelle Babb?

Almost anyone...
I would have preferred different actors for each chapter, suited to the gender/background of the character being portrayed.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Not especially, the different narrators/speakers each spoke in chapters so pausing between them felt like a good point for a pause.

Any additional comments?

I would read more by this author, I just had a very negative reaction to this narrator, a strange choice.
The book ends very nicely, I liked the build-up and a few surprise along the way.

With thanks to the author for the complimentary copy, provided for review purposes.

Original story let down by terrible narrator

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Sorry this was so not my cup of tea. Basically it is lots of short stories or a one sided conversation about life, which would have been okay but they didn't have any point to the stories and just felt like a way to vent. The characters were varied from old school friends, to teachers, to school girl crushes and family members but it was when it veered into the weird that it began to lose me and by weird I mean the house was talking to him, a dead twin and even a centaur. The book also contained swearing which I wasn't expecting. The idea was good, a man trapped in a coma and his wife arranges for people from his past to come and talk to him and I did like some of the stories but the story as a whole just didn't work for me.
The only reason I kept listening was because I enjoy the narrator's work.

Much ado about nothing

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I really enjoyed listening to this book, a bit dubious at first but I was drawn in and finished it in a couple of sittings. It's original and thought provoking and I'd highly recommend the book. Unlike some other reviewers i thought Michelle made an excellent job of the narration, yes, there were monotonous bit's but for me they fitted the character/subject who was speaking at the time. Definite 5 star listen.

Excellent Listen.

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Listener received this title free

Took a while for me to settle into the story, but I did find it quite interesting.

Interesting idea

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Listener received this title free

Gary Hawkin has been in a coma ever since his car collided with a lorry. Since his doctor has suggested that, shou!d he fail to wake up within three to four months, he is u likely to ever return, his pregnant wife tries to bring him back with stories: old friends and aquaintances, family members and even mythological voices visiting him in hospital and talking. So we hear from Gary's wife and son, old school chums and his mother, but also a crow, a Centaur Death, the author, and even God, amongst others. Through their monologues the reader learns about their pasts and ideas, about Gary himself, and a more generalized philosophy on life itself. It is left to the reader to determine if these voices are, in fact, real or existing mainly in Gary's imagination.

The book is cleverly devised and the individual monologues are, mostly, fascinating, with the exception of that of God, which felt laboured and clumsy. Even the otherwise excellent narration by Michelle Babb, was, for this section, more mechanical and monotone, which was, almost certainly, deliberate but made that chapter difficult to engage with or enjoy. This book could easily benefit from a different reader to give a varied texture with each individual monologue although Ms.Babb is so versatile a voice actor that her performance was outstanding.I

The Coma Monologues is an unusually conceived way to not oily tell a story but to bring in various ideas about humanity, guilt, love and other various concepts without being preachy or overly contrrived. It is a very human story of life and love and the shadow of death. I was fortunate in being freely gifted with a complimentary copy, at my request, by the rights holder. Thank you. It is a book which will stay with me into the future and one I would recommend to other readers.

You must want to wake up.

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