Audio Book Hell

I've been hitting up the library lately and recently discovered their new audio book section with the PlayAway books. If you haven't seen these before they are basically a mini-audio book, complete with batteries and a neck string. You simply plug in your ear buds and go. I'd never bothered with audio books before since it always seemed like such a pain to actually find a lengthy period of time to listen to the entire thing in only a few settings. These though are perfect for the gym.

I tried out Life of Pi first. Not really my typical choice, but I actually found the narrator's gentle voice, with it's Indian accent very interesting. To bad for me the player malfunctioned and I only made it halfway through. But it gave me hope in the format. So this past weekend I picked up Pittacus Lore's I Am Number Four. I enjoyed the movie and had higher hopes for the book. Today when I went to the gym, I took along the PlayAway.

This may be the last one I ever pick up.

First off, the narrator sounded like he was in his mid thirties, no where near the voice of a sixteen year old boy. And not only did he spoil that narration, but for some reason this guy was doing ALL of the character voices in character. There's no way this guy would ever be mistaken for a woman. I might have been able to stand the voices, if he had made the actual dialogue flow naturally. I'm not sure if the dialogue issue was a writing issue or a reading issue, but the artificial voices, some so similar to cartoon characters, didn't do it any help.

So as it stands I'm about 8 chapters in (Yes, I stuck it out the 2 hours I worked out), and I'm not sure if it's even worth trying to finish. I may simply borrow the book.