u/Beady_El

I'm casting no shade on those who love the book, indeed I envy you. I loved House of Leaves, so tried this one out.

I'm now about 2 hours in, and ready to bail. TWO HOURS (two round-trip commutes for me) and I'm barely past the initial scenes with Tom and Kalim and Linsey (pardon any misspellings, I'm listening to the audio) at the horse barn. I finally had to shut it off some time while hearing about how Tom always protected Kalim from Linsey at high school.

There's no possible way I can listen to 58 hours and 10 minutes, all narrated by an excited small-town gossip with ADHD, relating it as if I (of course) knew everyone in the town, both past and present. If all the tortured countrified metaphors and pointless digressions were stripped out, there's perhaps a paragraph worth of actual plot so far.

Question 1: Is the entire book told by this same character, and in this same style?

Question 2: is there anyone here who listened to the audiobook (all of it) ... and enjoyed it?

I see people calling the book amazing, life-changing ... and I'd love to get to that part. But - I just have no patience for the way it's being told so far. If I do give it another try, I think I'll playing it at double speed.

EDIT: You've all convinced me; what it has on offer is just not compatible with the options I have for consuming it. I'm not in the market for what it's selling. I've returned the audiobook.

I would have gotten some fleeting, petty satisfaction in playing it fast (Oh you want me to slow down? Screw that Mark, YOU SPEED UP!!) but that's no way to enjoy a book.