Audiobooks discussion
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WHY leave in name mistakes?
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I feel your pain. While I can't remember the titles, I've encountered similar things in other books and it is maddening. Equally bad though is when they go back and correct such a word or name and the insertion is so obvious they might as well have left in the wrong one. This happened in one of Orson Scott Card's Shadow Saga books with the word Hegemon. The insertion of the corrected pronunciation was so startling it kept jarring me out of the moment.
"his mental dialogue indicates that he loves the way the female lead pronounces his 2-syllable name"maybe it was guidance from the author to do it that way
I agree. It was guidance from the author, but the in the book context doesn't present the correct pronunciation as being unknown to the other characters of the book. Before that, the character and his friends all referred to him as the wrong name.This mistake is firmly the narrator's and the producer's for letting her get away with it.
I agree with this 100%, "It shouldn't come across as something that's being read for the first time as it's being recorded". It drives me bonkers when the narrator sounds like they are reading a book for the first time.
This happened in Acheron by Sherrilyn Kenyon. The narrator pronounced it "Ak-er-on" instead of "Ash-er-on" and it drove me batty. It wasn't until a couple of books later in the series that the "Ash-er-on" pronunciation stuck.
I try to see multiple view points but it IS an annoyance. I agree with Jeanie concerning the insertions not always sounding right (especially in the instance she mentioned). My best guess would be budget constraints causing an unwillingness to have the sections re-recorded. My favorite narrator blew me away by mentioning in an interview that he usually hasn't read the books he is narrating. I can't recall the reason, but it sounded legitimate.
Sadly, as an audiobook publisher, Audible can sometimes have very low production standards, especially when it comes to books that have lesser visibility in the general public.
I continued listening to the story, and she was good for a few minutes. Now she's back to the wrong pronunciation she started with. I may have to call this a scratch.The rest of her narration is fine, and the story itself is good enough that I won't try to get a refund. I just really needed to share my frustration with people who could understand.
*group hug*
Joshua wrote: "Sadly, as an audiobook publisher, Audible can sometimes have very low production standards, especially when it comes to books that have lesser visibility in the general public."I was astonished at the poor production quality in Game of Thrones, one of their best selling audiobooks ever. It wasn't pronunciation or narrator issues, but more related to editing. Once an hour a sentence repeated itself, as though they recorded it from CD's where they repeat the last sentence of the last CD when starting the new CD. They also repeated about 40 minutes of a prior section at one point as well. Pretty inexcusable...I would think they'd want the first in such a popular series to be pristine! (I didn't notice these issues in the 2nd book in the series, which is where I stalled out.)
If the book had repeated sentences or a whole section as you mentioned, I'd call and ask for my money back, even if I liked the book. I would specifically tell them that the recording wasn't up to standards and why. If everyone who bought GOT did that, they'd fix it quickly enough!
You are right, I maybe should have returned it. I liked the story and narration, so I didn't return the book. Also, while it was a little annoying, it didn't make the book un-listen-able. (Just made up a word there. :) ) The changes in pronunciation you're referring to are much more aggregious in my opinion. This was just sloppy.I did write a very pointed review on Audible, and as of today 120 people have found that review "helpful." I also wrote a note to Audible, but I never got a response.
I read along with audiobooks so I catch a lot of stuff like that. I don't care so much if it repeats a previous section just so long as the whole book's there. I don't know how many times I've had to check that it was indeed the unabridged version I was listening to because of missing sentences.
Hi Julie and Dee,I thought I'd state for the record that I didn't have any input at all on the narration for the audiobook. Most authors don't, unfortunately! I hope quirks like this don't distract from the stories themselves too much!
Best,
Jael Wye
Thanks for the head's up, Jael. I thought your *story* was excellent. I was just annoyed at that character name inconsistency from the narrator.
Audiobooks
Books mentioned in this topic
Acheron (other topics)Ice Red (other topics)
For the first 2 hours of the book, the narrator pronounces his name in the 3-syllable Italian way (roughly "Che-za-ray") until the point in the narration where his mental dialogue indicates that he loves the way the female lead pronounces his 2-syllable name. After that point, the name universally becomes akin to "Caesar" (as in Julius, salad or palace) and she moves on as if it was no big deal.
Why, why, WHY do that? Is it too much work to go back and rerecord the 2 saved hours that were already done? My first inclination is to think it's a symptom of an already shoddy production.
In other ways, the narrator is quite capable. She has a deft handling of accents, so I can't accuse of her of not doing her homework there. So far all the same characters sound like the same characters whenever they pop up. The way she just flipped at that one point seemed like she was taken by surprise. ("Oh, okay. I was doing it wrong. Two syllables...")
But you just don't leave in a fundamental mistake like that. It shouldn't come across as something that's being read for the first time as it's being recorded.