"Ark" by Veronica Roth (Forward Collection)

[DivaDiane]

I hope it's ok to just jump in here like this.

This is the discussion of Ark - a short story from the Forward Collection

[DivaDiane]

I listened to this one today. While I enjoyed it - it was a nice diversion for the 45 minutes or so (I listened at 1.5x speed), it didn’t move me as much as I think was intended. Evan Rachel Wood’s narration was a little bland but competently done.

I'm not super into horticulture (I garden and I'm mildly interested in what's growing in my garden), so the flower descriptions kind of made my ears glaze over. I enjoyed a few turns of phrases, especially when Samantha was talking with Hågan about their losses and (view spoiler)[their plans to stay on Earth, when the others left. (hide spoiler)]

[Gabi]

I trained as a plant physiologist so the descriptions were right down my alley :). I loved the melancholy atmosphere of the narration. ... more when I'm not on the app and can use spoiler tags.

[Karin]

Whoops--Diane I just made a friend request and put in the wrong GR group! I meant SciFi, not pbt!

I was going to ask you how this compares with the third book in the Divergent series, but see that you haven't read this yet.

[DivaDiane]

No worries, I would’ve figured it out. And no, I haven’t read the Divergent series. Is the 3rd one similar?

[Jordan]

Gabi wrote: "I trained as a plant physiologist so the descriptions were right down my alley :). I loved the melancholy atmosphere of the narration. ... more when I'm not on the app and can use spoiler tags."

Agreed, I enjoyed the melancholy atmosphere. It was interesting to listen to this one right after Emergency Skin since the two have such different styles. This one is so much more laid back and subtle, which I really like!

[Gabi]

Ah, right, forgot that I wanted to add something in spoiler tags. (view spoiler)[ The way the botanists went on about the finding of a new orchid moved me to no small amount. This was such a showcase of hope in an entirely hopeless situation (one may call it stubborness, but I go for hope.

"Even If I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree." - Martin Luther (hide spoiler)]

[DivaDiane]

Aw, Gabi. That’s lovely. I think I was a little too sidetracked listening to this one. I may eye-read it again.

[Gabi]

Diane wrote: "Aw, Gabi. That’s lovely. I think I was a little too sidetracked listening to this one. I may eye-read it again."

I found the audio narrator distracting at first. Her reading seemed a bit sleepy, but after a while I realised that her tone is quite fitting. At the moment I'm very much in the mood for those kind of stories, so that of course helped as well.

[Shomeret]

Gabi wrote: "Ah, right, forgot that I wanted to add something in spoiler tags. The way the botanists went on about the finding of a new orchid moved me to no small amount. This was such a showcase of hope in a..."

I also loved the (view spoiler)[ new orchid (hide spoiler)] But I also thought that (view spoiler)[ Given the circumstances post-meteor in The Calculating Stars that this probably isn't the end of the world, just the end of the world as we know it. (hide spoiler)]

[Sarah]

This was probably the least compelling of all the short stories for me. I don’t think I connected with any of it. And the sleepy narration as someone else so eloquently put it, definitely didn’t help.