Ten Days in the Hills Audiobook

" All I could think of as I was reading this was "people don't talk this way. Why are all the characters talking this way?" Maybe I just didn't get it, but I thought this was a totally unlikely, unbelievable book, with very few appealing characters. "

" I agree with most of the reviews that this was a difficult read; slow, and well, boring. I am a big Smiley fan, which was what compelled me to finish it. "

" This was my first Jane Smiley book and I would not read another but for the reviews of others who seem to think that she is a good author save for this book. There were spots where I became interested in the characters, but, for the most part, I had to force myself to finish this book. Not a lot of substance here. "

" a total disappointment. It was filled with sleazy sex scenes and the characters were right out of a Jackie Collins novel. So sad, that a fine author went in this direction. "

" Ugh. Have to be honest, hard to for me to get through. It's been a long time since it took me this long to get through a book. But! If I start one I finish it, and I wish I could say I was glad I did. Not so. I have read Jane Smiley before, and enjoyed Ten Thousand Acres. Found this one to be way overbloated with endless conversation, unbelievable characters, and gratutious sex scenes that really felt out of place at times. Pretty pointless and unmeaningful, and not very likely that a group of people would hole up in a luxe Hollywood manse for 10 days at the onset of the Iraq war, hiding from the TV and newspapers. I was bored with this one, was pushing through at the end just to call it done. Glad to be finally rid of, wish it had only taken me 'Ten Days'. Don't bother. "

" This book, while echoing a historic work, is heavy on liberal political messaging, so much so that it made this Independent cringe and skip over pages of rants. This book may win the award for trying too hard. "

" Listened to audio-book. I liked Smiley's odd collection of stories, thoughts and anecdotes which flow from her narcissistic set of wealthy Hollywood characters. Reminded me of my years in southern California, in ways both good and bad. "

" How can anyone compete with John Updike's comments in his long appreciation in The New Yorker? Smiley is a good writer; this is an entertaining book if essentially trivial. Her challenge to herself seems to have been, just how explicit can I make the sex and what can I have the people do in between? The answers are, very explicit, and I can have them talk. A lot. The descriptions of the sex are actually so over the top at times that they are just funny. Each of the talkers has a different theme, but they all sound pretty much alike. Producer, star, agent, earnest liberal, foolish conservative, young eco-kid, guru, mysterious Jamaican grandmother, old Hollywood hand who has seen it all. Oh, and a bunch of Russians. All the talk gets these characters beyond stereotype, but there isn't one that you end up liking very much. There are some provisional resolutions, but the interest really lies in the stories these people tell about themselves and, occasionally, about others. I did like the many movie references, and the sense that these people understand themselves only in relation to characters on the screen. "

" This inspired me to finally read Boccaccio's Decameron, which was much more fun than I had expected. "

" I couldn't get into this book- it bounced around too much- really felt like ADD to me. Seems either people love it or hate it. "

" Everything about this book should be irritating -- self-involved characters, endless diatribes about the Iraq war, and tons of un-erotic sex. Somehow I still couldn't put it down. I think Jane Smiley's writing is just that good. "

" I read a quarter or third of this book, and then decided I didn't really care that much about what happened to these characters. It was kind of interesting, but not enough to keep going with it. "

" Kind of a mess. And a mess soaked with sex. Weird. "

" OK,has anyone read this? It nearly killed me. I can't beleive I gave it 2 stars. I loved all of the characters but not enough depth. Would have liked a novel of Zoe's life. It was a painful read. "

" She captures people's interior thoughts & the invasion of Iraq, but not nearly as good as Moo. "

" I am having the hardest time getting through this one! "

" I was listening to this and for some reason wasted enough time on it to finish 6 CD's. Finally decided I was no more into this one than when I started the first CD and gave it up. I didn't care about any of the characters, the story (was there one?) and the sex scenes were anything but sexy. "

" Intriguing spoof of Hollywood culture, but the caricature characters were too shallow to hold the reader's attention. Very different from Smiley's other novels! "

" It was very odd because I really liked it at times but at other times I had to force myself to continue reading. "

" too much talk, not as good as her other books "

" horrible book! it took way too long to read, but i always finish a book. "

" Just really, really boring. Gave up after page 104. "

" I only got a few pages in and knew this book wasn't for me "

" I was highly dissapointed in this book as I have read and loved other stuff by Jane Smiley. In this book, she tries unsucessfully to write a story about relationships, sex, religion, war and Hollywood. "

" I couldn't get into this book- it bounced around too much- really felt like ADD to me. Seems either people love it or hate it. "

" <br/>a total disappointment. It was filled with sleazy sex scenes and the characters were right out of a Jackie Collins novel. So sad, that a fine author went in this direction. <br/> "

" A truly awful book. What was she thinking? Nothing to like here at all - pretentious and not even well-written. Gah. Glad it was a library book. "

" This was a little overwrought, even gothic, but I loved the L.A.-ness of it, the Industry, looking down on the art museum, the cars. "

" audio -- I Generally like Smiley books but this was a story about a group of liberal hollywood socialites. I wanted to shake the characters. Not my choice of reading. "

" It had it's moments. Very long and had to work to finish it. "