Spill Simmer Falter Wither
By: Sara Baume / Narrated By: John Keating
Length: 7 hrs and 57 mins
Stunning writing with perfect narration!
I was looking at my old review of Spill Simmer Falter Wither over on Audible and saw that I gave it 4 stars for story, 5 stars for performance, with 4 stars overall. I also saw that its overall rating from members is 3.6.
Uhm… huh?!? What was I thinking? What were THEY thinking?
Cuz this is the third time I’ve listened to it, and I’m going with a full 5 stars this time. Each time I listen to it, I’m stunned by how gorgeous, how raw it is. Sara Baume’s use of language is perfection. It’s lyrical, it’s ugly, it’s biting, it’s beautiful. I’m rarely a fan of Literary Fiction because sometimes I come away from an audiobook thinking that the author just uses the whole Literary part to prattle on, showing off that they have good vocabularies and definitely too much time on their hands. It all just comes off as self-indulgent.
But here? WOW!
Don’t get me wrong: This is a heavy-duty listen. It’s two misfits: a troll of a man, a one-eyed dog who is by no means good with other dogs or children. The Publisher’s Summary states that the duo are falsely perceived as menacing after slight mishap.
Uhm… no. One-Eye isn’t vicious, but he’s trained to stay true to his nature, and that means he’ll kill whatever he can catch. In this case, other dogs. He doesn’t kill them, but that’s only because brute force is used to disengage him from their snouts and throats. So really. Go into this expecting to shout: No, One-Eye! Nooooo!!! It causes the duo to go on the run, and things devolve as the four seasons progress. Money runs out; provisions run low; no options are left. It’s hard to listen to the book without your toes curling in dismay and apprehension.
Expect a brilliant performance from John Keating who delivers each word with sureness and warmth. He takes Baume’s writing and breathes it like it’s poetry… which, actually, it basically is. One-Eye with his ribbons of drool is Resplendent. He is running, running. Running. He is bold, bold. Bold. Keating rolls through lines, pausing at all the right places. I have three other titles in my audiobook library that he’s done, and I can’t wait to give them a try. Seriously, he’s THAT good. Even if Baume’s writing was subpar, he would’ve made it shine.
What I really like about Spill Simmer Falter Wither is that I get something new from the ending each time I listen to it. I now think it ends differently from how I originally thought it ended. My sister and I once discussed it, and I’m still not sure we agree, but I see what she was saying. And as she is listening to it again too, I can’t wait to re-discuss the whole shebang with her.
If you’re looking for a lighthearted listen, run, run. Run. But if you want beautiful writing of some horrible situations, situations navigated by two of the most memorable characters you’re likely to run into this year? Look no further. This book is IT!
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