Standing in the line at the bookstore after exchanging a present, a trolley of audiobooks caught my eye. I'm always looking for commute material.

I picked this up. I had some interest in the book based on its popularity and the upcoming movie. But, not enough to read it with my lack of actual reading time. Trying to quickly read the cover, I thought I was picking up the unabridged edition. While there is an unabridged version, I picked up the abridged version. It was an alright price, but I prefer unabridged audiobooks. I can't tell the run time of this edition, it was approximately 3 hours or so.

Elaina Erika Davis did an excellent job with the narration. I would listen to more of her audiobooks and look into her other work as well. I felt like the narrator (first person, I story-telling) was really there, telling me her story. I withhold judgement on the accent used. I work with many non-native English speakers and find that most "typical" accents are not that typical. She used something that seemed like a typical Japanese accent speaking English.

The writing was less than spectacular. I can only assume that the chunks left out by the abridgement did add to the story. As often happens, the male author did not write a female very believably. She tended to be one-dimensional which you might expect from a Geisha, but we were reassured at the beginning that besides exotic beauty, this child was clever and had a good personality. I never did see it show anywhere in the story. There was a particular spot where I could not tell if the narrator was saying what was true, or what the person she was speaking to wanted to here. By the presentation, I am not sure the author himself knew what his character felt. While I'm no published author, I have written stories, and I know that the characters speak to you. You do know how they feel.

Overall, any inkling I might have had to want to see the movie is quashed. And, I'm glad I did not waste my rare reading time trying to slog through the print version. It was nice to listen to, but I doubt I could have read it.