The audiobook
Commute audiobook. Criteria: 1. simple enough I can follow it while also attending to driving. 2. interesting enough to keep me alert and engaged on a very long drive. (optionally) 3: a great narrator.

1. probably, in principle, except that...
2. ...I wasn't interested enough to pay enough attention to follow along. I missed quite a bit and instead of backing up to figure out what I'd missed I just kept going. I was grateful for the spoilerific reviews to help me fill in missing information. And there was a LOT of missing information. Including some big stuff that had me wondering how I could possibly have missed that.
3. The narrator was fantastic. I loved the Haitian Creole. I could listen to her say Claire's name all day.

The book
I have a gut feeling that this is actually a very good book and I just wasn't able to give it the attention it deserved, and as a result, I didn't enjoy it as much as I probably could have. My rating is not reflective of the book's quality but merely my readerly 'likingness'. That said, I want a great book to demand my attention, and Claire of the Sea Light did not, so I don't think that this would be a 5-star book for me under any circumstances.

I did enjoy the rich, vibrant immersion into Haitian culture, which is ultimately what kept me listening.