George and Irene are two scientists who feel an instant romantic connection, but later question whether that connection is genuine. The storyline alternates between present day and the 1970s-80s, where the reader also spends some time with George and Irene's mothers.
I found this story to be very odd, and unlike pretty much any other book I have read. Because of the weirdness, I didn't really enjoy it. There were many odd characters, and lots of strange things took place. For example, a narwhal was pulled out of the river by hand, and some of the characters communicated in their own made-up language. There are a lot of descriptions of astronomy topics. Frequently, the thoughts and feelings of the character's are described in very abstract ways. There were some funny moments where I laughed out loud. The intimate scenes and scenes in which intimate topics were discussed were just awkward, gross, and weird.
I would have liked more on the Belion/Silvergirl story. I feel like that just kind of fizzled out. I felt like the ending was kind of quick and abrupt, although I will say I did like how it ended.
As for the audiobook, the characters are well differentiated by the narrator, although the voices used were over dramatic and cartoonish. It was almost as if she tried too hard to differentiate the characters, and ended up with over the top voices. Multiple times I was stopped in surprise by the bizarre voices I heard. The annunciation was great, but her voice was child-like. Some of the character's voices were quite annoying, particularly Belion, Bernice and Dean. If someone I knew in real life had a voice like Belion's, I think I would avoid talking to them. He sounded like a rugged old mountain man, but he was supposed to be a 30ish gamer guy. This type of narration definitely added to the weirdness of the book.
Overall, this story was just too weird for me to really like. I know I have used the word "weird" a lot, but that is just the best way to sum up my thoughts and feelings after listening to this book!
This is the first book I have read by Lydia Netzer, but I have listened to other books narrated by Joshilyn Jackson, and enjoyed them.
How to Tell Toledo from the Night Sky: A Novelis by Lydia Netzer, narrated by Joshilyn Jackson. This audio book consists of 9 CDs and is 11.5 hours. This is a Macmillan Audiobook from St. Martin's Press, published in 2014. I was provided a copy by Audiobook Jukebox to listen to and review.
