Monday, December 7, 2015

review: west 57 by b.n. freeman

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B.N. Freeman’s West 57 is an uproariously good time. With the death of her father, Julie Chavan is tasked with determining what to do with the publishing house, West 57, he owned. Times haven’t been good for book publishers and Julie’s dad made some questionable decisions before he died. Complicating matters is Julie’s mother who lives across the country in California. She wants Julie to leave New York and join the movie business in LA with Julie’s ex-fiancĂ©, but that likely means getting back together with a man who cheated on her.

The characters here are outrageous (Julie is the only grounded one, but even she sees her father’s ghost), but keep the novel entertaining. The antics of the drunken King Royal add to the fun while some very real dangers stemming from the publication of King Royal’s memoir keep the novel balanced. Freeman also takes a risk by inserting himself as an author Julie interacts with—the risk pays off and creates an excellently meta scene.

About the audiobook: West 57 is read by Meredith Mitchell whose voice work here nicely distinguishes between the narration and the dialogue. Her inflections are also spot on. The audio version of West 57 was published by Blackstone Audio in November 2015 and runs 10 hours.
5/5
Review copy provided by Audiobook Jukebox.

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