Black Wave

By: Michelle Tea

Narrated by: Michelle Tea

Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

Desperate to quell her addiction to drugs, disastrous romance, and '90s San Francisco, Michelle heads south for LA. But soon it's officially announced that the world will end in one year, and life in the sprawling metropolis becomes increasingly weird.

While living in an abandoned bookstore, dating Matt Dillon, and keeping an eye on the encroaching apocalypse, Michelle begins a new novel, a sprawling and metatextual exploration to complement her promises of maturity and responsibility. But as she tries to make queer love and art without succumbing to self-destructive vice, the boundaries between storytelling and everyday living begin to blur, and Michelle wonders how much she'll have to compromise her artistic process if she's going to properly ride out doomsday.

©2016 Michelle Tea (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Decent narrative but frustrating recording

I read this because I liked Valencia, and there are enough redeeming elements to this story to render it fairly interesting, funny, and occasionally thought-provoking, especially its metafictional components. However, Tea's performance while reading is incredibly distracting because she pauses so frequently and at unnecessary moments throughout every sentence, causing her to sound unbearably choppy. I could only finish it by speeding up the recording. It needs to be re-recorded by a professional narrator.

Great book, stilted narration

I really enjoyed the book but I will echo the other reviewers and say that the author’s performance was unfortunately VERY stilted to the point of distraction and I ended up listening to it on 1.7 speed just to try to avoid it.

A roller coaster of emotions

I stopped listening to this book a couple of times because I thought it was too heavy, but then I began to appreciate the weight of it and the view of the world through the eyes of someone that only lived for themselves for most of it. I liked the way she hit rock bottom and the rawness of her story, as she then had to put the work in to help herself grow. The author as the narrator had some room for improvement as sometimes I felt like I was at a poetry reading, or that she at times had a bit of a robotic sound by the way she read it.

I resisted, but it's kind of genius

I really found the novel challenging at times, but challenging is not a bad thing in art. It isn't a feel-good tale. Mostly, I didn't much like the protagonist, who I couldn't help but think of as the author's alter ego. And yet, the descriptions are truly marvelous, and the narrative twists kept me engaged.

I got from this book that most precious outcome - an experience, and for that I am grateful.

As others have mentioned in review, the author's narration is too slow. I sped it up to x1. 35 and then found it enjoyable. Not smooth and professional, but raw, just like the main character. It was a very good fit.

Starting is drudgery…

But ends as a fiery explosion of creativity and redemption.
The story brings up a lot of questions and feelings. And sometimes there is a self aware author peeking in. An unusual style of writing that is for sure.

A varied exploration

story had high points and low points for me. prefered the latter half. narration was a little stilted at times, and I may have enjoyed it more as print. overall, I was entertained. thank you.

Stiff delivery

I wanted to like this book, but the author’s delivery was so stiff and robotic, it actively took me out of the story. Should’ve had someone else read it.

Yikes

I’ve never read anything by Michelle Tea, though I’ve been reading her for years. She’s my toxic exes favorite writer, and now that I’ve finished this I regret ever having picked it up. There’s no redeeming qualities, the writer is creepy at best, abusive at worst. She writes extensively about p*dophilia, & has zero knowledge of trans people. This was written five years ago, but you’d think it had been written decades ago by the dated transphobia. Do better, Michelle Tea.

I'm sorry...

It's not often I can say this...but this has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. I tried to listen to it, but it wasn't just a he narration that was bad, but the story as well. I ended up skipping through it to see if there was any point where it started getting better. There wasn't.