Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
If a friend had to choose one book by Nina Stibbe, I would recommend she read "Love, Nina", rather than "Man at the Helm"
How did the narrator detract from the book?
I am not sure whether the narrator has a natural "child-like" voice or was staging one for the sake of this book. In either case, this was not the right voice, in that it is clear from the text that the story is not told from the child's perspective but from the adult woman's viewpoint. In the logic of this fiction, a woman is retelling the story of her childhood and the problems her mother faced after her husband left her for another man before remarrying another woman. So the childish voice is misleading. (The reader is a good reader! But not for this book)
Any additional comments?
It is a lovely story (albeit predictable). Great characters (esp. the mother), wonderful irony, direct effective descriptions: you want to read/listen to the whole thing... Not a boring let-down moment.
I enjoy Stibbe's writing very much and am a super fan of her memoir "Love, Nina" which I would recommend in the audio version (more than the print edition) to everyone! That's a glorious piece of genius. This one, A Man at the Helm, is good.