What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?
A reading by someone who could speak without a ridiculous, artificially 'posh', pompous accent. Preferably someone who could read through the book first, to get an accurate understanding of the words on the page. Regularly changing the pronunciation and mispronouncing words really doesn't make for an enjoyable read. Could suggest a couple of excellent readers if he'd like to listen to them.
Would you ever listen to anything by Cyril Robinson again?
No.
How could the performance have been better?
A reading by someone who could speak without a ridiculous, artificially 'posh', pompous accent. Preferably someone who could read through the book first, to get an accurate understanding of the words on the page. Regularly changing the pronunciation and mispronouncing words really doesn't make for an enjoyable read. Could suggest a couple of excellent readers if he'd like to listen to them.
You didn’t love this book--but did it have any redeeming qualities?
Didn't get far enough into the narrative to be able to find out it's undoubted 'redeeming' qualities.