As I listened for nearly 13 painful hours, I kept wondering — is the narration ruining a decent book, or is the writing also that bad? I have concluded that it was both bad writing and bad narration. The narrator’s cadence is borderline nauseating — sing-songy, hurried, lazy. And for a book with a meaningful exposure to Paris, would it be possible to get someone who can at least fake French pronunciation? I kept listening because I don’t know much about Syria — I learned a bit. But it was not fun along the way. Sorry.