Birdman

Her greatest exploration of love

Revisado: 11-08-24

Louise Erdrich continues to evolve -- with this brilliant exposition of human suffering, love and redemption. Absolutely impossible to ignore, her characters will stay with you for the rest of your days. As always, her ability to sculpt living, breathing characters is uncommon. Her ability to evoke - and invoke - human emotion is a testament to her wild heart.

One of the great novels of mothers and daughters, Erdrich's characters struggle to redeem a dying world, and in the process become more committed to life. The book is a probing exploration of survival and celebration during a dark time.

In a time of great national agony, THE MIGHTY RED inspired hope without a single disingenuous word. In a political environment in which the number of banned books has exploded, I urge every high school student read the novel twice before accepting their diploma

Last, the narrator is as convincing, earnest and versatle as the best in the Audible catalogue. Her knack for mastering a broad range of voices and dialogue -- is as good as it gets.

What a marvelous work of art by a writer of great narrative skill and imagination.

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A masterpiece of the highest order

Revisado: 04-14-24

The immense narrative canvas on which this story is so beautifully crafted and narrated is a landmark for me, and one for which I've waited for many years. Each of Verghese's characters has a distinctive story and voice, and each of their luminous, sometimes tragic lives are filled with epiphanies.

Those who consider avoiding this masterful work of art because of its length needn't hesitate any further.
These scores of lives recounted over more than 90 years on earth are life-changing.

As one who worked in publishing for many years, I can only send deepest thanks to Dr. Verghese and his research and editorial teams for an extraordinary effort.

I need only add that Verghese's mastery of dialect and nuance in all of the characters he's introduced -- is well-informed and so impressive.

The best Audible I've heard in a decade.

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A Deeply Satisfying Work -- Literary Fiction at its Best

Revisado: 02-27-24

THE HEAVEN AND EARTH GROCERY STORE is a masterful act of compassion and reconciliation written at a time in which the threads that bind the human community feel severed. Domenic Hoffman's reading and mastery of dialects are pitch perfect.

The novel opens slowly, like the petals of a rose in chill weather. After a few chapters, it builds to a breathtaking climax. It is a story told through its unforgettable legion of characters. The number and variety of its characters actually infuse what might have been a fable into a flesh-and-blood narrative with pathos, biting humor, and quiet rage.

The plot is simple to discover through reviews and commentaries on the Web. It is enough to say that McBride's latest work -- the most recent of his distinguished roster -- is not only the best Audible I've experienced in 5 years, it ranks with the top 10 novels I've ever read.

The spoken performance is rich, the voice always in service to McBride's unforgettable characters. After experiencing it, I found it astonishing that the "institution" which plays a unique role in the narrative, was permitted to exist -- by courts, politicians and attorneys, for more than eight decades, from 1906 through 1987. It is a deeply troubling comment on our national culture.

Through it all, McBride's heroic characters provide the reader with hope, solace and meaning. A wonderful, wonderful novel.

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A stunning, deeply moving work of fiction

Revisado: 08-27-23

Beautifully narrated and performed, the story of one tenacious, principled woman is the best novel I've experienced this year. Well-paced and filled with revelations about the human heart and mind, Lessons in Chemistry fuses feminism with humanism, and is a must for men and women alike. A deeply satisfying experience and for me, the Audible of the year.

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My Favorite Audible by Far

Revisado: 02-20-22

Louise Erdrich has both invented a world of vivid characters and recounted the history of her people with a deft imagination and stunning prose. More than any other living writer, she recounts stories THROUGH character, and with THE ROUNDHOUSE, she has outdone herself with wit, wrenching sadness and steady suspense that pilots the listener through the tale.

Gary Farmer's performance is nuanced, meticulous and true to the tale. For me, the experience of this work was life-changing. It helped me navigate through harrowing illness and filled my nights with scene after poignant scene of one boy's remarkable coming of age through tragedy, rage and courage.

And as always, it has inspired me to learn even more of our first nations, whom the vile history books and disingenuous curricula have consistently forgotten or trivialized.

This is a masterwork. I loved it.

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One of Her Most Beautifully Realized Works

Revisado: 02-06-22

The plotting and characterization are some of Erdrlch's very best. As with all of her best novels, we learn far more than we ever believed possible about America's indigenous people and their role in remote and recent history. A ghost story set in the author's legendary book shop filled with flesh and blood characters that make us weep and rejoice. Erdrich's performance of this fast-paced narrative is superb.

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An indigenous scientist's heartfelt plea for earth

Revisado: 01-30-22

I'm not surprised this 13-year old book is #3 on the NYT's Softcover Bestseller List, or the fact that it's remained on the list, at this writing for 92 weeks. Using precepts from hard science, indigenous culture and hundreds of thought-provoking stories, Robin Kimmerer is one of the few authors I've read in 60 years that has the keen perspective and literary prowess to show us, baldface, what predatory capitalism and misguided politics have done to the very resources we and our children need to survive.

Whatever political divides remain in this broken country -- and the greatest are between the engaged and the ignorant, and the rich and dispossessed -- it would be difficult to discount or argue much of what she writes here -- and this is my third time through.

Her narrative style is perfect and her voice tempered and appealing. I would argue that Braiding Sweetgrass is one of the most carefully-thought, beautifully written books I've read in my lifetime.

One more thing, an afterthought perhaps. as one of the millions of Americans whose life-saving surgeries and procedures were pushed back to serve the needs of anti-vaxers and anti-maskers during Covid, this book kept me sane, focused and hopeful as I waited for my cancer surgery. This third journey with Kimmerer was life-changing.

Unlike many books, the Audible version exceeds the impact of the book because of the author's expert narration. I also have a hard copy for reference.

A perfect 10, you will learn more about indigenous plants and people, more about the natural and unseen forces which dominate even the most privileged corporate moguls -- than you can even imagine.

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Learned so Much from this Work

Revisado: 10-18-21

As someone who volunteered extensively in my life for wildlife and companion-animal organizations at the top of their game, I found Susan Orleans' book highly intelligent, deeply humane, filled with revelations about dogs, homing pigeons, mules, livestock species and so much more. It was one of my favorites of the past five years on Audible.

Gathered largely from her commentaries in The New Yorker, it will bring solace and discovery to anyone who loves well-crafted animal essays, and fine storytelling too.

I disagree with the reader who found Ms. Orleans' voice unlistenable. I suspect that individual has difficulty tolerating an East Coast voice -- as many do in my part of the country. Her voice suits the material beautifully. It can be sharp at times, but even then, the voice suits the material.

The author's stories are also filled with humor and pathos, two qualities that help us focus on what is beautiful and important in this profoundly changed country. I will listen to it again and recommend it to my coworkers and friends. Extremely worthwhile.

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Explains why the American dream has failed.

Revisado: 07-20-21

I found the text and performance deeply sad but so respectful of the tenacity and courage of those brave men and women who were shed from the middle class like dandelion seeds in a ruthless wind. The film was great, but the book takes you into the heart and bone of disenfranchised, hard working Americans who were literally dumped from a system powered by the hokum of politicians and corporate riff raff.

The author's strategy invokes cameos, dozens of vignettes of real people who were literally dumped by the rich -- whom they'd made that way. In this. way, with grit and determination, the writer stands by her subjects as they fight with tooth and claw to resist homelessness.

A beautiful book which should be required reading for every American high school student because it is urgent, kind and true. Those who pan the narrative are simply part of the problem.

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Deeply personal insights on the state of the world

Revisado: 06-10-21

I was surprised at the emotional tremors I felt listening to these measured observations on the havoc humans have created in our beautiful, wondrously complex ecosystem. I hadn't expected it, but there it is.

With a voice perfectly suited to his material, Green muses on everything from the mysteries of viruses to the banality of the evening news with profound decency, humor and measured rage. His prose is poetic and his frequent musings on the ways mental illness has deepened his perceptions are poignant, and will be all too familiar to most listeners.

Based on his most recent series of podcasts, listeners will experience meditations which fuse memoir with science and political commentary that are frequently fascinating, moving and funny. A treasure trove for the millions emerging from the Covid period. Wonderful, and worth a second or third listen.

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