KBW

Vivid characters with tragic backstories.

Revisado: 01-12-25

I enjoyed this deep dive into the culture and backstories of today’s smugglers of human beings from Central America to the US border. Overly long dialog, paragraphs, of supposed perspectives expressed by his research subjects, seemed a bit contrived to me. Did the author record these conversations in full and translate them vs re-create them from memory. I became impatient listening to these sections . Nonetheless the author painted vivid pictures of these characters’ idiosyncrasies as well as the brutal and violent childhood histories that launched their career paths.

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An Exquisite Memoir

Revisado: 04-07-24

Once upon a time I seriously considered the cloister. If I had entered it would have been about the same era as the author’s experience. Through the audiobook I heard her tell the story of her initial years as I had imagined them for myself. I visited monasteries frequently while traveling to be transported by the chanting, by the stone corridors, the humble accommodations. Her story was a vicarious living of what might have been, including similar challenges, if I’d chosen a different path. Many years later, as a health professional, I had the opportunity to make visits to care for some aging cloistered nuns. While advanced in years they struck me as quite childlike emotionally and intellectually. Surely they had developed in similarly protected and sheltered conditions. I hope that reforms in monasticism have evolved and gotten through to healthier models of community and spiritual development. I’m very grateful for the authors courage and vulnerability in excavating and telling this story.

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An Awesome Combination of Deep Research and Compelling Storytelling

Revisado: 12-22-23

What a feat and timely contribution to our current politics. These events took place during my parents’ lives yet I was unaware of this history. I have wondered where this upsurge of antisemitism and neo Nazism has come from. It has been here for 100 years, just quiet until recently. I grew up near Hindenburg park and never knew of the Nazi youth camps of a prior generation. I hope that this work fortified us to resist the similar forces that are sweeping the globe, and our country, currently. Thank you for this work, Rachel Maddow.

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Best book in a long long time

Revisado: 07-12-23

Just exquisite storytelling on an epic scale. Having recently returned from Africa I was attracted to the history and geography, the medical storyline, the cross-cultural journeys, and even the old school Catholicism that nostalgically poked through. I thought the narrator was brilliant, overall, for such a long story and so many characters and accents. It gave me renewed appreciation for true writing talent.

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Good story but sooo many names

Revisado: 02-12-23

I began to wonder if I was losing my ability to track characters/names in my head. Then I read several reviews and realized that others had that challenge too. If a first novel, I think it was quite good. I think the narration was really quite amazing including all of the voices and accents utilized. Next novel I hope she will just have fewer characters to keep track of as that was a distraction from enjoying the story.

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Fantastic narration of a good enough story.

Revisado: 03-02-22

I was underwhelmed by the Lacey Stoltz character, but Mary-Louise Parker is one of the best narrators I've experienced. Not Grisham's best story, but good enough to keep me listening.

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Story Mismatch with Carey Mulligan Narration

Revisado: 06-22-21

I greatly admire Ms Mulligan's talent in film. She is an actor of depth, breadth, and substance. The gravitas of her voice and pronunciation (to this American listener) slowed for a bedtime story rhythm, overpowers the simplicity of this little story. I don't want to hear a deep, rich, very formal English voice trying to convey the cuteness of a puppy named Peanut. It didn't work and I couldn't finish more than a few minutes.

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Both interesting and rekaxing

Revisado: 12-25-20

If a set my sleep timer for 30 minutes, I am asleep within 10 minutes. I never got to the end of the story so finally had to listen to try he last part of it during daytime.

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Superb story and performance

Revisado: 12-09-19

a great Grisham tale with exquisite details that creates intense visuals in the mind and an emotional experience. .Michael Beck's performance is stellar, his ability to create multiple characters through his vocals try extraordinary. Pure enjoyment and diversion.

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Great storytelling

Revisado: 08-06-19

The combined talents of a gifted novelist and an amazing narrator (the best narration of an audiobook I have ever heard...how she delivered each of these characters' voices so uniquely through periods of rapid fire dialogue and across decades was a triumph) overall made for an exquisite listening experience.

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