Theresa Handrahan

There's more than one way to racially discriminate

Revisado: 03-03-23

I like the book overall and that it was written from a childish perspective. It cuts some break on the idea that all are gringos, regardless of color, and at all gringos are ignorant in their language and speaking. It also added an element of innocence, Focusing more on being hungry and unclean versus the much darker realities that would have overshadowed this group at all times. Particularly the 2 pretty girls traveling with a young boy and a teenager.
Instead of been tightened up a bit, more concise. There were parts that seemed to drag a long time. While the 7 weeks surely would have felt very long and wearying, A few of the repetitive details could have been trimmed up.

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Superfluous and pretentious

Revisado: 02-09-23

oh my gosh, this has to be the longest book on the planet, and thats after I heard Lonesome Dove at a whopping 300,000 words. (lonesome dove was awesome)

There is a bunch of crap and drivel at the beginning, but I slogged through because I love Shawshank Redemption.

The chapters that describe the incarceration, the relationship with the monk and the escape are fantastic, all the way to the location of the treasure

it should have ended there, because the horrendously long winded accounting of what I assume was the Count's revenge was unbearably detailed and ridiculously over-adorned as a Catholic cathederal.

i quit with 27 hours left to hear, because life is too damn valuable. Sheesh.

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went by too quickly

Revisado: 01-04-23

i will definitely give this another listen. The stories are both engaging and meaningful. great dialog

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Is a liberal perspective but overall authentic

Revisado: 11-09-22

This is a great audible because so much of it is done in Spanish, but not so much that the listener doesn't understand the context. It has a real taste of authenticity.

Even though this book has an overly optimistic view of the migrants that are streaming into the US Southern borders, and an overly jaded view about the border officials officials in the United States, I found the content pretty true to life. I live on the South Texas border, and I work greeting people who enter legally, or portend to.

My community is one of migrant workers, citizens and residents who remain more Mexican than American. The border is a hybrid of the 2 cultures. I was put off by the popular review on those site by a listener who was clearly much more American than Mexican.

The review mocked the authenticity of this novel based on the opening scene where a family was executed at a quinceanera. She was so bent on condemning that scene that I question whether she listened to the rest if the book.

Middle class people in Mexico are incredibly frugal, often having $15k in savings when they only make $20k annually. In Mexico, away from the border, only wealthy families throw extravagant parties for their daughters 15th. For most families, a backyard celebration is more typical.

The big showy parties are typical in the United States and along the border where people are frivolous with their money. Just the same as Cinco de Mayo is barely acknowledged in Mexico, but is a huge deal in the US. (one note of inauthenticity in the book-- the patriotic holiday is 15th de Septiembre)

But, despite the extremely simple and liberal tone of the book-- undocumented aliens come in many forms, but rarely as educated as our protagonist-- I found it an enjoyable listen. The Honduran girls were pretty legit and so were most of the other characters. The student and old lady deports were a tough sell, mostly to prevent at Trump. I wonder how the author feels about the thousands of migrants streaming across daily now.

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A play with a cast of characters for your enjoymen

Revisado: 11-07-22

Even my teenage sons who do not particularly enjoy audiobooks even though they are readers said this was different than the usual fare. And enjoyed listening to the various cast of actors of actors and the constant plot twists.

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interesting storyline

Revisado: 11-03-22

While there was a fairly original plot, the characters were so one dimensional it was hard to enjoy the book. The protagonist was sticky sweet and and the new wife was evil incarnate. What had potential to be a fantastic story was a merely decent free listen.

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cute original romance

Revisado: 11-03-22

Good that the author makes a Yoko Ono joke because the plot artistically repaints that picture in a modern media setting. The characters were engaging and likable and this was a fun listen.

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pat Conroy never disappoints

Revisado: 10-07-22

Every novel he has ever written has been epic and beautiful and told with weakness and strength, love and hate intermingled. His stories are complicated and beautiful and broken and whole at the same time.

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so much better thN the movie

Revisado: 08-24-22

A lot of the details about how Norman met his wife and other things that were in the movie, presumably drawn from his other works, were not in this book.

This was a focus on the relationship between the 2 brothers and their father and the fly fishing. The fly fishing is nothing less than beautiful. I have only had one opportunity to fly fish and am no expert in any form of fishing, but the read was incredible

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A slow and lovely romance

Revisado: 08-23-22

Well this is not Waller's most engaging but, it is An enjoyable romance whose ending is not as predictable as one would think.

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