Kindle Customer

Engaging journey into another world and time.

Revisado: 08-16-16

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I never lacked the right to vote. I never had my body controlled or owned by a husband or father. And, I’ve never experienced being separated from others by a shocking physical difference.

Until, that is, I spent several hours in Reliance, Illinois, in the 1870s, experiencing life as a fatherless, indeed motherless, young girl with a face-to-torso port-wine birthmark. The audible version, brilliantly read by Sandy Rustin, was an amazing journey into another world and time.

An Interesting, and interestingly flawed, cast of characters weave their way through a gossamer web of secrets in a time often glossed over as not as dramatic as some others, while sewing the seeds of changes to come. For the eleven listening hours, Maddy, Miss. Rose, Rebecca, William, Handley … all were family and will stay with me for a long time.

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Powerful, heartbreaking story. Beautifully written

Revisado: 07-24-16

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This is not an easy book to read. The story vividly describes horrific tragedies of the Sri Lankan civil war where hatred for the other came with birth. It is a dance of light and dark, love and hate, joy and despair, beauty and the beast.

The author never flinches, taking us deep into the darkest wells of human nature without ever losing the connecting power of love and family and home. Richly detailed from both sides of the conflict, there is no hero other than the resilience of the human spirit and the healing power of love, no villain other than the mindset of “us and them” and the willingness to think violence is a solution.

This must have been a gut-wrenching book to write. It is definitely a book that will stay with me for a long time as I wonder, “Could it happen here?” I highly recommend the audible version brilliantly read by Priya Ayyar.

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esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

Slow Descent into Hell

Revisado: 05-05-16

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Several years ago I decided to severely limit my exposure to dysfunctional people. After three hours into listening to this book I've decided to include book characters in that restriction. I don't think it serves me or my well-being to spend time with people who are on a slow descent into hell and who may never find their way back. This is a well-written book. It might be a great story but I'm never going to find out.

Would you ever listen to anything by Paula Hawkins again?

The reader was good.

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Made me question myself

Revisado: 09-05-14

SMK is a fine writer with a delightful mastery of the language. She is also an excellent storyteller. That would have been enough, however, when I learned that this story was based on the lives and work of two real sisters, it took everything to a much deeper level.

I couldn't help ask myself ... would I have been that brave? Would I have seen the evil in a common practice accepted by everyone in my world? Would I have risked jail and the hatred that were unleashed by speaking my beliefs?

It also makes me ask: what is it in my world today that is calling for that type of courage?

Thanks to SMK for introducing me to the Grimke sisters. And, thanks to the Grimke sisters for all they did to change our world.

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Too long ... too boring ... too long

Revisado: 12-30-13

It's always hard to give a really good writer a bad review but this book is just too much ... too long, too depressing, too long, too one dimensional, too long ...

I've listened to about 14 hours of Theo being the good-but-stupid kid. I don't think it's worth another 18 hours of my life, especially when the opening told me Theo is still in the midst of self-destructing. If this is so Dickensian, I might as well go back and read Dickens.

I want to reach out and hug Theo, take him home and comfort him ... but I also want to shake him silly. He made a friend in Hobie and then just lets it go. I want a book to have an arc ... this one just seems to be one long, joyless ride to nowhere.

While some have complained about the narrator, I thought he did a great job and probably kept me listening several hours longer than I would have otherwise.

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esto le resultó útil a 18 personas

Remarkable!

Revisado: 11-25-13

A truly remarkable book! Listening to the recorded version was a journey that opened up like an unknown flower. I never knew where it was going or what color it would reveal. Alma Whittaker feels like a member of my family, a treasured friend, a remarkable mentor. I feel like Oliver standing with my hands out, begging, "More, please!"

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Powerful and Thought Provoking

Revisado: 05-18-12

I am a FLW fan so I didn't expect to be so surprised and engaged by this book. The underlying questions of love, responsibility, family and freedom stimulated a lot of thought and conversation with friends. Mamah was a remarkable woman forced to make a decision that I'm thankful I never had to contemplate in my own life.

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Powerful and Thought Provoking

Revisado: 05-18-12

I am a FLW fan so I didn't expect to be so surprised and engaged by this book. The underlying questions of love, responsibility, family and freedom stimulated a lot of thought and conversation with friends. Mamah was a remarkable woman forced to make a decision that I'm thankful I never had to contemplate in my own life.

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Mind-numbing beginning ...

Revisado: 05-18-12

With an 8-hour drive in front of me, I was looking forward to listening to this book. After an hour, I turned it off. Maybe it got better ... I'll never know. It was so full of cliches and a story that didn't hold together, that silence was a better option. The narration was fine, it was everything else that was slow torture.

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Only Burke could have gotten me into this book.

Revisado: 02-06-12

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This is a hard book to listen to and Burke walks the knife's edge through the horrors of war both abroad and at home. He puts you into places of terror without ever glorifying the violence. His books always make me feel like I've been some place real and met people I would otherwise never meet. Will Patton's reading brings the story alive.

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esto le resultó útil a 9 personas