PugetSoundBookworm

Enthralling listen & a new favorite

Revisado: 09-06-24

A slightly wild story reminiscent of the old westerns with themes of family loyalty, hoping against the odds, & divine interventions with very human characters who endear themselves despite their failings. Very beautifully written. Highly recommend.

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Predictable plot.

Revisado: 10-18-23

So, predictable. Painfully predictable. When I was thinking it should be almost over, there were still 4 hours to go!!! Ugh! I got through it for my book club, but would’ve otherwise moved on to something else. Life is too short to waste time reading poor & mediocre fiction. The narration was good.

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Riveting

Revisado: 11-11-18

After the few minutes of listening, I was totally captured. An intense story of girl who survives and then tries to make sense of her unconventional upbringing and a childhood filled with abuse and trauma. A journey, where through growing her own mind, she finds the freedom be her own person. This is a story of the resilience of the human spirit and the courage and pain it took one person to choose her own path.

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Fascinating history

Revisado: 08-17-17

This book stretches out a what seems like a simple story of environmental terrorism by giving a ton of background. Going back not just centuries, but providing events in the context of millennia - weaving the disparate facts, opinions, and myths into one fascinating book. While at times the historical diversions seemed a little long winded, especially in the middle of the climactic act, it didn't annoy me & somehow worked. I really enjoyed the thorough exploration and deep history of the story presented in this book. My one complaint about the audio book performance is the mispronunciation of "Weyerhaeuser" - this was grating, plus there's no excuse because they have commercials on the internet where this can be checked.

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esto le resultó útil a 4 personas

Engaging story & well articulated performance

Revisado: 07-28-17

I really, really, enjoyed listening to this book. I listened to this right after listening to Weapons of Math Destruction. It was a great follow-on to that book, which covered how data (credit scores, recidivism models, etc.) has a huge negative impact on the poor in this country. Hillbilly Elegy is an up close & personal look at the poverty cycle from the view point of a child who was born into it and what it took to break out of it. As someone from a working class background, I found it insightful. It brought a new level of understanding to some of my family lore that is only ever alluded to, but not openly talked about and what might be behind some of the observed destructive behaviors.

Highly recommend for everyone high school age and up (contains adult language and themes), but especially for people interested in the public policy that addresses poverty and social justice, as well as those who interact with and could have a measure of positive influence with kids and families on lower end of the socio-economic spectrum - teachers, social workers, foster parents, and law enforcement and non-profit service providers to name a few.

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