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An unforgettable saga

Revisado: 03-25-25

A wonderful performance of a masterpiece of novelistic writing. Garcia Marquez is a genius whose imagination will live with you ever after. And the topic “love in the time of cholera” (or love in any other time) is his worthy muse.

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Interesting thesis that is supported by lots of in depth interviewing and credible vignettes.

Revisado: 11-14-24

A serious sociological study of struggles and fortitude in rural Kentucky coal country. The author provides compelling examples of people sharing their life experiences and varied views, as heard by an empathetic and genuinely curious listener. The pride/ shame relationship and its connection to contemporary presidential politics was both prescient and convincing to me. Definitely worth reading and thinking about.

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A look into Medieval Japan

Revisado: 06-27-24

This gossipy and discursive tale of a hero’s fortunes in the Emperor’s court of 11th century Japan was complicated and sometimes shocking. I liked the vocalized rendition that helped me distinguish among the main characters through different voices. Overall, this is a narrative prose masterpiece that immerses you in a distant and opaque society with its themes of social propriety, courtly dress, and marriage/sexual politics. It is unforgettable and relentless.

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Intense story of a life’s frustrations and small revelations.

Revisado: 03-13-24

This is a secret masterpiece. Exquisite in its pacing and with great literary merit. I enjoyed its clear-eyed depiction of academic life and its quiet heroism of Stoner. Surprising to me was were the wonderfully descriptive passages about architecture, weather, seasonal changes, and home life.

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The careful and incredibly nuanced “voices” of Audra McDonald

Revisado: 02-05-24

Emily Wilson’s narrative is contemporary and heroic art, delivering both empathy and horror at the same time. The story moves with an inexorable momentum. McDonald is spectacular in conveying the gore and agony of battle while also varying her tone to inhabit the characters of myriad gods and heroes. I have read the Iliad in other translations, but this is the first time I have so viscerally felt the brutality, humanity, and the spectacle of this ever-relevant epic poem. Many thanks to Audible for taking on this project

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Very compelling

Revisado: 11-18-23

Story and performance are superb. I would recommend this to anyone interested in drama, Irish literature, or the art of storytelling.

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Wonderful fiction, thoroughly researched

Revisado: 09-28-23

This is a fascinating look into thoroughbred-racing during the Civil War era. It is beautifully written and contains lots of intrigue (both scientific and interpersonal) to satisfy even a reader not immediately moved by the beauty or athletics of horses. Well worth listening to this gorgeous production.

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Compelling remembrance of broken dreams

Revisado: 09-10-22

I was less certain of this book until the second part. Once the story becomes one of how rage daughter and mother reclaim their relationship through understanding the grandmother’s trials, it became more expansive, more, compelling, and more memorable for me. It is in many ways an immigrant story and one of lost and recovered pasts that have shaped us.
Performance and writing are straightforward and even “plain”. But the final effect is an insightful look into how our experiences can be shaped by ancestors we never knew.

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Compelling remembrance of broken dreams

Revisado: 09-10-22

I was less certain of this book until the second part. Once the story becomes one of how rage daughter and mother reclaim their relationship through understanding the grandmother’s trials, it became more expansive, more, compelling, and more memorable for me. It is in many ways an immigrant story and one of lost and recovered pasts that have shaped us.
Performance and writing are straightforward and even “plain”. But the final effect is an insightful look into how our experiences can be shaped by ancestors we never knew.

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Unusual perspective on life and fiction

Revisado: 04-25-22

Mira transforms from a timid, but highly articulated, shop-girl who is grieving her father’s death into a leaf with a cosmic perspective and philosophy about the universe. Then she renews her connection to more normal living in the most unexpected ways. This book is truly something different. The protagonist is hesitant, self-critical, loving, impulsive, and driven by intense aesthetic sensibilities. The tone is not always clear or consistent. Is she a fish, a leaf, a speck of cosmic dust, a young woman consumed by grief, regret, and the desire for connection? All of these? Her journey is simultaneously philosophically sophisticated and utterly mundane. But somehow Heti’s writing and the sensitive Audible performance capture a compelling tale of a young woman trying to tell her own cosmic story.

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