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Kantika
- Narrated by: Gail Shalan
- Length: 10 hrs and 21 mins
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A kaleidoscopic portrait of one family’s displacement across four countries, Kantika—“song” in Ladino—follows the joys and losses of Rebecca Cohen, feisty daughter of the Sephardic elite of early 20th-century Istanbul. When the Cohens lose their wealth and are forced to move to Barcelona and start anew, Rebecca fashions a life and self from what comes her way—a failed marriage, the need to earn a living, but also passion, pleasure, and motherhood. Moving from Spain to Cuba to New York for an arranged second marriage, she faces her greatest challenge—her disabled stepdaughter, Luna, whose feistiness equals her own and whose challenges pit new family against old.
Exploring identity, place, and exile, Kantika also reveals how the female body—in work, art, and love—serves as a site of both suffering and joy. A haunting, inspiring meditation on the tenacity of women, this lush, lyrical novel from Elizabeth Graver celebrates the insistence on seizing beauty and grabbing hold of one’s one and only life.
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A moving coming-of-age story set in the 1900s, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn follows the lives of 11-year-old Francie Nolan, her younger brother Neely, and their parents, Irish immigrants who have settled in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. Johnny Nolan is as loving and fanciful as they come, but he is also often drunk and out of work, unable to find his place in the land of opportunity.
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Book: flawless. SKIP THE RECORDED INTRO!!
- By Wild Wise Woman on 09-04-11
By: Betty Smith
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The Joy Luck Club
- By: Amy Tan
- Narrated by: Gwendoline Yeo
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
Four Chinese women, drawn together by the shadow of their past, meet in San Francisco to play mah jong, invest in stocks, eat dim sum, and to "say" stories to each other. Nearly 40 years later, one of the women has died, and her daughter arrives to take her place. However, the daughter never expected to learn of her mother's secret lifelong wish - and the tragic way in which it has come true. The revelation creates among the women an urgent need to remember the past.
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Joy Luck - abridged
- By Leslie Teicholz on 03-16-04
By: Amy Tan
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The Star Side of Bird Hill
- By: Naomi Jackson
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 7 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Story
Two sisters, ages 10 and 16, are exiled from Brooklyn to Bird Hill in Barbados, after their mother can no longer care for them. The young Phaedra and her older sister, Dionne, live, for the summer of 1989, with their grandmother, Hyacinth, a midwife and practitioner of the local spiritual practice of obeah. Dionne spends the summer in search of love, testing her grandmother's limits, and wanting to go home. Phaedra explores Bird Hill, where her family has lived for generations.
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My absolute favorite book of all time
- By Eme on 07-16-15
By: Naomi Jackson
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The Jew Store
- A Family Memoir
- By: Stella Suberman
- Narrated by: Donna Postel
- Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Story
In 1920, in small-town America, the ubiquitous dry goods store was usually owned by Jews and often referred to as "the Jew store". That's how Stella Suberman's father's store, Bronson's Low-Priced Store, in Concordia, Tennessee, was known locally. The Bronsons were the first Jews to ever live in that tiny town of one main street, one bank, one drugstore, one picture show, one feed and seed, one hardware, one barber shop, one beauty parlor, one blacksmith, and many Christian churches.
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Wonderful
- By Katie Simpson on 09-04-21
By: Stella Suberman
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The Parisian
- By: Isabella Hammad
- Narrated by: Fiona Button
- Length: 20 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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A masterful debut novel by Plimpton Prize winner Isabella Hammad, The Parisian illuminates a pivotal period of Palestinian history through the journey and romances of one young man, from his studies in France during World War I to his return to Palestine at the dawn of its battle for independence.
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Overly ambitious
- By Turtle on 06-16-19
By: Isabella Hammad
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Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All
- By: Laura Ruby
- Narrated by: Lisa Flanagan
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
When Frankie’s mother died and her father left her and her siblings at an orphanage in Chicago, it was supposed to be only temporary - just long enough for him to get back on his feet and be able to provide for them once again. That’s why Frankie's not prepared for the day that he arrives for his weekend visit with a new woman on his arm and out-of-state train tickets in his pocket. Now, Frankie and her sister, Toni, are abandoned alongside so many other orphans - two young, unwanted women doing everything they can to survive.
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Boring, boring, boring
- By Marie J. on 08-20-21
By: Laura Ruby
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The Godmothers
- A Novel
- By: Camille Aubray
- Narrated by: Lisa Flanagan, Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 13 hrs and 5 mins
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Meet the Godmothers: Filomena is a clever and resourceful war refugee with a childhood secret, who comes to America to wed Mario, the family's favored son. Amie, a beautiful and dreamy French girl from upstate New York, escapes an abusive husband after falling in love with Johnny, the oldest of the brothers. Lucy, a tough-as-nails Irish nurse, ran away from a strict girls' home and marries Frankie, the sensuous middle son. And the glamorous Petrina, the family's only daughter, graduates with honors from Barnard College despite a past trauma that nearly caused a family scandal.
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Easy Enjoyable Read
- By Bunny on 06-23-21
By: Camille Aubray
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In the Country
- Stories
- By: Mia Alvar
- Narrated by: Nancy Wu, Don Castro
- Length: 13 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
These nine globe-trotting, unforgettable stories from Mia Alvar, a remarkable new literary talent, vividly give voice to the women and men of the Filipino diaspora. Here are exiles, emigrants, and wanderers uprooting their families from the Philippines to begin new lives in the Middle East, the United States, and elsewhere - and sometimes turning back again.
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My introduction to Filipino literature and culture
- By Amazon Customer on 03-28-16
By: Mia Alvar
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Beyond the Pale
- By: Elana Dykewomon
- Narrated by: Elana Dykewomon
- Length: 15 hrs and 39 mins
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Beyond the Pale - winner of the Lambda Literary Award - tells the stories of two Jewish women living through times of darkness and inhumanity in the early 20th century, capturing their undaunted love and courage in luminous and moving prose. The richly textured novel details Gutke Gurvich's odyssey from her apprenticeship as a midwife in a Russian shtetl to her work in the suffrage movement in New York.
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great historical fiction with a lesbian twist
- By Kelly on 11-25-13
By: Elana Dykewomon
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The Parted Earth
- By: Anjali Enjeti
- Narrated by: Deepti Gupta
- Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Spanning more than half a century and cities from New Delhi to Atlanta, Anjali Enjeti’s debut is a heartfelt and human portrait of the long shadow of the partition of the Indian subcontinent on the lives of three generations.
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Riveting
- By MSE on 05-14-21
By: Anjali Enjeti
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Land of Love and Drowning
- By: Tiphanie Yanique
- Narrated by: Cherise Boothe, Korey Jackson, Rachel Leslie, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In the early 1900s an important ship sinks into the Caribbean Sea, just as the Virgin Islands are transferred from Danish to American rule. Orphaned by the sunk vessel are two sisters and their half-brother, now faced with an uncertain identity and future. Each of them is unusually beautiful, and each is in possession of a particular magic that will either sink or save them. Chronicling three generations of an island family from 1916 to the 1970s, Land of Love and Drowning is a novel of love and magic.
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TW: incest
- By Carrissa on 04-12-17
By: Tiphanie Yanique
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I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
- By: Maya Angelou
- Narrated by: Maya Angelou
- Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Sent by their mother to live with their devout, self-sufficient grandmother in a small Southern town, Maya and her brother, Bailey, endure the ache of abandonment and the prejudice of the local “powhitetrash.” At eight years old, Maya is attacked by a man many times her age - and has to live with the consequences for a lifetime. But years later, she learns about love for herself and the kindness of others, her own strong spirit, and the ideas of great authors.
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Emotional & Powerful
- By Miss Toni on 06-30-13
By: Maya Angelou
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The Teller of Secrets
- A Novel
- By: Bisi Adjapon
- Narrated by: Anniwaa Buachie
- Length: 11 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Young Esi Agyekum is the unofficial "secret keeper" of her family, as tight-lipped about her father's adultery as she is about her half-sisters' sex lives. But after she is humiliated and punished for her own sexual exploration, Esi begins to question why women's secrets and men's secrets bear different consequences. It is the beginning of a journey of discovery that will lead her to unexpected places. Against a fraught political climate, Esi fights to carve out her own identity, and learns to manifest her power in surprising and inspiring ways.
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A beautifully honest story of an imperfect girl
- By Anonymous User on 05-21-24
By: Bisi Adjapon
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Mabel Beaumont’s husband Arthur loved lists. He’d leave them for her everywhere. ‘Remember: eggs, butter, sugar’. ‘I love you: today, tomorrow, always’. But now Arthur is gone. He died: softly, gently, not making a fuss. But he’s still left her a list. This one has just one item on it though: ‘Find D’. Mabel feels sure she knows what it means. She must track down her best friend Dot, who she hasn’t seen since the fateful day she left more than sixty years ago.
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At the end I felt sorry for Arthur
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Allison Moore is making it. Barely. The Seattle area architecture firm she started with her best friend is struggling, but at least they’re free from the games played by the corporate world. She’s gotten over her divorce. And while her dad’s recent passing is tough, their relationship had never been easy. Then the bomb drops. Her dad had a secret life and left her mom in massive debt. As Allison scrambles to help her mom find a way out, she’s given a journal, anonymously, during a visit to her favorite coffee shop.
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Horrible
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How far will a mother go to save her family? The Hammond family is living in DC, where everything seems to be going just fine until it becomes clear that the oldest daughter, Tilly, is developing abnormally - a mix of off-the-charts genius and social incompetence. Once Tilly - whose condition is deemed undiagnosable - is kicked out of the last school in the area, her mother, Alexandra, is out of ideas. The family turns to Camp Harmony and the wisdom of child-behavior guru Scott Bean for a solution.
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Beautiful
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What listeners say about Kantika
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Elliott Wolfe, M.D.
- 07-25-23
Outstanding performance of a beautiful book
The performer is to be complemented for her performance,, which enhances the author's writing. Highly recommended.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Gregory L. Glover
- 12-22-23
Reminds me of Chaim Potok
I loved the cultural aspects and the character building. The story takes off when Luna enters the narrative and “sings.” Beautifully written. I prefer a little more action and stronger emphasis on plot, but the story is a good one and the final chapters do reach a satisfying climax. Well done. Very much worth the time and effort. The use of French, Spanish, etc., were masterful and the reader didn’t miss a beat. Virtuoso performance. It has been a while since I read Potok, but the cultural milieu put me very much in mind of his writing.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Amy Gerstein
- 02-01-24
Beautiful story. Excellent narration.
Beautiful story. Excellent narration. Kantika follows multiple generations and weaves in Jewish culture, immigration, and beauty.
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- SomervilleWhereElse
- 05-23-23
A beautiful family story
Well narrated and sung. I enjoyed every moment, though it’s not my family’s story, it’s so lovely, it will be enjoyed by all.
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- Rena Alisa
- 12-03-23
The (usually) untold portion of contemporary Jewish history.
This is a very workmen, like tale of the Jews of the “Levant”.
In so far as Jewish history is studied at all, we usually learn about the Roman conquest of Judea, the exile to Europe, the spread of Jews throughout Europe, the discrimination, settlements, ghettos, banishment, and so on - usually culminating in the atrocities of the Holocaust. What is rarely taught or even mentioned are the Jews of the so-called ‘Lavant’. i.e., Iraq, Iran, Syria, the Iberian, peninsula, Greece and North Africa. These are the “Sefardim” - Jews, who were banished from Spain and Portugal in 1492 - together with the entire Muslim population of those countries.
Since Islam had a place for Jews and Christians these people could live and prosper throughout North Africa and the Middle East. Spain became as a distant memory of oppression. These Jews spoke Arabic and the local languages but also maintain themselves among the Christians and Muslims of the Levant as a separate population, speaking Ladino - which is a medieval form of Spanish and Hebrew. (Much as Europeans spoke Yiddish-
a mixture of Hebrew and medieval German.). These Jews retained their religion, common biblical and rabbinical roots with their EuropeanJewish cousins. However, they also acquired the culture of the Lavant. They blended and adopted the cultureal traditions of their neighbors.
After WWII, in the early 50s, they were thrown out and expelled from Muslim countries (a fate shared by many Christians of the Levant) .
This book is written in a very personal and interesting style. It is easy to follow and interesting in its details. This is not a great work of literature. It reads more like an act of reporting. Interesting facts, but no character invention or development.
The narration is somewhat breathy and overly feminized. The narrator has a very good grasp of Spanish but unfortunately not of Hebrew, I would give this book a solid ‘C’. It is pleasant and interesting and worthwhile reading as History. I don’t think it is fantastic literature. Learn from it and enjoy yourself while you’re doing so.
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- Michael Hayse
- 03-06-24
movingly human and convincing
this story captures a personal story, interwoven with intimate family drama and historical context. never didactic or judgy. for those like me interested in Modern Jewish history and World War II, this is a refreshing variation. I learned so much about the Sephardic, Latino experience. mostly, however, I was entertained. what a fantastic performance by the narrator, too!
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- Cindi Anthony
- 06-08-23
Very disappointing
While the story was interesting, I never really connected with any of the characters. But my biggest complaint is with the performance. I found the narration so annoying that it was a real distraction. I’m glad I made it through but plan to avoid this narrator in the future.
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- Barbara
- 11-13-23
Journey to Safety
I Loved the reader & her singing is beautiful. The story held my interest all through the book. I fell in love with Rebecca for her loving, nurturing, and resilient qualities - she is a wonderful role model.
Wonderful to learn about the Sephardic Jewish culture. So sad to once again read of the world’s antisemitism, which doesn’t seem to ever end.
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- Timothy Christenfeld
- 05-30-23
Fabulous book group read
Our book group loved Kantika and found it provoked excellent discussions. The author’s interweaving of family history, research and fiction was artful and created a vibrance to the story with lots of layers to discuss. The experience of migration and otherness touched us all. It was intriguing to see Sephardic life close up when most of us were more familiar with Ashkenazy culture. A poignant feast that sparked fun discussions!
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- Caryl Label
- 01-12-24
Learning about the Ladino Jewish culture in early 1900s
Fair story, definitely not suspenseful. Learned about Ladino Jewish family life in Spain and US in early 1900 to 1945.
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