Elaine

I'm very pleased to have the experience of this book. The cello music adds much to this particular story. It gives room for thought when the voice of the cello is there instead of the words.

The book is well crafted to make one think. The performance is excellent.

Could I be the cellist? What kind of life is my life? How would I behave? What makes any of us worthy of life, love, food, water, music? With war everywhere in all times, one can almost feel the weight of evil pushing from all directions. This book takes ideas of life, hope, and fear and braids them into some understanding of what war really is.

I find many of his stories engaging but others push me into the abyss. The passport story is pretty amazing. I'd have written that if it happened to me.

I'd never heard of Nancy Wake so all of this was new to me. She did everything she could to fight against the Nazis. Actually, to fight for humanity and against cruelty. It's amazing to think what suffering some people have endured and here we are in America willing to sell freedom for something as ordinary as cash.

First of all, Claire Danes did a marvelous job narrating this. She seemed to grow into the character.
Then, I was struck hard by the relationship between this book and what the current Republican party seems to want to accomplish in its ongoing war on women.

As every decade of my life passes I am more and more frustrated by the second class citizenship of women throughout the world. While I listened to this book female fetuses in China and India were aborted because they were not boys. A student on a bus in Delhi was raped for 3 hours while her boyfriend was beaten. Another Indian woman was gang raped and set on fire. This brutality toward women isn't punished in many countries so it continues.

Also now Chief Theresa Spence is on a hunger strike demanding that the Canadian PM speak with her about the issues of sovereignty of the First Nations people. He's refusing to honor the law or the the dignity of this woman. Would he talk with her if she was a man? I wonder.

I worry that the future for women will be worse than the past. This book contains much in need of discussion and action. THanks Margaret ATwood.

This was just a fun book to listen to. I liked the twist on the idea and really liked the history of the London sewers thrown in.

I did not like this selection and should have read more of the reviews instead of being swayed the the number of high ratings. Perhaps it is appropriate for a mid teen, devoutly religious person. I made it through about 54 minutes and then the immaturity of it was just too much.

I have to admit that I listened to the first 3 parts non stop. Interesting to hear a take on history and always good to remember that it was the needs of the wealthy landowners that brought the country into being - not the needs of the real workers. Still, after being distracted by work I've not gone back to finish the book.
Had no idea that George Washington's mother was such a nasty bit of work.
Didn't know that George Washington was so tall and forgot that many of the original framers of the US government lost their personal fortunes in the work they did due to the customs of the times and the state governments unwillingness to meet financial obligations.
The book is well written and worth the time.

I couldn't get into this story. The narrator is marvelous and the difficult words tumble from his mouth like warm caramel but the story seems so choppy to me.

I did appreciate hearing the segment about the difference between the European/American soldiers and the Indians. Americans went into battle with their leaders treating the men like cannon fodder and nobody seems to mourn the lost soldiers while the Indians fought with the constant thought to save their warriors. That was worth hearing.

I couldn't get more than an hour into the story though. It just didn't grab me.

It's so easy to forget history. One gets wrapped up in a day, then a week and the overflowing laundry basket pushes history out of the mind. I understand Iran Contra more than ever and I don't understand why Nixon wasn't impeached. Or Reagan? What Clinton did was harmful to America but those 2 were heroes? I've felt long now that the American experiment in democracy was over, failed, sold to the highest bidder and out of reach. This book brings into detail the events that eroded the once possible goal of democracy. I don't see how future Americans will survive. Their stories will be like those of the North Koreans.

One thing I appreciate about the book is the extensive use of quoted material - primary source. I feel I can trust the reporting.

The performance of narrator, Robin Miles, is wonderful. Her many voices and singing add so much that I could never put into my head by reading it myself. The story is long but I'm sorry that there are times where 10 years pass in a paragraph. I want more.

It's well written. Very well written and that's a treat compared with some of the books recently read such as Pillars of the Earth and Kindred.

The women characters can be foolish, especially as young people, but many are admired by their fellow characters in the book while the reader also finds them strong. The men seem to start strong and then either run out of drive, die young, or suffer from self abuse. Only Deacon, easy to hate and hard to forgive, seems to transform into a stronger person.