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A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain
- Narrated by: Robert Olen Butler
- Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
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Publisher's summary
Pulitzer Prize, Fiction, 1993
Robert Olen Butler's lyrical and poignant collection of stories about the aftermath of the Vietnam War and its impact on the Vietnamese was acclaimed by critics across the nation and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1993. This edition includes two subsequently published stories - "Salem" and "Missing" - that brilliantly complete the collection's narrative journey with a return to the jungles of Vietnam.
Critic reviews
- Pulitzer Prize, Fiction, 1993
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In the five years since Julia last visited her aunt and uncle’s home in Malibu, her life has been turned upside down by her daughter’s death. She expects to find nothing more than peace and solitude as she house-sits with only her dog, Bonnie, for company. But she finds herself drawn to the handsome man who oversees the lemon orchard. Roberto expertly tends the trees, using the money to support his extended Mexican family. What connection could these two people share? The answer comes as Roberto reveals the heartbreaking story of his own loss – a pain Julia knows all too well, but for one striking difference: Roberto’s daughter was lost but never found. And despite the odds he cannot bear to give up hope.
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A story to tug at your heart
- By Donna A on 01-31-15
By: Luanne Rice
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A Flag for Sunrise
- By: Robert Stone
- Narrated by: Stephen Lang
- Length: 17 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Possessed of astonishing dramatic, emotional, and philosophical resonance, A Flag for Sunrise is a novel in the grand tradition about Americans drawn into the maelstrom of a small Central American country on the brink of revolution. From the book's inception, listeners will be seized by the dangers and nightmare suspense of life lived on the rim of a political volcano.
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A towering achievement
- By Skeptical on 04-24-11
By: Robert Stone
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The Glass Palace
- By: Amitav Ghosh
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 17 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Set in Burma during the British invasion of 1885, this masterly novel by Amitav Ghosh tells the story of Rajkumar, a poor boy lifted on the tides of political and social chaos, who goes on to create an empire in the Burmese teak forest. When soldiers force the royal family out of the Glass Palace and into exile, Rajkumar befriends Dolly, a young woman in the court of the Burmese Queen, whose love will shape his life. He cannot forget her, and years later, as a rich man, he goes in search of her.
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I struggled to finish... enough said.
- By Ty on 05-02-10
By: Amitav Ghosh
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Hunters in the Dark
- By: Lawrence Osborne
- Narrated by: Stephen Hogan
- Length: 9 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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From the novelist the New York Times compares to Paul Bowles, Evelyn Waugh, and Ian McEwan, an evocative new work of literary suspense. Adrift in Cambodia, Robert Grieve - pushing 30 and eager to sidestep a life of quiet desperation as a small-town teacher - decides to go AWOL. As he crosses the border from Thailand, he tests the threshold of a new future.
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Graham Greene
- By Foxhuntingman on 02-26-16
By: Lawrence Osborne
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The Art of Hearing Heartbeats
- A Novel
- By: Jan-Philipp Sendker
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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When a successful New York lawyer suddenly disappears without a trace, neither his wife nor his daughter Julia has any idea where he might be - until they find a love letter he wrote many years ago to a Burmese woman they have never heard of. Intent on solving the mystery and coming to terms with her father’s past, Julia decides to travel to the village where the woman lived. There she uncovers a tale of unimaginable hardship, resilience, and passion that will reaffirm the listener’s belief in the power of love to move mountains.
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Basic Story Interesting, But...
- By Monica on 06-04-13
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Oz Reimagined
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- By: Douglas Cohen - editor, John Joseph Adams - editor
- Narrated by: Nick Podehl, Tanya Eby
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- Unabridged
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When L. Frank Baum introduced Dorothy and friends to the American public in 1900, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz became an instant, best-selling hit. Today the whimsical tale remains a cultural phenomenon that continues to spawn wildly popular books, movies, and musicals. Now, editors John Joseph Adams and Douglas Cohen have brought together leading fantasy writers such as Orson Scott Card and Jane Yolen to create the ultimate anthology for Oz fans.
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The Many Faces of Dorothy or Dot
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 07-19-14
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The Magus
- By: John Fowles
- Narrated by: Nicholas Boulton
- Length: 26 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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John Fowles’s The Magus was a literary landmark of the 1960s. Nicholas Urfe goes to a Greek island to teach at a private school and becomes enmeshed in curious happenings at the home of a mysterious Greek recluse, Maurice Conchis. Are these events, involving attractive young English sisters, just psychological games, or an elaborate joke, or more? Reality shifts as the story unfolds. The Magus reflected the issues of the 1960s perfectly, and it continues to create tension and concern today.
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One of the best novels that I really think I hate.
- By Darwin8u on 01-29-14
By: John Fowles
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Firefly Beach
- Hubbard's Point/Black Hall, Book 1
- By: Luanne Rice
- Narrated by: Kate Rudd
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Coolly sophisticated and steadfastly single, Caroline Renwick has always been the sister everyone could count on. As she and Clea and Skye gathered at Firefly Hill, their childhood home, Caroline thought that they had all put the past behind them. But as summer gets under way, a mysterious man arrives—a man who has the power to bring it all back....
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sorry, boring
- By Sara V. on 04-02-24
By: Luanne Rice
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Above Us Only Sky
- By: Michele Young-Stone
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Prudence Eleanor Vilkas was born with a pair of wings molded to her back. Considered a birth defect, her wings were surgically removed, leaving only the ghost of them behind. Growing up in Los Vientos, Florida, Prudence meets her long-estranged Lithuanian grandfather and discovers a miraculous lineage beating and pulsing with past Lithuanian bird-women.
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I'm So Glad I Listened to It!
- By Elizabeth on 08-22-16
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The Girl Who Sang to the Buffalo
- A Child, an Elder, and the Light from an Ancient Sky
- By: Kent Nerburn
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 12 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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A haunting dream that will not relent pulls author Kent Nerburn back into the hidden world of Native America, where dreams have meaning, animals are teachers, and the "old ones" still have powers beyond our understanding. In this moving narrative, we travel through the lands of the Lakota and the Ojibwe, where we encounter a strange little girl with an unnerving connection to the past, a forgotten asylum that history has tried to hide, and complex, unforgettable characters.
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Thought-provoking, though flawed
- By Buretto on 08-06-18
By: Kent Nerburn
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Miles Roby har langet burgere over disken i Empire Grill i tyve år, og derfra kan han se ned ad hovedgaden i den engang så driftige industriby Empire Falls og fornemme byens puls, som nu slår meget langsomt. For Whiting-familien, der ejer fabrikkerne og det meste andet på egnen, har flyttet produktionen væk fra byen, og det har skruet livet i Empire Falls ned på vågeblus.Så det er bekymrede kunder, der letter deres hjerte over for Miles - som har sine helt egne problemer.
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Robert Quinlan is a 70-year-old historian, teaching at Florida State University, where his wife Darla is also tenured. Their marriage, forged in the fervor of anti-Vietnam War protests, now bears the fractures of time, both personal and historical, with the couple trapped in an existence of morning coffee and solitary jogging and separate offices. For Robert and Darla, the cracks remain under the surface, whereas the divisions in Robert's own family are more apparent: he has almost no relationship with his brother Jimmy.
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Set in Kiev in 1911 during a period of heightened anti-Semitism, the novel tells the story of Yakov Bok, a Jewish handyman blamed for the brutal murder of a young Russian boy. Bok leaves his village to try his luck in Kiev and, after denying his Jewish identity, finds himself working for a member of the anti-Semitic Black Hundreds Society. When the boy is found nearly drained of blood in a cave, the Black Hundreds accuse the Jews of ritual murder.
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Technical Problems Need To Ne Resolved
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By: Bernard Malamud
What listeners say about A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- David
- 04-24-17
Messages from Vietnam
How odd today to read short stories written by a white Midwestern American in the voices of Vietnamese women and men. The stories focus on the lives of Vietnamese during and after the Vietnam War, mostly South Vietnamese who have relocated to Louisiana. The stories are subtle and believable, even the ghost story. While there are questions today as to the propriety of white men writing from the perspective of different ethnic groups and genders, Robert Olen Butler has the empathy and imagination that makes fiction work—his Vietnamese narrators are compelling.
The stories deal primarily with family relationships: narrators dealing with grandfathers, husbands, sons, best friends and even an unborn child in the womb. There are plot twists and surprises, as well as cameos from celebrity possessions—John Lennon’s shoe, Elizabeth Taylor’s Puerto Vallarta movie set. The stories sometimes seem dated, 25 years after publication and long after the horrors of that particular war have faded in general memory. But they are well worth reading.
As with some other story collections, I had difficulty listening to these short stories in the car. It takes time to warm up to the characters in each story and to get a sense of who they are and what they think. Then, as we begin to enjoy their company, the story ends and we start again with a new narrator in a different context. This is frustrating, even in a book like A Good Scent, with interrelated themes.
Another quibble is with Butler’s decision to narrate the stories himself. It takes time to get used to his flat Midwestern voice, in story after story, speaking as a Vietnamese expatriate. He does a fair job, with good tone and inflection, but the novel would have benefited from professional actors as narrators.
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6 people found this helpful
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- robert weinstein
- 08-22-17
what a trip into a post Vietnam world,
I loved the stories and I loved the narration. it gave me insight into a world unknown to me
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2 people found this helpful
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- kmilesmcleod
- 10-02-21
A collection of beautiful short stories
I really loved listening to Strange Mountain. Each story gave a glimpse into tue sometimes beautiful and sometimes tragic experience of Vietnamese Americans and one story about an American who quit the war and stayed in Vietnam. Very lovely overall.
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- Kelly
- 07-29-20
you will be transported
The best thing a book can do is to transport me into the world of people I do not know. If I can learn, think, feel... If I can come out of it missing the characters I met and befriended... If I can better understand a culture or religion, or both... If I can believe that I am changed. Then that is the book that deserves a solid 5 stars.
Robert Olen Butler served two years in Vietnam. After returning home to the USA he began writing stories which were published in several literary journals. In 1992 a collection of these stories was published as this book, A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. I don't think I would have read it if that had not happened, so I am very glad to be on this journey, reading the complete list of winners.
This book is entirely different from any other book I have seen about the war. This one tells the stories of the immigrant experience, of the Vietnamese refugees who come to America and settled into communities in Louisiana. Each story is told in the first person, giving the book an intimacy and voyeuristic quality that allowed me to fully connect with each character. The cultures and customs are explored. The differences between the refugees who came from the north versus those who came from the south are highlighted in a quiet, respectful way. And I came away from the book with a much deeper understanding of the immigrant experience for the people who came out of Vietnam.
I am old enough to remember the war but too young to have much true understanding of it, so reading is my only real source of knowledge. I appreciate when a book can make me feel nostalgic for a time and place, especially when it is a time and place that I actually know nothing about.
My edition includes two stories that were not in the original volume, both of which take place later than the others. I loved them as much as the others. I found these stories compassionate, respectfu and unique. The characters were real and raw, not stereotypical in any way that I could see. I found myself surprised by the depth of understanding the white, American veteran author displayed for his Vietnames characters. His admiration for the people was palpable in every story.
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- HonestOmnivore
- 12-12-16
BEAUTIFUL
I will enjoy this over and over, beautiful quiet, complex, heartbreaking, and hopeful. Some of the stories now reside in my heart.
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3 people found this helpful
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- MLKH
- 01-21-23
Touching
I understand, as I usually do upon reading a Pulitzer Prize winner, why it was awarded. This collection of very touching short stories helped me to feel and understand the struggles on all sides of the conflict as they struggled to stop the invasion of the tyranny of communism - a struggle which my own father fought and rarely speaks of. It also helped me to understand the culture of my Vietnamese friends in a deeper way, and why they are so wonderful and have caused me to love and respect them so much, fostering an understanding of why there are some causes worth fighting for. At the end of the day we are all seeking the peace and prosperity which only comes from freedom. Highly recommend.
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- Mimi Routh
- 05-06-14
RARE AND WONDERFUL STORIES!
The author, a white man who served in Vietnam, was the perfect person to read these wonderful stories. He pronounces everything properly and moves along in a comfortable way. I had recently listened to a novel about a stolen painting -- 32 hours of the main character being drunk or stoned. When the next day it won the Pullitzer Prize, I was ready to scream in the street! This book, however, is so deserving! This writing is so rich. Most of the stories are told from the viewpoint of a Vietnamese person,man or woman, elderly or younger, usually a Vietnamese who came to the U.S. -- usually Lake Charles, Louisiana -- to settle. Not all the stories are about war at all. Some are about family life, co-workers, romance, trying to fit the old teachings and ideals into the new American framework.
I thought I already knew too much about Vietnam. I have a half-Vietnamese step-daughter who un-friended me on FaceBook, who got into serious drugs, whose daughter photographed her pregnant belly in the bathroom to show all of FaceBook, etc. etc. As the third wife, I listened to sickening stories of cutting down our tortured soldiers in the jungle, the naughty little lizard who uses the F-word. I've been screamed at by a Vietnamese-American boss one-third my age. . . . Americans tend to assume that brown people who don't understand English probably don't have much to say anyway. Butler shows how wrong this is as he paints the most subtle thoughts of his sweet and interesting characters.
These stories call for more than one listen -- and not more than two stories at a sitting! They're pungent! And sometimes funny. Among my favorites was the sleepy girl at the restaurant and Mr. Cohen. I also loved the ending of the one about bringing grandpa home from the airport, how the family prepared a feast and was so excited to have this dear old man come to live with them after many years of separation. How could the husband offer some kind of healing to his wife? Listen and see! These stories are a treasure. Thank you, Mr. Butler!
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- Caroline W. Kepner
- 06-03-17
Lovely stories
A warm introduction to a displaced people whose adaptation to a new country is richly rewarding for us.
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- Pat
- 11-05-12
Stories full of soul
Would you listen to A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain again? Why?
Perhaps. There are some outstanding short stories. One in particular was about Vietnamese intelligence officers who are working with the Australian military. It is about a clash of values with devastating consequences.Other stories set in the United States were less compelling,
Would you be willing to try another book from Robert Olen Butler? Why or why not?
Likely
Would you listen to another book narrated by Robert Olen Butler?
I did not enjoy the narration style.
If you could rename A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain, what would you call it?
It is an interesting, intriguing title so I would not rename it
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- Mehappybuddha
- 12-17-17
One of my all-time favorite book.
I loved this book. I read and re-read and listened to this book several times. it reminded me of my Vietnamese-ness. The author spent several years in Vietnam and got to know the Vietnamese and their culture in depth, and it showed in the richness of the language that being conveyed...
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1 person found this helpful