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Bel Canto
- Narrated by: Anna Fields
- Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins
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Bel Canto
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Publisher's summary
“Blissfully Romantic.... A strange, terrific, spellcasting story.” (San Francisco Chronicle)
“Bel Canto...should be on the list of every literate music lover. The story is riveting, the participants breathe and feel and are alive, and throughout this elegantly-told novel, music pours forth so splendidly that the reader hears it and is overwhelmed by its beauty.” (Lloyd Moss, WXQR)
“Glorious.” (The New Yorker)
Ann Patchett’s award winning, New York Times best-selling Bel Canto balances themes of love and crisis as disparate characters learn that music is their only common language. As in Pratchett’s other novels, including Truth & Beauty and The Magician’s Assistant, the author’s lyrical prose and lucid imagination make Bel Canto a captivating story of strength and frailty, love and imprisonment, and an inspiring tale of transcendent romance.
Critic reviews
- 2002 Orange Prize for Fiction
- Book Sense Book of the Year Award Winner, Paperback, 2003
- PEN/Faulkner Award Winner, 2002
"Patchett can be counted on to deliver novels rich in imaginative bravado and psychological nuance. This fluid and assured narrative...demonstrates her growing maturity and mastery of form." (Publishers Weekly)
"Mixing art and politics can have unexpected results, but rarely are they so poignant....[Anna Fields'] performance is the essence of Bel Canto, easy, pure of tone, with an agile, precise vocal technique." (AudioFile)
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-
Story4 out of 5 stars 6,988
One Sunday afternoon in Southern California, Bert Cousins shows up at Franny Keating's christening party uninvited. Before evening falls, he has kissed Franny's mother, Beverly - thus setting in motion the dissolution of their marriages and the joining of two families.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Patchett and Me--In-sympatico
- By Mel on 09-18-16
By: Ann Patchett
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Run
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Peter Francis James
- Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,005
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 662
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Story4 out of 5 stars 661
It's a winter evening in Boston and the temperature has drastically dropped as a blizzard approaches the city. On this fateful night, Bernard Doyle plans to meet his two adopted sons, Tip the older, and more serious and Teddy, the affectionate dreamer, at a Harvard auditorium to hear a speech given by Jesse Jackson. Doyle, an Irish Catholic and former Boston mayor, has done his best to keep his two sons interested in politics, from the day he and his now deceased wife became their parents, through their childhoods, and now in their lives as college students.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Don't listen to the interview at the end.
- By S. Elder on 12-16-07
By: Ann Patchett
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The Magician's Assistant
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Karen Ziemba
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 2,345
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,895
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Story4 out of 5 stars 1,893
When a gay Los Angeles magician named Parsifal dies suddenly, he leaves behind his heartbroken assistant, Sabine, and a secret past that leads her to Nebraska and a father she never knew he had.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Patchett Has It
- By Pamela Harvey on 06-10-08
By: Ann Patchett
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Truth & Beauty
- A Friendship
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Ann Patchett
- Length: 8 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 839
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 570
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 567
The author of Bel Canto, winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award, the Orange Prize, and long-running New York Times best seller, turns to nonfiction in a moving chronicle of her decades-long friendship with the critically acclaimed and recently deceased author, Lucy Grealy.
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2 out of 5 stars
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A grim tale of unrecovered co-dependency
- By Charles on 04-05-05
By: Ann Patchett
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This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Ann Patchett
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,685
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,506
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,489
Blending literature and memoir, Ann Patchett, author of State of Wonder and Bel Canto examines her deepest commitments: to writing, family, friends, dogs, books, and her husband in This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage. Together, these essays, previously published in The Atlantic, Harper, Vogue, and The Washington Post, form a resonant portrait of a life lived with loyalty and with love.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Entertaining, engrossing, and elucidative essays
- By Bonny on 01-07-14
By: Ann Patchett
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Taft
- A Novel
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: J.D. Jackson
- Length: 9 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 108
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 95
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Story4 out of 5 stars 95
John Nickel is a black ex-jazz musician who only wants to be a good father. But when his son is taken away from him, he's left with nothing but the Memphis bar he manages. Then he hires Fay, a young white waitress, who has a volatile brother named Carl in tow. Nickel finds himself consumed with the idea of Taft - Fay and Carl's dead father - and begins to reconstruct the life of a man he never met. But his sympathies for these lost souls soon take him down a twisting path into the lives of strangers.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Patchett's Novel's all Available on Audio Now
- By Murmansk on 09-26-19
By: Ann Patchett
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The Dutch House
- A Novel
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Tom Hanks
- Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 55,176
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 49,294
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 48,959
At the end of the Second World War, Cyril Conroy combines luck and a single canny investment to begin an enormous real estate empire, propelling his family from poverty to enormous wealth. His first order of business is to buy the Dutch House, a lavish estate in the suburbs outside of Philadelphia. Meant as a surprise for his wife, the house sets in motion the undoing of everyone he loves. The story is told by Cyril’s son Danny, as he and his older sister, the brilliantly acerbic and self-assured Maeve, are exiled from the house where they grew up by their stepmother.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Not my favorite Patchett
- By Regina on 12-07-19
By: Ann Patchett
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These Precious Days
- Essays
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Ann Patchett
- Length: 11 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 1,763
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 1,551
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,543
“Any story that starts will also end.” As a writer, Ann Patchett knows what the outcome of her fiction will be. Life, however, often takes turns we do not see coming. Patchett ponders this truth in these wise essays that afford a fresh and intimate look into her mind and heart.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Heartfelt Essays, Beautifully Performed
- By Brent Holcomb on 11-23-21
By: Ann Patchett
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What Now?
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Ann Patchett
- Length: 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 86
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 65
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 65
Based on her lauded commencement address at Sarah Lawrence College, this stirring essay by best-selling author Ann Patchett offers hope and inspiration for anyone at a crossroads, whether graduating, changing careers, or transitioning from one life stage to another. With wit and candor, Patchett tells her own story of attending college, graduating, and struggling with the inevitable question, "What now?"
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5 out of 5 stars
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A commencement message for life
- By Annie M. on 06-17-08
By: Ann Patchett
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Tom Lake
- A Novel
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Meryl Streep
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 12,274
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 11,461
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 11,447
In the spring of 2020, Lara’s three daughters return to the family's orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew.
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1 out of 5 stars
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So incredibly boring
- By Rhonda Morrison on 08-05-23
By: Ann Patchett
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Escape Goat
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Ann Patchett
- Length: 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 4
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 3
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3
The Farmer family has a big problem! Every day, their goat escapes, and every day, Mr. Farmer brings him back. So when things start to go awry on the farm, it must be the goat’s fault. Who’s to blame when Mrs. Farmer’s petunias are trampled? Or when all the cupcakes for Archie’s party disappear? And when the whole bucket of paint is spilled? Of course, everyone blames the goat! But is it really his fault?
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great story
- By michelle on 11-07-20
By: Ann Patchett
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The Secret History
- A Read with Jenna Pick
- By: Donna Tartt
- Narrated by: Donna Tartt
- Length: 22 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 480
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 434
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Story4 out of 5 stars 434
Under the influence of a charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at a New England college discover a way of thought and life a world away from their banal contemporaries. But their search for the transcendent leads them down a dangerous path, beyond human constructs of morality.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Horrible narration
- By M. Cardoso on 07-23-23
By: Donna Tartt
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The Bluest Eye
- By: Toni Morrison
- Narrated by: Toni Morrison
- Length: 7 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 5,351
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 4,619
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4,593
It is the story of 11-year-old Pecola Breedlove--a black girl in an America whose love for its blond, blue-eyed children can devastate all others--who prays for her eyes to turn blue: so that she will be beautiful, so that people will look at her, so that her world will be different. This is the story of the nightmare at the heart of her yearning and the tragedy of its fulfillment.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Amazing
- By psiegler on 07-25-18
By: Toni Morrison
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Lambslide
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Ann Patchett
- Length: 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 8
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 8
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Story4 out of 5 stars 8
Nicolette Farmer is running for class president, and the rest of the Farmer family tells her she’ll win by a landslide. A pack of overconfident lambs mistakenly hear lambslide and can’t believe there’s a slide made just for them. But when they can’t find one on the farm, there’s only one thing left to do: take a vote! They campaign. They bargain. They ask all the other animals if they, too, would like a lambslide.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Short and Sweet. And good.
- By Susanna Goodin on 08-05-23
By: Ann Patchett
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A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
- By: Betty Smith
- Narrated by: Kate Burton
- Length: 14 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 7,973
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 6,652
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 6,615
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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4 out of 5 stars
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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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Brick Lane
- By: Monica Ali
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Sastre
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 236
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 91
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 94
Nanzeen's inauspicious birth in a Bangladeshi village imbues in her a sense of fatalism that she carries across continents. Married off to a man old enough to be her father, Nanzeen moves to London and cares for her family. But gradually she begins to question whether fate controls her or whether she has a hand in her own destiny. She discovers both the complexity that comes with free choice and the depth of her attachment to her husband, her daughters and her new world.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A truly wonderful book!
- By A M on 11-24-03
By: Monica Ali
What listeners say about Bel Canto
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jill Catherine Reed
- 10-04-22
A compassionate story about wholly believable people
This story is somewhat off-putting in the beginning, lengthy passages of foreign languages are off-putting, but I’m so glad I continued, continued to seemingly know many of the characters, how they spoke, felt and thought in the long hours that bound them to each other.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- abby moliski
- 01-02-23
Amazing Story
The narrator made this book impossible to turn off. The story itself is incredible, but it was performed perfectly. I often felt while listening that I was watching the book play out, the descriptions were so vivid I felt as though I was there as well. Character development was focused on from start to finish in this story, whereas many books seem to ignore it entirely. Very well done!
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Newt Stremple
- 01-19-23
Engaging but not ultimately rewarding
I read this because a friend recommended it, and I had never read Ann Patchett before. The story is engaging and the character development is skillful. I didn’t really like how it ended and didn’t feel satisfied. That being said, I will remember parts of it, and any of the characters for a long time.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 11-07-23
Ann Patchett entertains and teaches.
A story of man’s nobility tempered by man’s ugliness. Both the well developed plot and the sympathetic characters can serve as metaphors for today’s thorny issues. Or the book can just be enjoyed as a good read.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Bryn Gardener
- 11-12-23
Seamless Narration & Amazing Book
This is now my favorite audible narration. The vivid story and the characters so believable as the narrator deftly switches accents.
Beautiful story about love and humanity.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- kathleen davis
- 01-16-24
the narrator was exemplary in portraying a variety of accents so naturally
The narrative was engaging and masterfully retold-- the story captivated & the will stay with me gpr a long time.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Robin Roberts
- 02-07-24
Love the way she finds beauty in the mundane
Narration is outstanding. Story is lovely and weird and sweet and brutal. Everyone gets a seat at the table, until they don’t. Highly recommend.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Linda
- 03-03-24
Simply wonderful
Lovely leisurely pacing of the story made it pleasurable to enjoy while on a country walk
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
- TX Home Cook
- 04-29-09
Good Book...Believable Characters
I enjoyed this book very much. The story line was unique and the characters were all very believable. The reader was appropriate to the story...completely objective whether speaking from the point of view of the terrorists or the hostages. All in all a very good listen!
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Michelle
- 02-21-08
romantic and inspiring
This was a little different for me but I am glad I stumbled onto it. The poem at the begining set the stage for a wonderful mix of love and tragedy. I am sure others would love it as I have. I will read it again.
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2 people found this helpful