Brooklyn Story

By: Suzanne Corso

Narrated by: Susana Fox

Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

Perfectly evoking the sights and sounds of the summer of 1978 in Brooklyn, Suzanne Corso makes an acclaimed fiction debut with this powerful coming-of-age tale, told from an adult perspective, of family, best friends, first loves, and big dreams waiting to come true.

Samantha Bonti is fifteen years old, half Jewish and half Italian, and hesitantly edging toward pure Brooklyn. She lives in Bensonhurst with her mother, Joan, a woman poisoned with cynicism and shackled by addictions; and with her Grandma Ruth, Samantha’s loudest and most opinionated source of encouragement. As flawed as they are, they are family. And this is home - a tight-knit community of ancestors and traditions, of controlling mobsters, compliant wives, and charismatic young guys willing to engage in anything illegal to get a shot at playing with the big boys.

Yet Samantha has something that even her most simpatico girlfriend, Janice Caputo, doesn’t share - a desire to become a writer and to escape their insular, overcrowded little world and the destiny that is assumed for all of them.

Then comes Tony Kroon. He’s a gorgeous mobster wannabe, a Bensonhurst ddonis whose seductive charms Samantha finds irresistible - even when she knows she’s too smart to fall this deep...but Samantha soon finds herself swallowed up by dangerous circumstances that threaten to jeopardize more than her dreams. Grandma Ruth’s advice: Samantha had better write herself out of this story and into a new one - fast.

©2011 Susanne Corso (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

A touching story of perseverance.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes. Other reviewers already gave a good insight as to what the story is about - so it is not my intent to rehash the same.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Samantha. The author does a very good job describing the tribulations of growing up in an atmosphere of poverty while perusing her dream to become a writer.

Which character – as performed by Susana Fox – was your favorite?

The narrator (Susana Fox) did a great job reading this story. She was fantastic with all of the books characters. The Brooklyn, Jewish and Italian accents are very authentic. No doubt a difficult task with such a colorful and diverse set of characters in the story.

If you could take any character from Brooklyn Story out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Well, I imagine the author so I could hear some of her stories firsthand.

Any additional comments?

Currently listening to the authors second book - The Suite Life. So far it sounds like a great follow up to this book.

Inspirational

Loved reading the stories of three generations and inspirational for women to know they can achieve what they set out to.