-
Brothers
- Narrated by: Louis Changchien
- Length: 28 hrs and 51 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $30.09
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
To Live
- A Novel
- By: Yu Hua, Michael Berry
- Narrated by: David Shih
- Length: 8 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This searing novel, originally banned in China but later named one of that nation's most influential books, portrays one man's transformation from the spoiled son of a landlord to a kindhearted peasant. After squandering his family's fortune in gambling dens and brothels, the young, deeply penitent Fugui settles down to do the honest work of a farmer. Forced by the Nationalist Army to leave behind his family, he witnesses the horrors and privations of the Civil War, only to return years later to face a string of hardships brought on by the ravages of the Cultural Revolution.
-
-
Wow!
- By Phillip King on 05-30-18
By: Yu Hua, and others
-
China in Ten Words
- By: Yu Hua, Allan H. Barr - translator
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From one of China’s most acclaimed writers, his first work of nonfiction to appear in English: a unique, intimate look at the Chinese experience over the last several decades, told through personal stories and astute analysis that sharply illuminate the country’s meteoric economic and social transformation. Characterized by Yu Hua’s trademark wit, insight, and courage, China in Ten Words is a refreshingly candid vision of the “Chinese miracle” and all its consequences, from the singularly invaluable perspective of a writer living in China today.
-
-
Best Popular Book on China
- By taylor storey on 09-21-14
By: Yu Hua, and others
-
The Trick
- A Novel
- By: Emanuel Bergmann
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1934, a rabbi's son in Prague joins a traveling circus, becomes a magician, and rises to fame under the stage name the Great Zabbatini just as Europe descends into World War II. When Zabbatini is discovered to be a Jew, his battered trunk full of magic tricks becomes his only hope of surviving the concentration camp where he is sent. Seven decades later in Los Angeles, 10-year-old Max finds a scratched-up LP that captured Zabbatini performing his greatest tricks.
-
-
You'll laugh and you'll cry.
- By Leah C. on 04-13-18
By: Emanuel Bergmann
-
Factory Girls
- From Village to City in a Changing China
- By: Leslie T. Chang
- Narrated by: Susan Ericksen
- Length: 14 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A book of global significance that provides new insight into China, Factory Girls demonstrates how the mass movement from rural villages to cities is remaking individual lives and transforming Chinese society, much as immigration to America's shores remade our own country a century ago.
-
-
Living in Shenzhen - and What A Disappointment
- By Abstraction on 03-01-10
By: Leslie T. Chang
-
Red Sorghum
- A Novel of China
- By: Mo Yan, Howard Goldblatt - translator
- Narrated by: George Backman
- Length: 15 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Spanning three generations, this novel of family and myth is told through a series of flashbacks that depict events of staggering horror set against a landscape of gemlike beauty, as the Chinese battle both Japanese invaders and each other in the turbulent 1930s. A legend in China, where it won major literary awards and inspired an Oscar-nominated film directed by Zhang Yimou, Red Sorghum is a book in which fable and history collide to produce fiction that is entirely new—and unforgettable.
-
-
Best narrator I've ever heard!
- By Ty on 12-12-16
By: Mo Yan, and others
-
One Hundred Years of Solitude
- By: Gabriel García Márquez, Gregory Rabassa - translator
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 14 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of the 20th century's enduring works, One Hundred Years of Solitude is a widely beloved and acclaimed novel known throughout the world and the ultimate achievement in a Nobel Prize-winning career. The novel tells the story of the rise and fall of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendía family. Rich and brilliant, it is a chronicle of life, death, and the tragicomedy of humankind. In the beautiful, ridiculous, and tawdry story of the Buendía family, one sees all of humanity, just as in the history, myths, growth, and decay of Macondo, one sees all of Latin America.
-
-
What in the heck happened?????
- By Melinda on 02-05-14
By: Gabriel García Márquez, and others
-
To Live
- A Novel
- By: Yu Hua, Michael Berry
- Narrated by: David Shih
- Length: 8 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This searing novel, originally banned in China but later named one of that nation's most influential books, portrays one man's transformation from the spoiled son of a landlord to a kindhearted peasant. After squandering his family's fortune in gambling dens and brothels, the young, deeply penitent Fugui settles down to do the honest work of a farmer. Forced by the Nationalist Army to leave behind his family, he witnesses the horrors and privations of the Civil War, only to return years later to face a string of hardships brought on by the ravages of the Cultural Revolution.
-
-
Wow!
- By Phillip King on 05-30-18
By: Yu Hua, and others
-
China in Ten Words
- By: Yu Hua, Allan H. Barr - translator
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From one of China’s most acclaimed writers, his first work of nonfiction to appear in English: a unique, intimate look at the Chinese experience over the last several decades, told through personal stories and astute analysis that sharply illuminate the country’s meteoric economic and social transformation. Characterized by Yu Hua’s trademark wit, insight, and courage, China in Ten Words is a refreshingly candid vision of the “Chinese miracle” and all its consequences, from the singularly invaluable perspective of a writer living in China today.
-
-
Best Popular Book on China
- By taylor storey on 09-21-14
By: Yu Hua, and others
-
The Trick
- A Novel
- By: Emanuel Bergmann
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1934, a rabbi's son in Prague joins a traveling circus, becomes a magician, and rises to fame under the stage name the Great Zabbatini just as Europe descends into World War II. When Zabbatini is discovered to be a Jew, his battered trunk full of magic tricks becomes his only hope of surviving the concentration camp where he is sent. Seven decades later in Los Angeles, 10-year-old Max finds a scratched-up LP that captured Zabbatini performing his greatest tricks.
-
-
You'll laugh and you'll cry.
- By Leah C. on 04-13-18
By: Emanuel Bergmann
-
Factory Girls
- From Village to City in a Changing China
- By: Leslie T. Chang
- Narrated by: Susan Ericksen
- Length: 14 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A book of global significance that provides new insight into China, Factory Girls demonstrates how the mass movement from rural villages to cities is remaking individual lives and transforming Chinese society, much as immigration to America's shores remade our own country a century ago.
-
-
Living in Shenzhen - and What A Disappointment
- By Abstraction on 03-01-10
By: Leslie T. Chang
-
Red Sorghum
- A Novel of China
- By: Mo Yan, Howard Goldblatt - translator
- Narrated by: George Backman
- Length: 15 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Spanning three generations, this novel of family and myth is told through a series of flashbacks that depict events of staggering horror set against a landscape of gemlike beauty, as the Chinese battle both Japanese invaders and each other in the turbulent 1930s. A legend in China, where it won major literary awards and inspired an Oscar-nominated film directed by Zhang Yimou, Red Sorghum is a book in which fable and history collide to produce fiction that is entirely new—and unforgettable.
-
-
Best narrator I've ever heard!
- By Ty on 12-12-16
By: Mo Yan, and others
-
One Hundred Years of Solitude
- By: Gabriel García Márquez, Gregory Rabassa - translator
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 14 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of the 20th century's enduring works, One Hundred Years of Solitude is a widely beloved and acclaimed novel known throughout the world and the ultimate achievement in a Nobel Prize-winning career. The novel tells the story of the rise and fall of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendía family. Rich and brilliant, it is a chronicle of life, death, and the tragicomedy of humankind. In the beautiful, ridiculous, and tawdry story of the Buendía family, one sees all of humanity, just as in the history, myths, growth, and decay of Macondo, one sees all of Latin America.
-
-
What in the heck happened?????
- By Melinda on 02-05-14
By: Gabriel García Márquez, and others
-
Oracle Bones
- A Journey Through Time in China
- By: Peter Hessler
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 18 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A century ago, outsiders saw China as a place where nothing ever changes. Today, the country has become one of the most dynamic regions on earth. In Oracle Bones, Peter Hessler explores the human side of China's transformation, viewing modern-day China and its growing links to the Western world through the lives of a handful of ordinary people.
-
-
Great Book, except for the narration.
- By Daniel on 11-09-10
By: Peter Hessler
-
Life and Death are Wearing Me Out
- By: Mo Yan, Howard Goldblatt - translator
- Narrated by: Feodor Chin
- Length: 24 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Today’s most revered, feared, and controversial Chinese novelist offers a tour de force in which the real, the absurd, the comical, and the tragic are blended into a fascinating narrative. The hero—or antihero—of Mo Yan’s new novel is Ximen Nao, a landowner known for his benevolence to his peasants. His story is a deliriously unique journey and absolutely riveting tale that reveals the author’s love of a homeland beset by ills inevitable, political, and traditional.
-
-
REINCARNATION
- By chetyarbrough.blog on 06-24-14
By: Mo Yan, and others
-
The Three-Body Problem
- By: Cixin Liu
- Narrated by: Luke Daniels
- Length: 13 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Set against the backdrop of China’s Cultural Revolution, a secret military project sends signals into space to establish contact with aliens. An alien civilization on the brink of destruction captures the signal and plans to invade Earth. Meanwhile, on Earth, different camps start forming, planning to either welcome the superior beings and help them take over a world seen as corrupt, or to fight against the invasion.
-
-
They create a computer using a 30 million man Army
- By Josh P on 12-07-14
By: Cixin Liu
-
Frog
- A Novel
- By: Mo Yan, Howard Goldblatt - translator
- Narrated by: Graeme Malcolm
- Length: 11 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Frog opens with a playwright nicknamed Tadpole who plans to write about his aunt. In her youth, Gugu - the beautiful daughter of a famous doctor and staunch Communist - is revered for her skill as a midwife. But when her lover defects, Gugu's own loyalty to the Party is questioned. She decides to prove her allegiance by strictly enforcing the one-child policy, keeping tabs on the number of children in the village, and performing abortions on women as many as eight months pregnant.
-
-
Just so so
- By Sau on 09-18-18
By: Mo Yan, and others
-
The Tattooist of Auschwitz
- A Novel
- By: Heather Morris
- Narrated by: Richard Armitage
- Length: 7 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In April 1942, Lale Sokolov, a Slovakian Jew, is forcibly transported to the concentration camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau. When his captors discover that he speaks several languages, he is put to work as a Tätowierer (German for tattooist), tasked with permanently marking his fellow prisoners. Imprisoned for more than two and a half years, Lale witnesses horrific atrocities and barbarism - but also incredible acts of bravery and compassion. Risking his own life, he uses his position to exchange jewels and money from murdered Jews for food to keep his fellow prisoners alive.
-
-
A hopeful perspective on a harrowing time
- By melyssa57 (A Page Before Bedtime dot com) on 10-10-18
By: Heather Morris
-
Lenin's Kisses
- By: Yan Lianke, Carlos Rojas - translator
- Narrated by: Alex Hyde White
- Length: 19 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nestled deep within the Balou mountains, spared from the government's watchful eye, the harmonious people of Liven had enough food and leisure to be fully content. But when their crops and livelihood are obliterated by a seven-day snowstorm in the middle of a sweltering summer, a county official arrives with a lucrative scheme both to raise money for the district and to boost his career.
-
-
Pinyin pronunciation
- By Anonymous User on 09-17-20
By: Yan Lianke, and others
-
Golden Age
- A Novel
- By: Wang Xiaobo
- Narrated by: Brian Nishii
- Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Wang Er, a twenty-one-year-old ox herder, is shamed by the local authorities and forced to write a confession of his crimes, but he instead takes it upon himself to write a modernist literary tract. Later, as a lecturer at a chaotic, newly built university, Wang Er navigates the bureaucratic maze of 1980’s China, boldly writing about the Cultural Revolution’s impact on his life and those around him. Finally, alone and humbled, Wang Er must come to terms with the banality of his own existence.
By: Wang Xiaobo
-
Fu Ping
- A Novel
- By: Anyi Wang, Howard Goldblatt - translator
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nainai has lived in Shanghai for many years, and the time has come to find a wife for her adopted grandson. But when the bride she has chosen arrives from the countryside, it soon becomes clear that the orphaned girl has ideas of her own. Her name is Fu Ping, and the more she explores the residential lanes and courtyards behind Shanghai’s busy shopping streets, the less she wants to return to the country as a dutiful wife. As Fu Ping wavers over her future, she learns the city through the stories of the nannies, handymen, and garbage collectors of postwar Shanghai....
By: Anyi Wang, and others
-
The Rent Collector
- By: Camron Wright
- Narrated by: Diane Dabczynski
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Survival for Ki Lim and Sang Ly is a daily battle at Stung Mean Chey, the largest municipal waste dump in all of Cambodia. They make their living scavenging recyclables from the trash. Life would be hard enough without the worry for their chronically ill child, Nisay, and the added expense of medicines that are not working. Just when things seem worst, Sang Ly learns a secret about the ill-tempered rent collector who comes demanding money - a secret that sets in motion a tide that will change the life of everyone it sweeps past.
-
-
Good story but has some issues
- By BR on 02-23-16
By: Camron Wright
-
The Orphan Keeper
- By: Camron Wright
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Seven-year-old Chellamuthu's life - and his destiny - is forever changed when he is kidnapped from his village in Southern India and sold to the Lincoln Home for Homeless Children. His family is desperate to find him, and Chellamuthu anxiously tells the Indian orphanage that he is not an orphan, he has a mother who loves him. But he is told not to worry, he will soon be adopted by a loving family in America.
-
-
5 Star Worthy
- By Kari on 10-26-16
By: Camron Wright
-
Memoirs of a Geisha
- By: Arthur Golden
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 17 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a voice both haunting and startlingly immediate, Nitta Sayuri describes her life as a geisha. Taken from her home at the age of nine, she is sold into slavery to a renowned geisha house. Witness her transformation as you enter a world where appearances are paramount, virginity is auctioned to the highest bidder, women beguile powerful men, and love is scorned as illusion.
-
-
Perfect ---- in every way
- By Amanda on 02-08-06
By: Arthur Golden
-
The Joy Luck Club
- By: Amy Tan
- Narrated by: Gwendoline Yeo
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
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.
-
-
Joy Luck - abridged
- By Leslie Teicholz on 03-16-04
By: Amy Tan
Publisher's summary
Step-brothers Baldy Li and Song Gang couldn't be more different. While Baldy is a girl-chasing teen, Song is quiet and studious. The two come of age in a vibrant Chinese culture struggling with constant change.
Critic reviews
More from the same
Author
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
To Live
- A Novel
- By: Yu Hua, Michael Berry
- Narrated by: David Shih
- Length: 8 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This searing novel, originally banned in China but later named one of that nation's most influential books, portrays one man's transformation from the spoiled son of a landlord to a kindhearted peasant. After squandering his family's fortune in gambling dens and brothels, the young, deeply penitent Fugui settles down to do the honest work of a farmer. Forced by the Nationalist Army to leave behind his family, he witnesses the horrors and privations of the Civil War, only to return years later to face a string of hardships brought on by the ravages of the Cultural Revolution.
-
-
Wow!
- By Phillip King on 05-30-18
By: Yu Hua, and others
-
China in Ten Words
- By: Yu Hua, Allan H. Barr - translator
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From one of China’s most acclaimed writers, his first work of nonfiction to appear in English: a unique, intimate look at the Chinese experience over the last several decades, told through personal stories and astute analysis that sharply illuminate the country’s meteoric economic and social transformation. Characterized by Yu Hua’s trademark wit, insight, and courage, China in Ten Words is a refreshingly candid vision of the “Chinese miracle” and all its consequences, from the singularly invaluable perspective of a writer living in China today.
-
-
Best Popular Book on China
- By taylor storey on 09-21-14
By: Yu Hua, and others
-
A Hero Born
- The Definitive Edition
- By: Jin Yong
- Narrated by: Carolyn Oldershaw, Daniel York Loh
- Length: 13 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After his father, a Song patriot, was murdered, Guo Jing and his mother fled to the plains and joined Ghengis Khan and his people. Loyal, humble, and driven, he learned all he could from the warlord and his army in hopes of one day joining them in their cause. But what Guo Jing doesn’t know is that he’s destined to battle an opponent that will challenge him in every way imaginable and with a connection to his past that no one envisioned.
-
-
Very good
- By Heather Kamine on 05-15-20
By: Jin Yong
-
Sword of Sorrow, Blade of Joy
- Tales of the Swordsman (A Wuxia Saga), Book 1
- By: JF Lee
- Narrated by: JF Lee
- Length: 8 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Shu Yan is done being sold—first by her parents, and then by the owner of the brothel where she has been a serving girl. Now a runaway with a price on her head, she has to choose: the dangers of being a young girl alone in the world, or the dangers of accompanying a legendary swordsman bent on revenge?
-
-
Maybe a good story but the narration ruins it
- By Rudy on 04-05-24
By: JF Lee
-
Red Sorghum
- A Novel of China
- By: Mo Yan, Howard Goldblatt - translator
- Narrated by: George Backman
- Length: 15 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Spanning three generations, this novel of family and myth is told through a series of flashbacks that depict events of staggering horror set against a landscape of gemlike beauty, as the Chinese battle both Japanese invaders and each other in the turbulent 1930s. A legend in China, where it won major literary awards and inspired an Oscar-nominated film directed by Zhang Yimou, Red Sorghum is a book in which fable and history collide to produce fiction that is entirely new—and unforgettable.
-
-
Best narrator I've ever heard!
- By Ty on 12-12-16
By: Mo Yan, and others
-
The Four Books
- By: Yan Lianke, Carlos Rojas - translator
- Narrated by: George Backman
- Length: 13 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the ninety-ninth district of a sprawling reeducation compound, freethinking artists and academics are detained to strengthen their loyalty to Communist ideologies. Here, the Musician and her lover, the Scholar, along with the Author and the Theologian, are forced to carry out grueling physical work and are encouraged to inform on each other for dissident behavior. The prize: winning a chance at freedom.
-
-
Anti-Christian
- By chetyarbrough.blog on 06-10-23
By: Yan Lianke, and others
-
To Live
- A Novel
- By: Yu Hua, Michael Berry
- Narrated by: David Shih
- Length: 8 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This searing novel, originally banned in China but later named one of that nation's most influential books, portrays one man's transformation from the spoiled son of a landlord to a kindhearted peasant. After squandering his family's fortune in gambling dens and brothels, the young, deeply penitent Fugui settles down to do the honest work of a farmer. Forced by the Nationalist Army to leave behind his family, he witnesses the horrors and privations of the Civil War, only to return years later to face a string of hardships brought on by the ravages of the Cultural Revolution.
-
-
Wow!
- By Phillip King on 05-30-18
By: Yu Hua, and others
-
China in Ten Words
- By: Yu Hua, Allan H. Barr - translator
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From one of China’s most acclaimed writers, his first work of nonfiction to appear in English: a unique, intimate look at the Chinese experience over the last several decades, told through personal stories and astute analysis that sharply illuminate the country’s meteoric economic and social transformation. Characterized by Yu Hua’s trademark wit, insight, and courage, China in Ten Words is a refreshingly candid vision of the “Chinese miracle” and all its consequences, from the singularly invaluable perspective of a writer living in China today.
-
-
Best Popular Book on China
- By taylor storey on 09-21-14
By: Yu Hua, and others
-
A Hero Born
- The Definitive Edition
- By: Jin Yong
- Narrated by: Carolyn Oldershaw, Daniel York Loh
- Length: 13 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After his father, a Song patriot, was murdered, Guo Jing and his mother fled to the plains and joined Ghengis Khan and his people. Loyal, humble, and driven, he learned all he could from the warlord and his army in hopes of one day joining them in their cause. But what Guo Jing doesn’t know is that he’s destined to battle an opponent that will challenge him in every way imaginable and with a connection to his past that no one envisioned.
-
-
Very good
- By Heather Kamine on 05-15-20
By: Jin Yong
-
Sword of Sorrow, Blade of Joy
- Tales of the Swordsman (A Wuxia Saga), Book 1
- By: JF Lee
- Narrated by: JF Lee
- Length: 8 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Shu Yan is done being sold—first by her parents, and then by the owner of the brothel where she has been a serving girl. Now a runaway with a price on her head, she has to choose: the dangers of being a young girl alone in the world, or the dangers of accompanying a legendary swordsman bent on revenge?
-
-
Maybe a good story but the narration ruins it
- By Rudy on 04-05-24
By: JF Lee
-
Red Sorghum
- A Novel of China
- By: Mo Yan, Howard Goldblatt - translator
- Narrated by: George Backman
- Length: 15 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Spanning three generations, this novel of family and myth is told through a series of flashbacks that depict events of staggering horror set against a landscape of gemlike beauty, as the Chinese battle both Japanese invaders and each other in the turbulent 1930s. A legend in China, where it won major literary awards and inspired an Oscar-nominated film directed by Zhang Yimou, Red Sorghum is a book in which fable and history collide to produce fiction that is entirely new—and unforgettable.
-
-
Best narrator I've ever heard!
- By Ty on 12-12-16
By: Mo Yan, and others
-
The Four Books
- By: Yan Lianke, Carlos Rojas - translator
- Narrated by: George Backman
- Length: 13 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the ninety-ninth district of a sprawling reeducation compound, freethinking artists and academics are detained to strengthen their loyalty to Communist ideologies. Here, the Musician and her lover, the Scholar, along with the Author and the Theologian, are forced to carry out grueling physical work and are encouraged to inform on each other for dissident behavior. The prize: winning a chance at freedom.
-
-
Anti-Christian
- By chetyarbrough.blog on 06-10-23
By: Yan Lianke, and others
What listeners say about Brothers
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
- mandylouise
- 07-04-09
Quirky, original, compelling and readable
Something a little different, a little strange in places and a rollercoaster ride through China's recent history. I liked this book a lot for exposing me to another culture, in a bizarre and unique way, for being irreverent and bold and for melding that perfectly with a moving and emotional story. I like stories like The Joy Luck Club or Memoirs of a Geisha but sometimes find they take themselves a bit too seriously and I desire something spunkier but that still deals with cultural, historical and even tragic events. This book hit it just right. The book uses the story of two loyal and dedicated brothers (despite frequent rifts and betrayals) to personify the rapid cultural changes in China. If this kind of story interests you and as long as you aren't offended by strong language you'll enjoy this book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
14 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- L. Kerr
- 07-10-10
China's "Midnight Children"
If you enjoyed Gunter Grass's "The Tin Drum" and Salman Rushdie's "Midnight Children," you'll like this novel.
The NY Times review too harshly criticizes the translators' inability to capture the nuances of the many Chinese aphorisms. The same criticism could be made of every translation. But this defect doesn't diminish the overall tone and power of the book. If anything, it reminds the reader he is dealing with a different culture.
The story sketches a post-modern/magical realism bildungsroman of two Chinese half-brothers from the crushing poverty of The Cultural Revolution to the hyper-materialism of present China.
For me, the most compelling part of the book was the cruelty visited on the brothers' father by the Red Guard.
There is also a love story involving a beautiful village girl for whom the brothers competed. But I won't spoil; you'll have to listen yourself.
Highly recommended.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Bruce
- 10-07-11
Disappointed
I enjoy stories of different cultures. This book captures at the village level changes that have occurred in China over the past 50 years. The biggest disappointment is the story of the brothers. Neither brother was an appealing character. One is basically a jerk and the other is an idiot. Like another reviewer I was about to give up when the beginning of the book beats the toilet scene to death. The main reason I continued to read the book is that I'd burn the 27 CD's for a road trip. If I'd been at home listening on my iPod I'd given up.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anna
- 03-24-15
Personally, I loved it.
A fascinating account of growing up in China through and the years following the Cultural Revolution. Issues of fear, violence, sexism, politics, class and poverty are strung throughout the novel in a way to give perspective of the characters and their lives choices. The humility and compassion expressed through the characters can melt the heart while fear and ignorance induced brutality break it. Hua artfully circles back throughout the book to connect storylines and remind the reader of the context of an event or person's life.
This book is not for everyone. But for one with patience for story telling, as it is not fast paced, and a desire for a new perspectives and understandings, as it portrays a reality and world unlike anything most of us (I am referring here to fellow typical US folk) have experienced. The issues brought up by the characters and events of the novel begin to seep into your thoughts throughout the day
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
- leeduck
- 09-21-09
waste of money
waste of money
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
- Junette
- 01-17-11
Waste of a credit
I am over an hour into this book and the discussion about peeking at women continues. Really now!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Richard
- 01-24-13
After three hours, I gave up.
Really, after listening to hundreds of books of the years (starting on tapes, then CD's then downloads), I rarely just give up. I mean if I could get through Roberto Bolaño's 39 hour "2666", I could get through most anything. But after 3 hours of "Brothers", I was just getting really annoyed and bored . Then, after reading past reviews and comments, I realized it wasn't going to get any better.
What drew me to "Brothers" in the first place, was the idea of looking at the changes in China over the past 50 years through the eyes of two different men. With such an awkward translation it was making no sense. Made the decision to just stop. Oh well.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful