Dollbaby

A Novel

By: Laura Lane McNeal

Narrated by: January Lavoy

Length: 11 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

A big-hearted coming-of-age debut set in civil rights-era New Orleans - a novel of Southern eccentricity and secrets.

When Ibby Bell's father dies unexpectedly in the summer of 1964, her mother unceremoniously deposits Ibby with her eccentric grandmother Fannie and throws in her father's urn for good measure. Fannie's New Orleans house is like no place Ibby has ever been - and Fannie, who has a tendency to end up in the local asylum - is like no one she has ever met. Fortunately, Fannie's black cook, Queenie, and her smart-mouthed daughter, Dollbaby, take it upon themselves to initiate Ibby into the ways of the South, both its grand traditions and its darkest secrets.

For Fannie's own family history is fraught with tragedy, hidden behind the closed rooms in her ornate Uptown mansion. It will take Ibby's arrival to begin to unlock the mysteries there. And it will take Queenie and Dollbaby's hard-won wisdom to show Ibby that family can sometimes be found in the least expected places.

For fans of Saving CeeCee Honeycutt and The Help, Dollbaby brings to life the charm and unrest of 1960s New Orleans through the eyes of a young girl learning to understand race for the first time.

By turns uplifting and funny, poignant and full of verve, Dollbabyis an audiobook listeners will take to their hearts.

©2014 Laura Lane McNeal (P)2014 Penguin Audio

Great narration. Loved this book!

Would you consider the audio edition of Dollbaby to be better than the print version?

Yes. The narrator was amazing! She brought this book to life.

What did you like best about this story?

How real it was. Family dysfunction, secrets, pain- it is there and this shined a light on it.

What does January Lavoy bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Her wonderful voice. She carried this book. I looked forward to listening to it daily.

Loved this story.

This is a very good story of how beyond color or blood when people bond over sometime tragic events and circumstances they soon become family. This was a great story. Worth the credit and a pleasure to listen too.

Awesome

I loved every minute of this story and I feel sad now that it has come to an end. I just was not ready to let Fanny, Queenie, Doll Baby and Ibby go.

Entertaining!

Loved this story and it had some great twists! I highly recommend this book! Thank you

A really good listen

I really enjoyed this book...I was unsure at first...but before I realized it...I was drawn into the characters. A really good job with the narration...and the plot had its twists and turns that kept you wanting to listen even more. It was a sweet story in many ways...one of love, loyalty and "family". Highly recommend.

Never know when you need a relatable story

This story might be fictional but it is something most readers will find something in it to relate to. It made me laugh and cry. I wish it would have continued.

Loved this

I loved this book, the characters and scenes are described beautifully, easy to picture. Narrator is excellent.
Really glad it was unabridged, wouldn’t have wanted to miss anything

Ibby Bell & The Big House

This a coming of age sothern tale about Ibby Bell a 12yr old simply dropped off by her mothers to live with Ms. Fanny. Southern life is nothing like the North and that summer Ibby learns a lesson she will never forget. 5 🌟 performance & storyline. The perfect southern story for a quiet rainy day. Narration 5 🌟 by January Lavoy. Well worth your credit.

Official DeAnn DeVille Review: Narrator, Writer, Audiobook Review Blogger , Mom

Tale of Old-New Orleans Well Paced

First off, Doll-Baby is superbly narrated. January LaVoy masterfully adapts her reading to her characters' personalities and origins. This definitely gives the story depth and adds flesh to the bones of the individuals in the tale.

The story itself is good… it holds your interest, but Ms. McNeal often stunts her tale by a too simplistic sentence structure, which leaves the listener hoping for slightly more depth in the thought and personalities of her characters. Ms. LaVoy helps to add gradations of personal qualities which Ms. McNeal often neglects. Hence the three stars for the story itself and the five stars given the performance.

Some listeners may find the characters somewhat stereotyped. But in Ms. McNeal's defense, this seems to be a matter of the depths to which she wished to mine her players' inner life. Also, all of her characters are treated to the same level of development, which does give the story an even literary treatment. In other words, there isn't a lack of development in only some of the characters, there seems to be an overall reliance by Ms. McNeal to have the reader fill in the undefined gaps on all of her characters, while mainly giving a surface development to them all. That said, you do actually get enough grit in the story to get to know the players and to care what happens to them.

If you are interested in a (non-intellectually-taxing,) solid story of a young girl's coming-of-age in unexpected circumstances, you will enjoy Doll-Baby overall, at about that four-star level.

Just don't expect to discover the next Great American Novel.

Highly Recommended

The author wrote such a compelling and heartfelt tale that I was genuinely sad when the book was over. I had felt connected to the characters and their lives that I miss them and wish there could be a sequel. You won’t regret reading, or listening, to this coming-of-age story.