Icy Sparks

By: Gwyn Hyman Rubio

Narrated by: Kate Miller

Length: 7 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

Rural Kentucky in the 1950s is not an easy place to grow up, and it's especially hard for 10-year-old Icy Sparks, an orphan suffering from undiagnosed Tourette Syndrome, who lives with her grandparents. Icy's adolescence is marred by the humiliation of her illness. Its all-too-visible signs are the source of endless mystery and hilarity as everyone around her offers an opinion about what's troubling the girl. Eventually, Icy finds solace in the company of Miss Emily, an obese woman who knows what it's like to be an outcast in this tight-knit community. Narrated by now-grown Icy, this novel shimmers with warmth and humor as it recounts a young girl's painful and poignant journey into womanhood - and the many lives she touches and enriches along the way.

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©1998 Gwyn Hyman Rubio (P)2001 HighBridge Company

Critic reviews

• An Oprah Book Club Selection

"Vivid and unforgettable...brimming with love and hope." (The New York Times Book Review)
"Richly inspired." (Time Out New York)

tourette syndrom un-named

Would you listen to Icy Sparks again? Why?

no, I rarely re read a book. There are too many books waiting to be read for the first time

Who was your favorite character and why?

the girl with touretts. I liked the descriptive powers of this young girl

Did Kate Miller do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

yes

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

no

Any additional comments?

no

Abdolutely delightful!

I loved this book and the narrator. It is an enjoyable blend of seriousness and subtle humor, while responsibly addressing human difference.

Terrible Narration

I read this book years ago, and actually thought it was good. Hearing it this time around was awful.

I don't know where the narrator came up w this dialect. I don't know why she strained so hard to make the characters sound like they were shouting the whole time. In the story it states more than once that outside people immediately discredit them (the hill people) once they hear their hill accent. It seems like the narrator did too, because this corny over acting made the Audio book sound like an episode of Hee Haw.

I just listened to Mother of Pearl by Melinda Haynes, narrated by Nana Visitor.
In both books we have characters from the rural south who are poor and have limited educations. Characters do all kinds of odd things in both books, but in MOP the characters are treated with respect. We feel their humanity and their dignity.

I am very familiar with people from Appalachia. They are not all just a bunch of ignorant hair brained hillbillies!

The end of this book was admittedly rough. I don't think anyone could have read that part well.

Unfortunately, the delivery of this story created a cartoon - like caraciture of a group of real people struggling to cope with difficult issues. I am more than disappointed.

parts of the book are completely missing

why are large chunks of the book just completely missing??? I read this book in print and enjoyed it so decided to re-visit it in audio. imagine my surprise when I realize chapters 16-20, then22 and 23, are not even included. I stopped listening there, because why bother if they are cutting out large chunks? do yourself a favor and read the print version.

Fabulous...

This is a fabulous story..Highly recommend.

It was ok

This is the first Oprah’s book club selection that I didn’t love, didn’t even reply like.
Normally all her selections are great but this one was just ok.

I had high hopes

.. but the singing was unbearable. If the reader is tone deaf, she should have simply recited the words to the LONG and TOO MANY hymns. (as did Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady). If she simply didn't care enough to find out the melodys, get another reader. It was torturous. The first time I've had to fast forward a book.
The story started out all right but soon became difficult to care about, particularly when it got into a minute by minute account of what seemed like a 2 hour church service. He said, she said, he looked, she winked, .... none of it adding to the previous story told or taking it into a new direction. It seemed to be somewhere between a story of life in the coal mountains and one about a life experience with Terett's Syndrome - but telling neither story fully. In all fairness, I do blame the reader mostly. I suggest you try reading this one.

kind of annoying

Maybe this book would have been a better read than listen. I got very aggravated with the narrator singing all of the songs to the same melody, and there are alot of songs in this book. The author focused less on the main character's battling of Terett's Syndrome and more on everyone finding religeon. It bored me.

SKIP THIS

What disappointed you about Icy Sparks?

The author barely touched on the issue of Turrets. The book is abridged. The end of it is all proselytizing and gospel songs - I had to hold the headphones away from my ears because the singing was so bad, so long, and all the songs were sung in its entirety. Pure hell, ironically.

What do you think your next listen will be?

Whatever my book club chooses (turns out it was 11/22/63 - awesome!)

How could the performance have been better?

The narrator should not have sung the songs or a singer should have been hired.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Icy Sparks?

The entire ending from the revival on.

Disappointing and Unimpressed

The plot has a lot of potential, but aside from the brief description of her going to the institution and one day accepting her condition with a positive outlook, not a lot happens. The rest of the book (85%) is uneventful chatter. Much of the last part of the book is comprised of song lyrics. The author seems to not realize you can describe that a choir is singing without listing out all the song lyrics to each song the choir sings. The narrator was a bit excessive at times with the accent.