Palisades Park

By: Alan Brennert

Narrated by: Mark McCarthy

Length: 17 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

Best seller Alan Brennert's spellbinding story about a family of dreamers and their lives within the legendary Palisades Amusement Park. Growing up in the 1930s, there is no more magical place than Palisades Amusement Park in New Jersey - especially for seven-year-old Antoinette, who horrifies her mother by insisting on the unladylike nickname Toni, and her brother, Jack. Toni helps her parents, Eddie and Adele Stopka, at the stand where they sell homemade French fries amid the roar of the Cyclone roller coaster. There is also the lure of the world’s biggest salt-water pool, complete with divers whose astonishing stunts inspire Toni, despite her mother's insistence that girls can't be high divers. But a family of dreamers doesn't always share the same dreams, and then the world intrudes: There's the Great Depression, and Pearl Harbor, which hits home in ways that will split the family apart; and perils like fire and race riots in the park. Both Eddie and Jack face the dangers of war, while Adele has ambitions of her own - and Toni is determined to take on a very different kind of danger in impossible feats as a high diver. Yet they are all drawn back to each other - and to Palisades Park - until the park closes forever in 1971.

Evocative and moving, with the trademark brilliance at transforming historical events into irresistible fiction that made Alan Brennert’s Moloka'i and Honolulu into listener favorites, Palisades Park takes us back to a time when life seemed simpler - except, of course, it wasn't.

©2013 Alan Brennert (P)2013 Recorded Books

Fabulous!!!!!

Any additional comments?

I usually don't write reviews, but had to for Palisades Park. I feel Alan Brennert is a wonderful writer and he writes meaningful fiction with non fiction mixed in. I learn so much from each book. It was the same with Palisades Park. I could see the Park when traveling in a car by the Hudson River and know I went there at least once. After listening to this book, I was sorry that I couldn't go there right now one more time. He makes the story and characters so real that I could connect with each one. Besides the writing, the narration was wonderful and fit the book perfectly. I loved listening to it, and am sorry it is over.

nice listen, not as gripping as his other novels

nice listen, not as gripping as his
other novels (fifteen word equivalent, protect a women's right to choose)

Narration disappointing

An illuminating story about the history of Palisades Park in New Jersey, but the narrator's voice grated, especially when voicing the character Toni. I never thought of not finishing listening to the whole book but, by the same token, I was always aware of the narrator.

Not Bad, narration is annoying!

This is not a bad book. I just had been told how great Alan Brennert's books were and I guess I was expecting more. However the narration is just annoying, At points you can actually hear him sipping water. He takes really deep breathes in between sentences. His girl voices are just ridiculous. Even the men voices are over exaggerated. The story is about a bunch of carnies and is only semi interesting. I kept listening with the hopes that something interesting might happen but so far that has not happened and I'm 2 chapters from the end.

Great listen

Listened to for a book club & found it a beautiful story touching on historical events & getting a feel of what it was like at Palisades Park.

A picture of life in its everyday ups and downs.

I liked this storyline a lot, and enjoyed how realistic it felt to life simply rolling out as it does, from successes, everyday dysfunctions, and love (romantic, family, as it stands between dear and trusted friends, etc). I appreciate how so many characters aren't simply flat and one-purposed as 'bad' or 'good:' like real people, they're complex, whole-packaged. There is pain, but often growth that blooms thereafter (even if sometimes it's only eventually). Nothing about this book is super-climatic, but often neither is life, and there's a beauty in that. That said, there are highs and lows indeed, parts that are more tense, parts that are resulotions to those tenser moments, happy top-of-the-world parts, sad parts, and so on.

I enjoy historical fiction that captives me into digging in and learning about the setting's place in history and the culture and people in it. This book succeeded in doing that. I knew little of the blue-collar park-level show (and their support and venue) culture of that era. This book taught on it, both the gritty and whimsical bits. It touched base on many very real figures of that time, and after getting to meet them a bit in this book, my internet search history is now full of all sorts of names from Melba Valle to Ella Carver. If you tend to like winding down history's little rabbit trails, this is a good book to gear you up for a spell of that.

The narration.... it wasn't bad. Really, a lot of it was fine, especially in how the non-dialouge carried inflection that felt fight for the story. Some of the characters were oi ed quite ni ely, too. My big complaint is the voicing of Toni and her brother...unfortunately, they're main characters and theor voices come up a lot. As kids, it stood fine, but as they got older and shifted into older teens and adulthood, their voices didn't really grow up with them much, and remained kinda immature (including emotionally) in tone and somewhat caricatured. That's probably me getting picky, though, so please take it with a grain of salt and rest assured that narration isn't bad, truly, I wished wish the element that is the voices of those two especially was handled differently.

I would recommend it to others looking for a good book, especially those that like books that hit just the right chord to just curl up and feel realistically at home in.

Brennert does characters best

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

Yes. This book was an incredible addition to the genre of historical fiction set against the backdrop of an amusement park. I will definitely think twice about amusement park workers - even though the days of self-made men and women and amusement parks are over. Brennert does a wonderful job of describing his characters, and while I couldn't agree with all action of characters, I could understand why they did what they did, which sometimes if half the battle.

Any additional comments?

The narrator was quite good for this book, though in parts read a little too slowly for my liking. His dialogue was very good. The book itself was well-written and imaginative.... I always look forward to Mr. brennert's books and was thrilled when this one came out. If you have never read a Brennert book, you will not receive a fast-action plot, but a character-driven growth and buildup with true historical figures sprinkled in realistically. Bravo!

Not a 5.0 for me

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I am not disappointed in reading this story, just disappointed that I was expecting something exceptional. I probably won't recommend this story.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

The ending was okay, a simple ending to a simple book

Do you think Palisades Park needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

No. What else can you say now that the core of the story is no longer. Their lives are not interesting enough to want to know more. They are mostly regular, could be my neighbor types.

Any additional comments?

It was most disappointing to have little character development.

Thoroughly Enjoyed

I’ve always had a fascination with people who choose the Carney life—-not that I’d ever want to do it. It was well written and narrated.

It was a lighter hearted choice made for our Book Club which we will discuss next week. It’s bound to be a happier discussion than Tortilla Flat by TC Boyle which was our last book; a must read for all Californians.

Ok Read

Definitely not as captivating as Brennert’s other books, could have been the narrating or that the history and characters in Hawaii were so much more fascinating.