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Prodigal Summer
- Narrated by: Barbara Kingsolver
- Length: 15 hrs and 46 mins
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Publisher's summary
Down the mountain, another web of lives unfolds as Lusa Maluf Landowski, a bookish city girl turned farmer's wife, finds herself in a strange place where she must declare or lose her attachment to the land that has become her own. And a few more miles down the road, a pair of elderly, feuding neighbors tend their respective farms and wrangle about God, pesticides, and the possibilities the future holds.
Over the course of one long summer, these characters find connections to one another, and to the land, and the final, urgent truth that humans are only one piece of life on earth.
Critic reviews
"Readers will be seduced by [Kingsolver's] effortless prose." (Publishers Weekly)
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- Narrated by: Anne Bobby, Jonathan Davis, Katherine Kellgren, and others
- Length: 18 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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The best stories pull readers in and keep them turning the pages, eager to discover more—to find the answer to the question: "And then what happened?" The true hallmark of great literature is great imagination, and as Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio prove with this outstanding collection, when it comes to great fiction, all genres are equal.
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Something for Everyone
- By Nicole on 05-24-17
By: Neil Gaiman - author/editor, and others
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The Auctioneer
- Valancourt 20th Century Classics
- By: Joan Samson
- Narrated by: Matt Godfrey
- Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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In the isolated farming community of Harlowe, New Hampshire, John Moore and his wife, Mim, work the land that has been in his family for generations. But from the moment the charismatic Perly Dinsmore arrives in town and starts soliciting donations for his auctions, things begin slowly and insidiously to change in Harlowe. As the auctioneer carries out his terrible, inscrutable plan, the Moores and their neighbors will find themselves gradually but inexorably stripped of their freedom, their possessions, and perhaps even their lives....
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Unbelievable
- By pineapple67 on 11-08-19
By: Joan Samson
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She Got Up Off the Couch
- By: Haven Kimmel
- Narrated by: Haven Kimmel
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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When we last saw Zippy, she was oblivious to the storm that was brewing in her home. Her mother, Delonda, had literally just gotten up off the couch and ridden her rickety bicycle down the road. Her dad was off somewhere, gambling or "working." And Zippy was lost in her own fabulous world of exploring the fringes of Moorland, Indiana.
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Great fun !!
- By Kim on 04-20-11
By: Haven Kimmel
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Mudbound
- By: Hillary Jordan
- Narrated by: Ezra Knight, Kate Forbes, Joseph Collins, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Hillary Jordan's mesmerizing debut novel won the Bellwether Prize for fiction. A powerful piece of Southern literature, Mudbound takes on prejudice in its myriad forms on a Mississippi Delta farm in 1946. City girl Laura McAllen attempts to raise her family despite questionable decisions made by her husband. Tensions continue to rise when her brother-in-law and the son of a family of sharecroppers both return from WWII as changed men bearing the scars of combat.
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May this South never rise again.
- By Betty on 03-25-12
By: Hillary Jordan
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Bone Gap
- By: Laura Ruby
- Narrated by: Dan Bittner
- Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Bone Gap is the story of Roza, a beautiful girl who is taken from a quiet Midwestern town and imprisoned by a mysterious man, and Finn, the only witness, who cannot forgive himself for being unable to identify her kidnapper. As we follow them through their melancholy pasts, their terrifying presents, and their uncertain futures, acclaimed author Laura Ruby weaves a heartbreaking tale of love and loss, magic and mystery, regret and forgiveness.
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Beauty is In the Eye of the Beholder
- By FanB14 on 11-23-15
By: Laura Ruby
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Mrs. Mike
- By: Benedict Freedman, Nancy Freedman
- Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
- Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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A moving love story set in the Canadian wilderness, Mrs. Mike is a classic tale that has enchanted millions of readers worldwide. It brings the fierce, stunning landscape of Canada to life and tenderly evokes the love that blossoms between Sergeant Mike Flannigan and beautiful young Katherine Mary O'Fallon.
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How could I have missed this all these years?
- By Dale C. Farran on 01-30-10
By: Benedict Freedman, and others
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I Will Send Rain
- A Novel
- By: Rae Meadows
- Narrated by: Emily Sutton-Smith
- Length: 8 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Annie Bell can't escape the dust. It's in her hair, covering the windowsills, coating the animals in the barn, and in the corners of her children's dry, cracked lips. It's 1934, and the Bell farm in Mulehead, Oklahoma, is struggling as the earliest storms of the Dust Bowl descend. The wheat harvests are drying out, and people are packing up their belongings as storms lay waste to the Great Plains.
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We've seen pictures of the Dust Bowl
- By Henwhisperer on 10-12-16
By: Rae Meadows
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Barbara, can we have a "re-do?"
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Great Writers need Great Narrators
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In her new essay collection, the beloved author of High Tide in Tucson brings to us from one of history's darker moments an extended love song to the world we still have. From its opening parable gleaned from recent news about a lost child saved in an astonishing way, the book moves on to consider a world of surprising and hopeful prospects, ranging from an inventive conservation scheme in a remote jungle to the backyard flock of chickens tended by the author's small daughter.
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Not much of a Wonder
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Spring for a professional narrator, please!
- By Gail D. on 11-05-18
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Animal Dreams
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Animal Dreams is a passionate and complex novel about love, forgiveness, and one woman's struggle to find her place in the world. At the end of her rope, Codi Noline returns to her Arizona home to face her ailing father, with whom she has a difficult, distant relationship. There she meets handsome Apache trainman Loyd Peregrina, who tells her, "If you want sweet dreams, you've got to live a sweet life."
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Barbara, can we have a "re-do?"
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Great Writers need Great Narrators
- By Gypsy Wife on 12-04-09
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Small Wonder
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In her new essay collection, the beloved author of High Tide in Tucson brings to us from one of history's darker moments an extended love song to the world we still have. From its opening parable gleaned from recent news about a lost child saved in an astonishing way, the book moves on to consider a world of surprising and hopeful prospects, ranging from an inventive conservation scheme in a remote jungle to the backyard flock of chickens tended by the author's small daughter.
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Not much of a Wonder
- By Max on 10-20-06
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The Poisonwood Bible
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The Poisonwood Bible is a story told by the wife and four daughters of Nathan Price, a fierce, evangelical Baptist who takes his family and mission to the Belgian Congo in 1959. They carry with them everything they believe they will need from home, but soon find that all of it - from garden seeds to Scripture - is calamitously transformed on African soil. What follows is a suspenseful epic of one family’s tragic undoing and remarkable reconstruction over the course of three decades in postcolonial Africa.
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Listen to the sample first!
- By Cheryl D on 07-30-08
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Homeland and Other Stories
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Barbara Kingsolver has written these five short stories with the same wit and sensitivity that characterize her highly praised and beloved novels Animal Dreams and The Bean Trees. Spreading her characters over a variety of colorful landscapes, she tells stories of hope, momentary joy, and powerful endurance.
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Another great book by Kingsolver!
- By Rosemarie on 01-09-12
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Holding the Line
- Women in the Great Arizona Mine Strike of 1983
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Holding the Line, Barbara Kingsolver's first nonfiction book, is the story of women's lives transformed by an a signal event. Set in the small mining towns of Arizona, it is part oral history and part social criticism, exploring the process of empowerment that occurs when people work together as a community. Like Kingsolver's award-winning novels, Holding the Line is a beautifully written book grounded on the strength of its characters.
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Amazing story that gives voice to the women
- By Jmrik on 12-28-23
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High Tide in Tucson
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Exploring the themes of family, community, and the natural world with the vision of a poet and the eyes of a scientist, Barbara Kingsolver writes about ideas as diverse as modern motherhood, the history of private property, and the suspended citizenship of humans in the animal kingdom.
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Good book, but not unabridged...
- By Kathy Roberts Forde on 04-20-20
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Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
- A Year of Food Life
- By: Barbara Kingsolver, Camille Kingsolver, Steven L. Hopp
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- Length: 14 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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When Barbara Kingsolver and her family move from suburban Arizona to rural Appalachia, they take on a new challenge: to spend a year on a locally-produced diet, paying close attention to the provenance of all they consume. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle follows the family through the first year of their experiment.
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mixed feelings
- By pterion on 11-15-07
By: Barbara Kingsolver, and others
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How to Fly (in Ten Thousand Easy Lessons)
- Poetry
- By: Barbara Kingsolver
- Narrated by: Barbara Kingsolver
- Length: 2 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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In her second poetry collection, Barbara Kingsolver offers reflections on the practical, the spiritual, and the wild. She begins with "how to" poems addressing everyday matters such as being hopeful, married, divorced; shearing a sheep; praying to unreliable gods; doing nothing at all; and of course, flying. Next come rafts of poems about making peace (or not) with the complicated bonds of friendship and family, and making peace (or not) with death, in the many ways it finds us.
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A Joy to Read
- By Lee Moderow on 05-20-21
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Demon Copperhead
- A Novel
- By: Barbara Kingsolver
- Narrated by: Charlie Thurston
- Length: 21 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia, Demon Copperhead is the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father’s good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival. Relayed in his own unsparing voice, Demon braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses.
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Wow! It’s a Masterpiece
- By Billy on 10-25-22
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Frodig sommer
- By: Barbara Kingsolver
- Narrated by: Pernille Geertsen
- Length: 15 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Historien udspiller sig i en afsidesliggende dal i Appalacherne i løbet af én lang og varm sommer og beskriver tre kvinder, som på en eller anden måde ikke er faldet til i samfundet. Oppe på bjergskråningen lever Deanne Wolf et eneboerliv som vildtbiolog. I dalen nedenunder bor Lusa Landowski, født og opvokset i en storby og af samme grund aldrig accepteret i det lille samfund. I dalen bor også Nannie Rawley, der er hæmningsløs i sin kampagne for et renere miljø.
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The Maid's Version
- A Novel
- By: Daniel Woodrell
- Narrated by: Brian Troxell
- Length: 4 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Alma DeGeer Dunahew, the mother of three young boys, works as the maid for a prominent citizen and his family in West Table, Missouri. Her husband is mostly absent, and, in 1929, her scandalous, beloved younger sister is one of the 42 killed in an explosion at the local dance hall. Who is to blame? Mobsters from St. Louis? The embittered local gypsies? The preacher who railed against the loose morals of the waltzing couples? Or could it have been a colossal accident?
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Another Version
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By: Daniel Woodrell
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State of Wonder
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Research scientist Dr. Marina Singh is sent to Brazil to track down her former mentor, Dr. Annick Swenson, who seems to have disappeared in the Amazon while working on an extremely valuable new drug. The last person who was sent to find her died before he could complete his mission. Plagued by trepidation, Marina embarks on an odyssey into the insect-infested jungle in hopes of finding answers to the questions about her friend's death, her company's future, and her own past.
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Do yourself a favor and listen to this book!
- By F. B. H. In TN on 06-10-11
By: Ann Patchett
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Commonwealth
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One Sunday afternoon in Southern California, Bert Cousins shows up at Franny Keating's christening party uninvited. Before evening falls, he has kissed Franny's mother, Beverly - thus setting in motion the dissolution of their marriages and the joining of two families.
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Patchett and Me--In-sympatico
- By Mel on 09-18-16
By: Ann Patchett
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Icy Sparks
- By: Gwyn Hyman Rubio
- Narrated by: Kate Miller
- Length: 7 hrs and 4 mins
- Abridged
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A funny, sad, and transcendent story of a young girl growing up in Appalachia. The New York Times Book Review called this Oprah Book Club selection "vivid and unforgettable."
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Icy made me warm.
- By Alene on 03-28-03
By: Gwyn Hyman Rubio
What listeners say about Prodigal Summer
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Lily
- 10-12-08
Amazing!
I selected this book just because Barbara Kingsolver wrote it - I didn't read a word of description or reviews, so I didn't know the first thing about it. When I got to the second chapter, I said to myself "Oh no! It's short stories!", but it turned out to be three stories, and in Ms. Kingsolver's singular style, each is different and delightful, and they come together so sweetly in the end, but don't let me spoil it! I have listened to it more than once, and just love it. As usual, it is so well researched that I finished it with a real appreciation for predators, a hunger for apples, and a burning desire to own a goat! This is one of those books that I needed to own on paper as well, so I could more fully appreciate some of the best parts - such as when Mr. Walker "gets himself a snapping turtle", and his correspondence with Nannie Rawley. This book is worth every penny and every minute of your time.
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89 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Karyn
- 10-03-06
Breathtaking
This has to be one of the most beautiful, touching, inspiring books that has ever been written. It's hard to find books that make you think and feel without manipulating you or dragging you through somebody's terrible, painful tragedy. This is one of the rare few. Kingsolver is idealistic and yet clearheaded. The first half hour or so is a bit slow as you acclimate to the storylines, but then it's impossible to turn off. I loved these characters so much, and grew so attached to them (even the difficult ones), that I listened to the last few words with tears in my eyes. Kingsolver narrates earnestly, endearingly, doing justice to the local dialect.
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58 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Jennifer johnson
- 05-20-06
Great Book!! Great Audio
This audio book is excellent. I have listened to several audio books a month for years. I have a huge commute. I had read the book a couple of years ago, and it was very good, but the audio is excellent!!! Barbara Kinsolver is the reader and she brings a lot of energy and heart to the interpretation of the novel. I feel as if I understand it better for having her read it to me. It is beautifully produced with songbirds in the background between chapters; this audio book is truly a work of art. This is definitely a 10 !!!! I would highly recommend this audio book. It is one of my favorites of all time.
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38 people found this helpful
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- Brian
- 12-21-09
One of my favourites
I love this book and just wanted to add my voice to the chorus of great reviews. I am guesing that while all her books are important to her that this one is her most personal. She writes so well that just listening to how she strings together words makes this a good audio book . However it is so much more than this. I find myself listening to it over and over. Sometimes it for the story, other times for her knowledge and passion for her subjects, and finally, sometimes for the simple pleasure of her narration and how it breathes life into all of her characters.
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30 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Kathleen
- 11-22-09
beautiful narration
This is an intriguing book on the subjects of coyotes and predators, a different view, while the parallel women, one a solitary by choice living as a ranger in the wild and the other solitary by rejection chooses to be a farmer rather than a scientist/academic. Both share reticence, opposition and progressiveness re nature. Both eventually also come back to children, joining the wildlife quest to reproduce, protect young and be part of the society. Once again Barbara Kingsolver presents a very complex story and idea with amazing detail and intelligence.
The author's reading also reflects her understanding of sound and language. In particular she is able to make the accent of the country people into an extreme but softened voice. Whereas most readers seem to adopt simply a harsh generic twang for all southern accents. I feel exactly the opposite of the criticisms of Barbara Kingsolver as reader (particularly after her book 'the lacuna'). Perhaps subtle and sensitive is not understood today.
Ironically this seems an underlying theme of this author's writing.
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27 people found this helpful
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Story
- aaron
- 09-18-13
Never has someone TRIED so hard to sabotage...
First off, the reviews praising this book, the story (content) of this book, are spot on... it's GREAT! The story takes us into a world so filled with detail and stories about life and love, that you can't help but be sucked in. The book is borderline genius, plain and simple.
Now comes the part that truly amazes me about this audiobook. The publisher/producer decided to do 2 HUGE things to sabotage the success of this audiobook...
First, between each chapter there are LOUD, annoying bird "songs". Yes, birds chirp, seemingly out of nowhere, right in your ear when you're trying to listen to WORDS. This is annoying, jolting, and pointless. It literally adds NOTHING positive to the book, and only serves to annoy the heck out of you at times when you're really invested in this amazing story.
Second, and this is the big complaint... For some unknown/unexplainable reason, the author is unaware that there are "professional readers" out there that read (perform) many of the books on Audible. She's either unaware of this fact, or worse, she actually considers HERSELF a "professional reader". In my opinion, the latter is unforgivable, if true. Trust me, she's not anywhere close to being a "professional reader". She's terrible. Her character voices are laughable. Her inflections are usually misplaced and nonsensical. It's like having a child (an untalented child) read a book to you, and it sucks. You don't want this author reading ANYTHING to you , ever.
What this supreme misstep does do, however, is show just how incredible the story of this book actually is. Even with (what I would consider) one of the worst narrators in the history of Audible, the story still remains interesting, intriguing, and unique. I loved it from start to finish, and the author deserves ALL the credit for that. If the producers ever acquire the much-needed skill of common sense, they'll hire one of the many "professional readers" out there, remake this, and it will be 5 stars across the board, hands down.
As for now, the best I can say is, if you're willing to go through a bit of torture, a great story awaits you at the end.
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24 people found this helpful
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Overall
- corey
- 02-13-09
Beautiful Book
After reading the book 5 years ago and loving it, I decided to listen to it. The author does a wonderful job of bringing the characters alive. This is one of the most beautifully written books I've read or heard. Highly recommended.
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22 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Caroline
- 03-12-09
Great southern story
I loved this book! The author's narration was "spot on" for the mountain accents and the characters were so interesting and intertwined, I was sad to have this book end. I highly recommend it!
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16 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Chris
- 09-20-09
Beautiful
Wonderful story read beautifully by the author. One of Audible's best.
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13 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Beverley Zabow
- 03-20-09
The Best
No one writes like Barbara Kingsolver...loved it. She also has a great reading voice. Wish they had more of her books on Audible.
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12 people found this helpful