Some Sing, Some Cry

By: Ntozake Shange, Ifa Bayeza

Narrated by: Robin Miles

Length: 26 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

Audible presents the multigenerational epic Some Sing, Some Cry. Created by Ntozake Shange and Ifa Bayeza, this audiobook takes listeners on a journey through Reconstruction, two world wars, the Harlem renaissance, and Vietnam to modern day America.

Some Sing, Some Cry begins at the threshold of one family’s freedom. We meet Betty Mayfield, newly emancipated from Sweet Tamarind, a lush and haunted rice plantation off the Carolina coast. Betty and her feisty teenage granddaughter Eudora are leaving for the mainland, bringing with them the ghosts, scars, and songs they have carried for so long as they meet unknown challenges ahead. From there, we meet seven generations of Mayfield men and women, and hear the songs that provide the score to their lives. Acclaimed narrator Robin Miles goes beyond the prose to transform song lyrics sprinkled throughout the book into beautiful music, making this a uniquely rich literary and audio experience.

Playwright, poet, and novelist Ntozake Shange’s Obie Award-winning for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf will be a star-studded major motion picture this fall, directed by Tyler Perry.

Ifa Bayeza is an Edgar Award-winning playwright, producer, and conceptual theater artist.

Yale Drama School-trained Robin Miles has appeared on stage and TV and narrated over 100 audiobooks.

Free with this audiobook: an exclusive interview with the authors.

©2010 Ntozake Shange, Ifa Bayeza (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

“If there are shoulders modern African-American women's literature stands upon they belong to Ntozake Shange who revolutionized theater and literature with her iconic work for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf in the 1970's. Any of us writing today are inheritors of her genius. Some Sing, Some Cry will show her to be as potent and irrepressible a force as she was thirty years ago.” (Sapphire, author of Push)

“In this epic saga, the sister-sister author combination of Bayeza and Shange offers a richly detailed and boldly colored account of one family’s experience in slavery and its legacies for the generations that followed. Some Sing, Some Cry is both moving and arresting.” (Annette Gordon-Reed, author of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family)

“This is a complex poetic treatise on race, culture, love, and family, the use of regional vernacular, dialect, and pure song, resulting in a provocative fictional history.” (Publishers Weekly)

"Vibrant... Some Sing, Some Cry is Shange and Bayeza at their poetic best." (Essence)

"Keeps the reader turning page after page…. This story of lifesaving music and heartbroken maternity is engaging from start to finish. The Mayfield women are hilarious and sexy, gorgeous and strong." (New York Times Book Review)

Magical

I listened to this book years ago, but it has stay with me from minute one. The story moved me, made me think and opened worlds to me for which I had no point of reference. Thank you Ms. Shange & Ms. Bayeza for sharing this immersive treasure.

I Love This story

I have listened to the story numerous times. It never gets old. Absolutely an amazing piece of art.

the type of writing.

I disliked. Too long and the writing was strange from the one author. Like reading poetry.

Not to my liking...

I love long epics that span generations, but this one left my cringing. I rolled my eyes and thought "oh, come on!" too many times. Also a few instances where the time line was off. The narration, however, is excellent.

Long time Audible member

Way too many characters and none were fully developed. Usually I can't wait to hear the story. This one, I could not wait for it to end. I lost track of who is who and whose kid and....

the book is good but...

If you bought a book and there were pages in the wrong place or if there were places where the text was crossed out and correncted you would be appauled. This is the case wiht this recording. There are places where the book is not read in order and the narrator corrects herself many times. I enjoyed the book but am angry that the recording was released in the form.

Disappointing

I found this to be enjoyable part of the time, the character development at the beginning was good, but the last two chapters covered way too much time, and not much substance -- especially in comparison to the earlier chapters. This development reminds me of Danielle Steele's endings -- it's like they run out of time to get the book finished, so don't do as good a job at the end. Given the time period of the 60's, the amount of material that could have been covered left me disappointed.

I also heard two different errors in chapters 19 and 20 -- the reader started over -- that should have been edited out.

I enjoyed the reader's singing range - jazz, folk, opera.

Reads like a collage

It's long and normally I like long books, but this one felt pasted together without much quality control. Some memories, some history, some social history - I don't regret having listened, but I don't feel I would have lost anything valuable if I hadn't. I did like some of the characters and cared about them, but was uncomfortable with parts of the performance. (One of the characters is (apparently) a talented opera singer - but the narrator isn't one and it left me, as I said, "uncomfortable.") The story covers a large swathe of African American history but I don't feel I learned a whole lot.

Hated this!

Really struggled to finish this one! Seems to switch around without reason. Hated, hated, hated!

Don't buy this!

I started this several times and cannot keep the track of the characters. Even tried to get the Cliff Notes to help me understand.Ntozake should stick with poems! Confusing!