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Slumberland
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Prentice Onayemi
- Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins
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Slumberland
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Publisher's summary
Critical darling Paul Beatty's highly original, widely praised novel of race, identity, and underground music.
After creating the perfect beat, DJ Darky goes in search of Charles Stone, a little know avant-garde jazzman, to play over his sonic masterpiece. His quest brings him to a recently unified Berlin, where he stumbles through the city's dreamy streets ruminating about race, sex, love, Teutonic gods, the prevent defense, and Wynton Marsalis in search of his artistic - and spiritual - other.
Ferocious, bombastic, and laugh-out-loud funny, Slumberland is vintage Paul Beatty and belongs on the shelf next to Jonathan Lethem, Colson Whitehead, and Junot Diaz.
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- Narrated by: Jimmy Webb
- Length: 12 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 56
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 47
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 47
Jimmy Webb's words have been sung to his music by a rich and deep roster of pop artists, including Glen Campbell, Art Garfunkel, Frank Sinatra, Donna Summer, and Linda Ronstadt. He's the only artist ever to win Grammy Awards for music, lyrics, and orchestration, and his chart-topping career has, so far, lasted 50 years, most recently with a Kanye West rap hit and a new classical nocturne. Now Webb delivers a snapshot of his life from 1955 to 1970, from the proverbial humble beginnings into a moneyed and manic international world of beautiful women, drugs, cars, and planes.
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3 out of 5 stars
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This Book is Hard to Listen to
- By Robert Alexander on 01-14-21
By: Jimmy Webb
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The Book of Drugs
- A Memoir
- By: Mike Doughty
- Narrated by: Mike Doughty
- Length: 7 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 161
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 144
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 146
Mike Doughty first came to prominence as the leader of the band Soul Coughing then did an abrupt sonic left turn, much to the surprise of his audience, transforming into a solo performer of stark, dusky, but strangely hopeful tunes. He battled addiction, gave up fame when his old band was at the height of its popularity, and drove thousands of miles, alone, across America, with just an acoustic guitar.
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5 out of 5 stars
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I Got on an Emotional Rollercoaster w. M. Doughty
- By Hilary on 03-02-12
By: Mike Doughty
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The Philosophy of Modern Song
- By: Bob Dylan
- Narrated by: Bob Dylan, Jeff Bridges, Steve Buscemi, and others
- Length: 6 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 247
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 211
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 208
Dylan, who began working on the book in 2010, offers his insight into the nature of popular music. He writes over sixty essays focusing on songs by other artists, spanning from Stephen Foster to Elvis Costello, and in between ranging from Hank Williams to Nina Simone. He analyzes what he calls the trap of easy rhymes, breaks down how the addition of a single syllable can diminish a song, and even explains how bluegrass relates to heavy metal. These essays are written in Dylan’s unique prose. And while ostensibly about music, they are really meditations on the human condition.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Needs chapter headings
- By kaon on 12-22-22
By: Bob Dylan
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Punk Rock Blitzkrieg
- My Life as a Ramone
- By: Rich Herschlag, Marky Ramone
- Narrated by: Corey M. Snow
- Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 286
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 266
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 266
Having outlived his bandmates, Marky is the only person who can share the secrets and stories of the Ramones' improbable rise from obtuse beginnings to induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But it wasn't all good times and hit songs, and Marky doesn't shy away from discussing his own struggles.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Dedicated Punk Fans Must Read
- By Leostriple on 03-26-15
By: Rich Herschlag, and others
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Your Band Sucks
- What I Saw at Indie Rock's Failed Revolution (But Can No Longer Hear)
- By: Jon Fine
- Narrated by: Jon Fine
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 31
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 27
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 27
Jon Fine spent nearly 30 years performing and recording with bands that played various forms of aggressive and challenging underground rock music. And, as he writes in this memoir, at no point were any of those bands "ever threatened, even distantly, by actual fame". Yet when members of his first band, Bitch Magnet, reunited after 21 years to tour Europe, Asia, and America, diehard longtime fans traveled from far and wide to attend those shows.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Life in a band-the ups, downs and truth!
- By C Christopher Taylor on 07-10-18
By: Jon Fine
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The White Boy Shuffle
- A Novel
- By: Paul Beatty
- Narrated by: Prentice Onayemi
- Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 144
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 129
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 128
Paul Beatty's hilarious and scathing debut novel, The White Boy Shuffle, is about Gunnar Kaufman, an awkward, black surfer bum who is moved by his mother from Santa Monica to urban West Los Angeles. There, he begins to undergo a startling transformation from neighborhood outcast to basketball superstar, and eventually to reluctant messiah of a "divided, downtrodden people".
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5 out of 5 stars
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So beautiful
- By mp on 06-15-18
By: Paul Beatty
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Beat the Devil
- By: Mishka Shubaly
- Narrated by: Mishka Shubaly
- Length: 3 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 54
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 48
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 48
In Beat the Devil, addict, alcoholic and best-selling Kindle Singles author Mishka Shubaly returns to battle his ultimate demon: his obsession with rock 'n' roll. Over three decades, his affliction has spawned immeasurable chaos and destruction (and, yes, maybe some debauched good times). While his rivals have graced the covers of Spin and Rolling Stone, Shubaly's projects have always flamed out in the 11th hour. At 36, sober and stable, Shubaly is poised to finally achieve the rock 'n' roll glory he has lusted after for years... or walk away from his lifelong dream forever.
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5 out of 5 stars
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An honest man
- By Terry Bowman on 11-24-23
By: Mishka Shubaly
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A Lush and Seething Hell
- Two Tales of Cosmic Horror
- By: John Hornor Jacobs
- Narrated by: Almarie Guerra, MacLeod Andrews
- Length: 12 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 402
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 354
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Story4 out of 5 stars 355
The award-winning and critically-acclaimed master of horror returns with a pair of chilling tales - both never-before-published in print or audio - that examine the violence and depravity of the human condition. Bringing together his acclaimed novella The Sea Dreams It Is the Sky and an all-new short novel My Heart Struck Sorrow, John Hornor Jacobs turns his fertile imagination to the evil that breeds within the human soul.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Great idea, tarnished by modern politics
- By Phil on 04-28-21
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The True Adventures of the Rolling Stones
- By: Stanley Booth
- Narrated by: Nick Sullivan
- Length: 17 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 80
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 75
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 74
Stanley Booth, a member of the Rolling Stones’ inner circle, met the band just a few months before Brian Jones drowned in a swimming pool, in 1969. He lived with them throughout their 1969 American tour, staying up all night together listening to blues, talking about music, ingesting drugs, and consorting with groupies. His thrilling account culminates with their final concert at Altamont Speedway - a nightmare of beating, stabbing, and killing that would signal the end of a generation’s dreams of peace and freedom.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Superlative rendering of a singular story.
- By Laura Davis on 11-28-15
By: Stanley Booth
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Permanent Midnight
- A Memoir (20th Anniversary Edition)
- By: Jerry Stahl, Nic Sheff - foreword
- Narrated by: Jerry Stahl, Scott Merriman
- Length: 11 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 72
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 70
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 69
A searing confessional infused with the darkest humor, Permanent Midnight chronicles the opiated abyss of a Hollywood screenwriter and his formidable climb into sobriety. Made into a major motion picture starring Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson, Permanent Midnight is revered by critics and an ever-growing cult of devoted fans as one of the most compelling contemporary memoirs.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Point deduction for the recording
- By Amazon Customer on 11-21-20
By: Jerry Stahl, and others
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Eat the Document
- By: Dana Spiotta
- Narrated by: Rachael Warren
- Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 62
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 53
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Story4 out of 5 stars 54
In the heyday of the 1970s underground, Bobby DeSoto and Mary Whittaker - passionate, idealistic, and in love - design a series of radical protests against the Vietnam War. When one action goes wrong, the course of their lives is forever changed. The two must erase their past, forge new identities, and never see each other again. Now it is the 1990s. Mary lives in the suburbs with her 15-year-old son, who spends hours immersed in the music of his mother's generation.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great ensemble piece!
- By Buyer009 on 08-08-17
By: Dana Spiotta
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Turn Around Bright Eyes
- A Karaoke Love Story
- By: Rob Sheffield
- Narrated by: Rob Sheffield
- Length: 6 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 69
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 60
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Story4 out of 5 stars 60
Turn Around Bright Eyes picks up Sheffield’s story right after Love Is a Mix Tape. He is a young widower devastated by grief, trying to build a new life in a new town after his wife’s death. As a writer for Rolling Stone, he naturally takes solace in music. But that’s when he discovers the sublime ridiculousness of karaoke, and despite the fact that he can’t carry a tune, he begins to find his voice.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Witty (sometimes sad) love story/Soundtrack
- By Wally Tonra on 05-07-15
By: Rob Sheffield
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The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby
- By: Tom Wolfe
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
- Length: 11 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 41
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 33
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 32
"An excellent book by a genius”, said Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., of this now-classic exploration of the 1960s from the founder of New Journalism and author of such influential works as The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test and The Bonfire of the Vanities. Tom Wolfe explores the style and culture of the 1960s in this dynamic collection of essays - originally stand-alone pieces, many of which were published in Esquire magazine - written in his unique, free-flowing style.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Tom Wolfe the Astute Observor
- By J. Kinkley on 08-29-23
By: Tom Wolfe
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The One-in-a-Million Boy
- By: Monica Wood
- Narrated by: Chris Ciulla
- Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,608
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,369
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,376
For years, guitarist Quinn Porter has been on the road, chasing gig after gig, largely absent to his twice-ex-wife Belle and their odd, Guinness records-obsessed son. When the boy dies suddenly, Quinn seeks forgiveness for his paternal shortcomings by completing the requirements for one of his son's unfinished Boy Scout badges. For seven Saturdays Quinn does yard work for Ona Vitkus, the spry 104-year-old Lithuanian immigrant the boy had visited weekly.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Loved it
- By Justin on 10-20-16
By: Monica Wood
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Daron’s Guitar Chronicles, Volume 1
- By: Cecilia Tan
- Narrated by: Teddy Hamilton
- Length: 4 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 71
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 66
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Story4 out of 5 stars 65
Daron Marks is a young guitar player with a dream: to make it big like the guys he grew up idolizing in New Jersey - or at least escape his dysfunctional family. He makes it as far as music school in Rhode Island and the rock clubs of Boston beckon him. But it's hard to succeed from the closet.
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4 out of 5 stars
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The Start of A Relatable Journey...
- By Donald on 10-05-13
By: Cecilia Tan
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Every Anxious Wave
- By: Mo Daviau
- Narrated by: Zach Villa
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 621
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 556
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Story4 out of 5 stars 554
Why would we need music if our lives were exactly as we wanted them to be? Karl Bender is a quiet guy who lives in three places: his bar, his apartment, and the cheap Mediterranean place on the corner that keeps him well fed with his daily portion of hummus and chicken shwarma. But that's all about to change. When he stumbles upon a time-traveling wormhole, Karl develops a business selling access to people who want to go back in time to hear their favorite bands.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Frustrating
- By Brit N Jonn Designs on 03-31-16
By: Mo Daviau
What listeners say about Slumberland
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Xoterik
- 04-17-19
For audiophiliacs and xenos
It's often indescribable where and how Paul Beatty chooses to take you some place. You just have to go and look back from the other side. This is a raw and ragged journey through sound, music, identity, gifts, and acceptance.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Scott V. Young
- 11-16-20
Love Music? Humor? You’ll love Slumberland
I’m a big fan of Paul Beatty; his witty, bouncy narratives, teasing into strange parallel existences in which everyone possesses better than average intelligence, articulates ideas with brio, swoons for political philosophy, and easily master every task make for sweet reading, or listening. Slumberland makes music the central tool for change. I even looked up a song glowingly described in the novel a so as to experience the same wonder as the characters.
Onayemi’s narration is fantastic – I’ve heard him do three of Beatty’s books – but suffers one flaw: he mispronounces words from time to time. This is the fault of the editor/producer, and wouldn’t bother some, but it scrapes on my ears a bit.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jon D.
- 01-22-20
Laugh out loud funny!
Another great piece of writing. Makes me wish there was a soundtrack so I can hear that "chicken song!"
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 07-01-22
Gen Xr's Delight
Beatty is your lightning quick guide to a world you may not have known but whos language and references youll delight in. The naration by Prentice is flawless. I cant imagine anyone else bringing the work to life better. Five Stars -☆☆☆☆☆
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Stefanie
- 06-18-18
No plot
No plot. No point. A waste of my time that I completed for book club discussion.
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