Beautyland

De: Marie-Helene Bertino

Narrado por: Andi Arndt

Duración: 8 h y 56 m

Resumen del Editor

At the moment when Voyager 1 is launched into space carrying its famous golden record, a baby of unusual perception is born to a single mother in Philadelphia. Adina Giorno is tiny and jaundiced, but reaches for warmth and light.

As a child, she recognizes that she's different: she possesses knowledge of a faraway planet. The arrival of a fax machine enables her to contact her extraterrestrial relatives, beings who have sent her to report on the oddities of earthlings.

For years, as she moves through the world and makes a life for herself among humans, she dispatches transmissions on the terrors and surprising joys of their existence. But at a precarious moment, a beloved friend urges Adina to share her messages with the world. Is there a chance she's not alone?

A blazing novel of startling originality about the fragility and resilience of life in our universe, Marie-Helene Bertino’s Beautyland is a remarkable evocation of feeling in exile at home and introduces a gentle, unforgettable alien for our times.

©2024 Marie-Helene Bertino (P)2024 Dreamscape Media

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Andi Arndt narrates a peculiar and poignant coming-of-age story. As Adina navigates growing up, experiencing the highs and lows of childhood and adolescence, Arndt smoothly narrates local and world events and how they do (or don’t) affect Adina. When Adina becomes an adult, her experiences become more mundane—jobs, friends, love, loss—but all are still minutely and dispassionately cataloged by Arndt." - Audiofile Magazine

Unforgettable

One of those books that perfectly hits the spot. It was a joy to listen to, and will stay with me for a long time.

Read This Book!

This book was an emotional roller coaster for me. I was very impressed by Marie-Helene Bertino's writing. She never really explained Adina's oddness. We are left to question her behavior throughout the book. Is it a vivid imagination or is she suffering from a mental disorder? The fact that the author leaves this up to us to decide was brilliant. I felt firmly planted in Adina's shoes. The story is so wonderfully odd. By the time I got to the end of the book, I was shredded. So many echoes of Spalding Gray at the end.

Not Science Fiction - Don't waste your time

I'm not sure how this book is classified as science fiction. This primary character chronologizes her life as a child, teenager, adult. It could be the story of any US person, not necessarily an alien. I kept listening to see where the "alien aspect" would enter into the storyline. It never did.

If you don't like the first few hours, quit the book and don't waste more of your time. The last two hours are just painful, but by that point, I wanted to see if there ever were any other aliens. There wasn't. The ending was as disappointing as the whole book.

The only saving grace was the narrator. She was great. I doubt that I would have made it through the whole book if the narration was poor.

Pointless and forgettable

I like Sci-Fi. I bought this thinking I was getting a book about an alien on Earth. What I got was a young-adult novel about a girl who is stupid and naive. I'm sure the "progressive" crowd along with the "PC" crowd will nominate this book for a Pulitzer Prize. Its sad what passes for Sci-Fi today if this novel is considered in that realm. Do not waste your time with this boring pointless diary of a young girl-adult.