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A Passage North
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Neil Shah
- Length: 9 hrs and 15 mins
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Publisher's Summary
SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE • A young man journeys into Sri Lanka’s war-torn north in this searing novel of longing, loss, and the legacy of war from the author of The Story of a Brief Marriage.
“A novel of tragic power and uncommon beauty.”—Anthony Marra
“One of the most individual minds of their generation.”—Financial Times
SHORTLISTED FOR THE DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE • ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR—Time, NPR
A Passage North begins with a message from out of the blue: a telephone call informing Krishan that his grandmother’s caretaker, Rani, has died under unexpected circumstances—found at the bottom of a well in her village in the north, her neck broken by the fall. The news arrives on the heels of an email from Anjum, an impassioned yet aloof activist Krishnan fell in love with years before while living in Delhi, stirring old memories and desires from a world he left behind.
As Krishan makes the long journey by train from Colombo into the war-torn Northern Province for Rani’s funeral, so begins an astonishing passage into the innermost reaches of a country. At once a powerful meditation on absence and longing, as well as an unsparing account of the legacy of Sri Lanka’s thirty-year civil war, this procession to a pyre “at the end of the earth” lays bare the imprints of an island’s past, the unattainable distances between who we are and what we seek.
Written with precision and grace, Anuk Arudpragasam’s masterful novel is an attempt to come to terms with life in the wake of devastation, and a poignant memorial for those lost and those still living.
Critic Reviews
“In sentences of unusual beauty and clarity, Arudpragasam observes even the most mundane of actions...with an attention so absolute it feels devotional. He is equally gifted at atmospheric, sensory description that transports the reader to Sri Lanka and India and at examining the emotions - elation, fear, impatience, satisfaction, shame - that simmer below the surface of our everyday lives.” (The New York Times Book Review)
“An intelligent, quite often moving novel of meditation and aftermath...charged throughout with tension and excitement. Not many writers can successfully invite comparison to W.G. Sebald's slow, inward, thoughtful - yet somehow pulse-pounding - novels, but Arudpragasam can and does.... The result...is a novel of philosophic suspense, one whose reader shivers in anticipation not of what will happen next but of where the next thought will lead. A luminously intelligent, psychologically intricate novel.” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review)
“Written with scrupulous attention to nuance and detail, A Passage North captures the rich interior of its protagonist's mind but also contemporary Sri Lanka itself, war-scarred, traumatized. At its center is an exquisite form of noticing, a way of rendering consciousness and handling time that connects Arudpragasam to the great novelists of the past.” (Colm Tóibín, author of Brooklyn and The Testament of Mary)
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What listeners say about A Passage North
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
- Amazon Customer
- 08-26-21
@ Jayantha Hettigama
"A Passage North" the story evolves around Krishan the protagonist ,a young tamil boy born and bred in Colombo.The main plot is a train ride from Colombo to Killinochchi by Krishan to attend the funeral of his grandmother's caretaker ,then the sub plots consists of his thoughts and recollections of his life.
The book also contain recurring passages of his obsessions and grievances of the ethnic conflict that was in the country , possibly to ease his guilt in growing up as a Colombo boy.Too much bragging of his ideals on this issue ,makes the book dull and boring at times.
Also the Author has included gist of other literary works to his book e.g Tamil Periya Purānam, Mega Duthaya , Life of the Buddha etc... in a very clever mannaner.
Overall, the book is impressive and beautifully written , worth reading.His realistic and imaginative writing is commendable.
4 people found this helpful
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
- Bob bobinson
- 10-26-21
Beautifully descriptive
Beautiful and poignant descriptions of Sri Lankan life post-war, and enduring emotions thereof. Thought provoking, tho no real climactic elements to the story.
1 person found this helpful
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Story
- T. Powers
- 01-27-23
Beautifully written
Beautiful writing about a difficult subject matter. It was heavy listening at times but also very touching, It is a thoughtful exploration of many emotions and situations through the lives of different people.
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Story
- Alison Stanton
- 01-21-23
An insightful work
At first, I didn’t know if I could get through the long and intricate examinations of everyday experiences. However after awhile, I just rode with it and came to really appreciate Arudpragasam’s insights into experiences that we all have, such as the insecurities of new love or concern about if our life has meaning within the greater historical and political context of our time. His account and thoughts about death and funerals are especially perceptive. This is an unique book; you can feel the influence of the author’s philosophical background. If you can let go of expectations regarding what a novel should be, then reading it can be a very sweet and revealing journey.
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- Stephen86336
- 04-01-22
A story delicate ,insightful, and careful but also self absorbed
I think this writer has great potential but this story is slow somewhat plodding,the ruminating na interested in talking and
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- William C. Robinson
- 03-28-22
book brought me to tears,
it started out slowly but really took off hitting on all the subjects which confront people through out our lives, plus the issue of war and its affect on people tragically....easily could have won Booker Award!!!
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Story
Mehar, a young bride in rural 1929 Punjab, is trying to discover the identity of her new husband. Married to three brothers in a single ceremony, she and her now-sisters spend their days hard at work in the family’s “china room,” sequestered from contact with the men - except when their domineering mother-in-law, Mai, summons them to a darkened chamber at night. Curious and strong willed, Mehar tries to piece together what Mai doesn’t want her to know.
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China Room Confusion
- By Jan on 09-13-21
By: Sunjeev Sahota
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The Fortune Men
- A Novel
- By: Nadifa Mohamed
- Narrated by: Hugh Quarshie
- Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
In Cardiff, Wales in 1952, Mahmood Mattan, a young Somali sailor, is accused of a crime he did not commit: the brutal killing of Violet Volacki, a shopkeeper from Tiger Bay. At first, Mahmood believes he can ignore the fingers pointing his way; he may be a gambler and a petty thief, but he is no murderer. He is a father of three, secure in his innocence and his belief in British justice.
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Tragedy in Cardiff
- By David on 05-13-22
By: Nadifa Mohamed
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The Story of a Brief Marriage
- By: Anuk Arudpragasam
- Narrated by: Ronny Matthew
- Length: 6 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
Two and a half decades into a devastating civil war, Sri Lanka's Tamil minority is pushed inexorably towards the coast by the advancing army. Amongst the evacuees is Dinesh, whose world has contracted to a makeshift camp where time is measured by the shells that fall around him like clockwork. Alienated from family, home, language, and body, he exists in a state of mute acceptance, numb to the violence around him, till he is approached one morning by an old man who makes an unexpected proposal: that Dinesh marry his daughter, Ganga.
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Brief but Brilliant
- By Kate Juliff on 05-10-22
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The Promise
- By: Damon Galgut
- Narrated by: Peter Noble
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Haunted by an unmet promise, the Swart family loses touch after the death of their matriarch. Adrift, the lives of the three siblings move separately through the uncharted waters of South Africa; Anton, the golden boy who bitterly resents his life’s unfulfilled potential; Astrid, whose beauty is her power; and the youngest, Amor, whose life is shaped by a nebulous feeling of guilt.
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Excellent novel
- By ALG on 11-09-21
By: Damon Galgut
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A Town Called Solace
- By: Mary Lawson
- Narrated by: Maggie Huculak, Tajja Isen, Ian Lake
- Length: 7 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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A Town Called Solace, the brilliant and emotionally radiant new novel from Mary Lawson, her first in nearly a decade, opens on a family in crisis. Sixteen-year-old Rose is missing. Angry and rebellious, she had a row with her mother, stormed out of the house and simply disappeared. Left behind is seven-year-old Clara, Rose’s adoring little sister. Isolated by her parents’ efforts to protect her from the truth, Clara is bewildered and distraught.
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beautiful story
- By Barbara S on 07-06-21
By: Mary Lawson
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The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida
- By: Shehan Karunatilaka
- Narrated by: Shivantha Wijesinha
- Length: 14 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
Colombo, 1990. Maali Almeida—war photographer, gambler, and closet queen—has woken up dead in what seems like a celestial visa office. His dismembered body is sinking in the serene Beira Lake and he has no idea who killed him. In a country where scores are settled by death squads, suicide bombers, and hired goons, the list of suspects is depressingly long, as the ghouls and ghosts with grudges who cluster round can attest. But even in the afterlife, time is running out for Maali.
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Interesting and very creative
- By Coco likes books on 01-11-23
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An Island
- A Novel
- By: Karen Jennings
- Narrated by: Ben Onwukwe
- Length: 5 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
Samuel has lived alone on an island off the coast of an unnamed African country for more than two decades. He tends to his garden, his lighthouse, and his chickens, content with a solitary life. Routinely, the nameless bodies of refugees wash ashore, but Samuel—who understands that the government only values certain lives, certain deaths—always buries them himself. One day, though, he finds that one of these bodies is still breathing.
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Effects of Colonialism on the Lives of Innocents
- By Kate Juliff on 06-04-22
By: Karen Jennings
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Burnt Sugar
- By: Avni Doshi
- Narrated by: Sneha Mathan
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
In vivid and visceral prose, Tibor Jones South Asia Prize-winning writer Avni Doshi tells a story, at once shocking and empathetic, about love and betrayal between a mother and a daughter. A journey into shifting memories, altering identities, and the subjective nature of truth, Burnt Sugar is a stunning and unforgettable debut.
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Wonderful narration - Story is lacking.
- By Anon54fdgnb7 on 02-05-21
By: Avni Doshi
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Tomb of Sand
- A Novel
- By: Geetanjali Shree
- Narrated by: Deepti Gupta
- Length: 18 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Story
Eighty-year-old Ma slips into a deep depression after the death of her husband. Despite her family’s cajoling, she refuses to leave her bed. Her responsible eldest son, Bade, and dutiful, Reebok-sporting daughter-in-law, Bahu, attend to Ma’s every need, while her favorite grandson, the cheerful and gregarious Sid, tries to lift her spirits with his guitar. But it is only after Sid’s younger brother—Serious Son, a young man pathologically incapable of laughing—brings his grandmother a sparkling golden cane covered with butterflies that things begin to change.
By: Geetanjali Shree
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The Colony
- By: Audrey Magee
- Narrated by: Stephen Hogan
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
It is the summer of 1979. An English painter travels to a small island off the west coast of Ireland. Mr. Lloyd takes the last leg by curragh, though boats with engines are available and he doesn't much like the sea. He wants the authentic experience, to be changed. He doesn't know that a Frenchman follows close behind. Masson has visited the island for many years, studying their language, and is fiercely protective of their isolation. But the people who live on this rock have their own views on what is being recorded, what is being taken, and what ought to be given in return.
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Missing 15 pages at the end
- By Madeline on 09-04-22
By: Audrey Magee
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One Friday in April
- A Story of Suicide and Survival
- By: Donald Antrim
- Narrated by: Robert Kessler
- Length: 3 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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As the sun lowered in the sky one Friday afternoon in April 2006, acclaimed author Donald Antrim found himself on the roof of his Brooklyn apartment building, afraid for his life. In this moving memoir, Antrim vividly recounts what led him to the roof and what happened after he came back down: two hospitalizations, weeks of fruitless clinical trials, the terror of submitting to ECT - and the saving call from David Foster Wallace that convinced him to try it - as well as years of fitful recovery and setback.
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moving without over dramatizing
- By InBetween on 10-28-21
By: Donald Antrim
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At Night All Blood Is Black
- A Novel
- By: David Diop, Anna Moschovakis - translator
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 2 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Alfa Ndiaye is a Senegalese man who, never before having left his village, finds himself fighting as a so-called “Chocolat” soldier with the French army during World War I. When his friend Mademba Diop, in the same regiment, is seriously injured in battle, Diop begs Alfa to kill him and spare him the pain of a long and agonizing death in No Man’s Land. Unable to commit this mercy killing, madness creeps into Alfa’s mind as he comes to see this refusal as a cruel moment of cowardice.
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Powerful story!!!
- By Zoë on 06-01-21
By: David Diop, and others
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Light Perpetual
- A Novel
- By: Francis Spufford
- Narrated by: Imogen Church
- Length: 12 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
Lunchtime on a Saturday, 1944: The Woolworths on Bexford High Street in South London receives a delivery of aluminum saucepans. A crowd gathers to see the first new metal in ages - after all, everything’s been melted down for the war effort. An instant later, the crowd is gone; incinerated. Among the shoppers were five young children.
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Outstanding... breathtaking
- By klstickel on 06-05-21
By: Francis Spufford
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Dreaming in Cuban
- By: Cristina García
- Narrated by: Frankie Corzo, Marisa Blake, Anthony Lee Medina, and others
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Cristina García’s acclaimed book is the haunting, bittersweet story of a family experiencing a country’s revolution and the revelations that follow. The lives of Celia del Pino and her husband, daughters, and grandchildren mirror the magical realism of Cuba itself, a landscape of beauty and poverty, idealism and corruption. Dreaming in Cuban is “a work that possesses both the intimacy of a Chekov story and the hallucinatory magic of a novel by Gabriel García Márquez” (The New York Times).
By: Cristina García
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The Trees
- A Novel
- By: Percival Everett
- Narrated by: Bill Andrew Quinn
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Percival Everett's The Trees is a must-listen that opens with a series of brutal murders in the rural town of Money, Mississippi. When a pair of detectives from the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation arrive, they meet expected resistance from the local sheriff, his deputy, the coroner, and a string of racist White townsfolk. The murders present a puzzle, for at each crime scene there is a second dead body: that of a man who resembles Emmett Till.
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Great story, uneven performance
- By HH on 04-14-22
By: Percival Everett