The Means That Make Us Strangers

By: Christine Kindberg

Narrated by: Sarah Brands

Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

Home is where your people are. But who are your people?

Adelaide has lived her whole life in rural Ethiopia as the white American daughter of an anthropologist. Then, her family moves to South Carolina in 1964.

Adelaide vows to find her way back to Ethiopia, marry Maicaah, and become part of the village for real. But until she turns 18, Adelaide must adjust to this strange, white place that everyone tells her is home. Then, Adelaide becomes friends with the five African American students who sued for admission into the white high school.

Even as she navigates her family's expectations and her mother's depression, Adelaide starts to enjoy her new friendships, the chance to learn new things, and the time she spends with a blond football player. Life in Greenville becomes interesting, and home becomes a much more complex equation.

Adelaide must finally choose where she belongs: the Ethiopian village where she grew up, to which she promised to return? Or this place, where she's become part of something bigger than herself?

©2019 Christine Kindberg (P)2020 Christine Kindberg

Such a talented narrator for a story about history

The narrator is skilled in reading this book about growing up on two continents. I highly recommend this book.

Amazing narrator

This moving and well-written coming-of-age story comes alive with Sarah Brands’s vivid performance. She pulls the listener into the story at the high points, all-too-low points, and everywhere in between. Highly recommended.

The Means

Excellent book,set in the 1960's with a white girl growing up in Ethiopia set afloat in a newly integrated school in Carolina.I loved it!Sarah Brands was a fine narrator.I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.' 

EXCELLENT READ!

I absolutely loved it! The narration was outstanding and gave the story that extra flair! It will keep you entertained! The author did an amazing job with the character builds and plot! This was my first book by this author but definitely not my last! I look forward to reading more books by this author! I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

A great story

This is a compelling, character-driven story excellently narrated by Sarah Brands. There are a few small unexplained items throughout the story that caused me a bit of confusion, but nothing so significant that it spoiled the story. I really enjoyed it.

NOTE: I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

An interesting YA novel

"The Means That Make Us Strangers" (2019, 2020) by Christine Kindberg is an interesting YA novel about sixteen-year-old Adelaide, a white girl who has lived in a small Ethiopian village for virtually her entire life. That life is turned upside down when her family moves to South Carolina in 1964 during the Civil Right era. Adelaide plans to return to Ethiopia when she turns eighteen and marry a local boy there, but a lot can happen in two years. Solidly recommended. (At my request, I was given this free review copy audiobook by the narrator and have voluntarily left this review.)

Kelvin L. Reed
Author of "Midnight Sunshine"

Wonderful Telling of a Rarely Told Tale

The cultural pushes and pulls of a young woman trying to live in two places at once. The heroine overcomes an abrupt removal from her childhood home in Ethiopia to rural South Carolina where her family is from. She endures the culture shock, bigotry, and racism, standing tall with the young black women and men who become her American friends. I deeply enjoyed the story which captures so much of the emotions I felt at her age, and will inspire many other young women (I hope) to also become themselves.

I'm a little biased, but I love it! :-)

Sarah Brands' narration powerfully brings to life the character of Adelaide and her coming-of-age journey. As the author, I couldn't be more excited to share the book in this format! I'm thrilled for listeners to join Adelaide as she moves from Ethiopia to South Carolina in 1964, the first year there are African American students at the white high school. The narration makes the emotions of the story come alive in so many ways!

Definitely worth your time!

This book captivated me with chapter 1 yet developed in a completely unexpected way. Christine is an excellent writer who compels her audience with a narrative that portrays the reality of racism from the perspective of someone who wasn’t raised as a racist. Sarah also performs the characters in a way that makes them your friend. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. I look forward to more books from this author.

I hope more people will listen to The Means That Make Us Strangers

I was encouraged by a friend to listen to The Means That Make Us Strangers. I'm glad I did!!!

I would recommend this audiobook to anyone. It’s a delightful story about a white family that moved from Ethiopia to South Carolina in the 1960s. The kids spent 16 years of their youth in Ethiopia before moving to South Carolina. The story has a gentile way of giving insight into today’s issues.

I appreciated the author’s imagination and the reader’s pleasant voice.