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Dead Above Ground  By  cover art

Dead Above Ground

By: Jervey Tervalon
Narrated by: Myra Lucretia Taylor
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Publisher's summary

QPBC New Voices Award-winner Jervey Tervalon authors scintillating works of African-American fiction. Spellbinding, luminous, and richly atmospheric, Dead Above Ground tells the story of the wealthy Du Champs family of New Orleans. Helen, the matriarch, rules over her daughters Adele and Lita with an iron will. But Adele has fallen in love with smooth operator Lucien, who, unbeknownst to her, means to settle a decades-old score with her mother.
©2004 Jervey Tervalon (P)2004 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

"An urban masterpiece, a gritty, haunting West Side Story-esque ghetto epic of stunning violence yet overpowering beauty." (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

What listeners say about Dead Above Ground

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Interesting story with unforgettable characters

This book grabbed my attention from the first few minutes of listening. I was hooked and enjoyed hearing the story unfold. The characters were strongly written and I was interested in their inter-relationships and back-stories. The author skillfully wove all of this information about the characters in without affecting the pacing of the plot in a negative away.There were many suspenseful moments throughout the book that kept me guessing. The end was satisfying and made me want to read the sequel without making me feel cheated by a cliff-hanger. Very well done.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Would make a great movie...lmn worthy

I thoroughly enjoyed this book so much that after i read it i then went on audible to purchase the audio version and THEN I found the sequel to this book entitled Lita.

If you like old southern movies centered around life and the super natural...then u may enjoy this audio reading.

Its secretive, $exy, intriguing, thrilling, maddening and shocking all at the same time. Plenty of characters to keep you engaged. Tervalons words paint a picture of the old south....particularly in the new orleans black community during those times. At some points I cried ...and others I laughed out loud. Its based on a true story. If you look up jervey tervalon there is an article about him and his family from new orleans. Lita in real life is jerveys mother. So this was her story that she and others in the family passed on to him. I think that makes the story even more interesting because its real life.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Love it

I truly enjoyed this story. Wish there where more to this story, or a continuation.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent!

This is my first time reading anything from this author. The story line and characters were page turning wanting to know what was going to happen.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Good narrator; boring story

The storyline was totally boring. I quickly tired of hearing about the evil guy, Lucien. Disappointing.

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1 person found this helpful