The Silver Star

A Novel

By: Jeannette Walls

Narrated by: Jeannette Walls

Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

From one of the best-selling memoirists of all time, a stunning and heartbreaking novel about an intrepid girl who challenges the injustice of the adult world - a triumph of imagination and storytelling.

It is 1970. "Bean" Holladay is 12 and her sister, Liz, is 15 when their artistic mother, Charlotte, a woman who flees every place she’s ever lived at the first sign of trouble," takes off to find herself." She leaves her girls enough money for food to last a month or two. But when Bean gets home from school one day and sees a police car outside the house, she and Liz board a bus from California to Virginia, where their widowed Uncle Tinsley lives in the decaying antebellum mansion that’s been in the family for generations.

An impetuous optimist, Bean discovers who her father was and learns many stories about why their mother left Virginia in the first place. Money is tight, so Liz and Bean start babysitting and doing office work for Jerry Maddox, foreman of the mill in town, a big man who bullies workers, tenants, and his wife. Bean adores her whip-smart older sister, inventor of word games, reader of Edgar Allan Poe, non-conformist. But when school starts in the fall, it’s Bean who easily adjusts and makes friends, and Liz who becomes increasingly withdrawn. And then something happens to Liz in the car with Maddox.

The author of The Glass Castle, hyper-alert to abuse of adult power, has written a gorgeous, riveting, heartbreaking novel about triumph over adversity and about people who find a way to love the world despite its flaws and injustices.

©2013 Jeannette Walls (P)2013 Simon & Schuster

Endurance of two young girls.

A mixture of emotions. Injustice, frustration, racism and family. I enjoyed the book. The reader was just okay.

Hire a narrator!

What did you like best about The Silver Star? What did you like least?

Jeannette Wall's is a good writer. I look forward to her books.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

Hire a narrator!

What didn’t you like about Jeannette Walls’s performance?

Drab, too like her other books.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Maybe

Any additional comments?

No

Always a Pleasure

Jeannette Walls books are always a pleasure to listen to. I love her narration and story lines are serious and fun at the same time.

Lovely book!

This lovely read was a lot like Jeannette’s other books, in the same style and detail. I enjoyed that she read it herself. It was nice to hear the author reading her own material!
The characters are relatable, the mother being nuts and the family members answering their calls to action.
I really enjoyed all of Jeannette Walls’ books, a lot better than the movie, in fact!!

Could not stop reading it

I loved it and I hope there's more books in the future by her.All of her book I have fell in love with.

Loved it.

This is a captivating story that you don’t want to stop listening to until it’s done. The narrators voice is also very easy to listen to.

Another great story from Walls

What did you like best about this story?

The characters are so well developed. I also loved Jeanette's narration.

Have you listened to any of Jeannette Walls’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

yes. It's as good as the others. I didn't want it to end.

Simple, yet gripping.

Walls is a natural story teller. I enjoyed every second, and was sad to see it end.

Great Story

This is the second book I read from Jeanette walls, and loved it from beginning to end.

Just alright

Although I am head over heals for Jeanette's other two novels, this book didn't really compare. The plot was somewhat similar to The Glass Castle but stayed pretty surface level. Not a bad read, but not something I'd read again.