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Frankenstein in Baghdad
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, Kaleo Griffith
- Length: 8 hrs and 1 min
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Publisher's summary
Man Booker International Prize finalist
“Brave and ingenious.” (The New York Times)
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From the rubble-strewn streets of U.S.-occupied Baghdad, Hadi — a scavenger and an oddball fixture at a local café — collects human body parts and stitches them together to create a corpse. His goal, he claims, is for the government to recognize the parts as people and to give them proper burial.
But when the corpse goes missing, a wave of eerie murders sweeps the city, and reports stream in of a horrendous-looking criminal who, though shot, cannot be killed. Hadi soon realizes he’s created a monster, one that needs human flesh to survive — first from the guilty, and then from anyone in its path.
A prizewinning novel by “Baghdad’s new literary star” (The New York Times), Frankenstein in Baghdad captures with white-knuckle horror and black humor the surreal reality of contemporary Iraq.
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- Tinkerbuff
- 09-20-19
I was fascinated the entire time
This book was so fascinating to me. I honestly am so happy I went out on a limb and picked it up.
So, this novel takes place in in the streets of U.S. occupied Baghdad. Our main guy, Hadi, is a scavenger who hangs out at a local café and is known to be a little crazy, he collects human body parts and stitches them together to create a full corpse. His goal, he claims, is for the government to recognize the parts as people and to give them proper burial. But when the corpse gains life and escapes, a wave of vigilante style murders sweeps the city, and reports stream in of a horrendous-looking criminal who, though shot, cannot be killed.
And that's only part of it. This story reads and presents like a slice of life from Iraq.
It's all semi realistic with just hints of the supernatural and of course the corpse juggernaut.
There's several perspectives and central characters all dealing with their own arcs and they all intertwine and revolve around the central Frankenstein character who is almost a side character.
There's military factions, mystic astrologists, street gangsters, talks of djinns and angels and the monster who is talked about often in hushed whispers.
Which makes it even more exciting, the realistic perspectives of an urban legend that you as the reader know is fact but most the characters are uncertain.
I don't want to give too much away but the monster concept is freaking cool. Each body part used to build him has a soul attached and these souls guide the monster's quests.
It's almost hard to describe but this would seriously make an amazing TV show. If you're familiar with the anime Durarara it feels very similar but much more adult and conservative, of course.
It's not very action packed or fast paced but I found all of it very interesting. The writer does.an excellent job of making every scene smooth and captivating.
Id really could recommend this book to anyone. It's just a solid novel.
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- Carol
- 04-09-18
Parts is parts
Elishva the old Christian woman longs for the return of her son Daniel. It has been twenty years since he was forcibly sent off to war but she believes he is still alive and she prays to St George so that he will return someday. Hadi the junk dealer collects and assembles body parts found in the debris of terrorist explosions and there are plenty of explosions in Baghdad. An arm from one body, a leg from another, stitching them together hoping to give them a proper burial as a whole body. One day Hadi leaves the putrid oozing body at his workshop, the Whatsitsname, to buy items for his junk shop. When he returns home, the Whatsitsname is gone. Panic ensues.
Hasib Jaafar was a hotel guard and at the age of 21 he was killed by a suicide bomber driving a garbage truck. There was little left of Hasib. His soul was searching for a body so he can be buried, when he finds the Whatsitsname lying on the ground, he magically enters it. Then the Whatsitsname with its new found soul is found by the old woman Elishva who claims him as her long lost son Daniel. She dresses him and cooks him food. But Daniel's return does not last long as he wanders the streets looking for revenge on the killers of his various body parts. When he finds and kills the murderer, that body part drops off. So he finds replacement murdered body parts and continues looking for murderers. The Watsitsname becomes a bit of a metaphor for a never ending war in Iraq. Murder and revenge. The police pursue him.
A dark satire and intriguing concept for about half of the book. Then Saadawi seems to lose his way and the book meanders in different directions with different characters, some who add nothing to the story. There are lots of astrologers, mistresses, barbers, journalist, priest, janitors and generals. All converging for one big explosion that seems very anti-climatic in the end.
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10 people found this helpful
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- Kukhri
- 08-07-18
A distant cousin to Frankenstein
Do not read this with the expectation that it will closely resemble Shelly's Frankenstein, but you should expect a different, very Iraqi take on the idea. It deals with suicide bombings and average people put under unusually tough conditions. It's an interesting way of looking at the country from the people's perspective.
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9 people found this helpful
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- Brady Dale
- 03-21-18
I will not be finishing this
Not hooked by the hook. It is not grabbing me at all. The Week gave a bad recommendation.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Julie W. Capell
- 01-10-21
The best superhero I've encountered in a long time
Interesting to me mostly for its portrayal of everyday life in Baghdad circa 2008-2012. How people continue the activities of daily life--taking tea, shopping at the market, writing news articles--while foreign soldiers roam the streets and car bombs explode, randomly killing friends and foes. I know this is how life is, having lived under a military dictatorship. In order to survive under such extraordinary circumstances, most people turn a blind eye to the chaos, keep their heads down and try to go about their business.
I loved the stories of the main characters...the old woman praying every day to the portrait of St. George for her son to come back from the war so that her family would be complete once more...the junk dealer making deals and telling incredible stories in the tea house to stay relevant...the real estate agent searching for any angle to get his hands on certain pieces of property he was sure would make him rich...the general using astrologers to track down criminals to ensure his next promotion...the journalist chasing stories while avoiding his own life. And best of all, the "frankenstein," the best superhero I have encountered in a very long time.
[I listened to this as an audio book read by Edoardo Ballerini, who gave it just the right touch of an Arabic accent so that I felt like I was in Baghdad. I listened at 1.3 speed]
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4 people found this helpful
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- QualityPet, LLC
- 08-13-18
Excellent Magical Realist View of Baghdad
This book is well deserving of the Man Booker nomination it received and did a great job of building the picture of a diverse community in Baghdad. The narration was also excellent
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3 people found this helpful
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- Mohamed
- 01-03-21
I'm from Baghdad. so I'm partial to it
The nostalgia I have suffered listening to this master piece was unbearable. I was living in the area during the time of the magical reality of this novel. attending the University of Technology and passing through Tayaran Square almost daily.
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- iPhone
- 02-18-20
Absolutely the best fiction I read in 2019
Absolutely the best fiction I read in 2019. I was mesmerized by the plot and loved the overall politicizing of the story. Just a terrific book.
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- Nathaniel
- 06-06-23
not what I was hoping
I was really looking forward to this book. I was hoping it would be a retelling of Frankenstein from a different culture's point of view. I don't feel that is what it is. I wanted much more focus on the monster and not everything else. it didn't help that the reader didn't really do voices, so it was difficult to know who was talking. I also don't think it passed the Bechtel test, which is super weird for a book.
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- Michael G Kurilla
- 09-17-22
Frankenstein in the Middle East
Ahmed Saadawi's Frankenstein in Baghdad is an interesting take on the classic Frankenstein tale. Set in Baghdad during the US occupation after the Iraqi war, the city is dangerous with suicide bombers. Body parts tend to be left behind and a junk dealer decides to stitch random parts together in the hope that they can receive a proper burial. Unbeknownst to him, the parts become animated and seek out revenge on the killers of the various parts. He attracts a following and they assist in keeping him up to date with fresh parts. There are numerous side stories that flesh out a diverse and vibrant flavor to the city under occupation.
As a retelling of a classic tale in a distinct culture and time period, Saadawi does a credible job of weaving enough specific lore to create a unique tale based on the Mary Shelly original. He also goes to great lengths to offer a city with diverse people including a Christian subcommunity and the various groups allied the US occupying force including special units on both the American and Iraqi sides hunting the 'monster.'
The narration is well done with good character distinction. Pacing is smooth and just on the brisk side to make for a quick listen.
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Story
Written by one of the greatest Iranian writers of the 20th century, Blind Owl tells a three-part story of a pen-case painter, an isolated narrator with a fragile relationship with time and reality. In part one, he relates his own story in the first person, in a string of hazy, dreamlike recollections fueled by opium and alcohol. He spends time painting the covers of pen cases only to paint the exact same scene: an old man wearing a cape and turban sitting under a cypress tree, separated by a stream from a beautiful woman in black who is bending down to offer him a waterlily.
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Masterful Work and Great Narration
- By Anthony W. on 09-24-22
By: Sadeq Hedayat, and others
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The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein
- By: Kiersten White
- Narrated by: Katharine Lee McEwan
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Elizabeth Lavenza hasn't had a proper meal in weeks. Her thin arms are covered with bruises from her "caregiver", and she is on the verge of being thrown into the streets...until she is brought to the home of Victor Frankenstein, an unsmiling, solitary boy who has everything - except a friend. Victor is her escape from misery. Elizabeth does everything she can to make herself indispensable - and it works. She is taken in by the Frankenstein family and rewarded with a warm bed, delicious food, and dresses of the finest silk.
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Engrossing
- By MK on 02-02-19
By: Kiersten White
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Death Is Hard Work
- A Novel
- By: Khaled Khalifa, Leri Price - translator
- Narrated by: Neil Shah
- Length: 5 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Abdel Latif, an old man from the Aleppo region, dies peacefully in a hospital bed in Damascus. His final wish, conveyed to his youngest son, Bolbol, is to be buried in the family plot in their ancestral village of Anabiya. Though Abdel was hardly an ideal father, and though Bolbol is estranged from his siblings, this conscientious son persuades his older brother Hussein and his sister Fatima to accompany him and the body to Anabiya, which is - after all - only a two-hour drive from Damascus. There's only one problem: Their country is a war zone.
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The bleakness of living in a war-torn country!
- By Susan on 03-20-19
By: Khaled Khalifa, and others
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The Monk
- By: Matthew Lewis
- Narrated by: Nicholas Boulton, Georgina Sutton
- Length: 14 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Father Ambrosio, the most pious and venerated monk in all of Madrid, is held as a paragon of virtue. But after 30 years of study and prayer, evil thoughts begin to permeate his mind. As two plots cleverly converge, torture, murder, incest, rape, poison, and magic prevail, sustained by an elegance in the writing of the 19-year-old Matthew Lewis.
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the Platonic Form of the Gothic novel!.org
- By Mao Dom on 11-15-18
By: Matthew Lewis
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Breasts and Eggs
- By: Mieko Kawakami
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller, Jeena Yi
- Length: 15 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Breasts & Eggs paints a portrait of contemporary womanhood in Japan and recounts the intimate journeys of three women as they confront oppressive mores and their own uncertainties on the road to finding peace and futures they can truly call their own. It tells the story of three women: the 30-year-old Natsu, her older sister, Makiko, and Makiko’s daughter, Midoriko. Makiko has traveled to Tokyo in search of an affordable breast enhancement procedure. She is accompanied by Midoriko, who has recently grown silent.
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Masterful Writing and Performance
- By Noelle on 03-01-21
By: Mieko Kawakami
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Piñata
- A Novel
- By: Leopoldo Gout
- Narrated by: Krysta Gonzales
- Length: 11 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
Carmen Sanchez is back in her home country of Mexico, overseeing the renovation of an ancient cathedral into a boutique hotel. Her teen daughters, Izel and Luna, are with her for the summer, and left to fill their afternoons unsupervised in a foreign city. The locals treat the Sanchez women like outsiders, while Carmen's contractors openly defy and sabotage her work. After a disastrous accident at the construction site nearly injures Luna, Carmen's had enough. They're leaving. Back home in New York, malevolent and unexplainable happenings seem to swarm the Sanchez family.
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What a disappointment!
- By AletaC on 05-24-23
By: Leopoldo Gout
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Blind Owl
- By: Sadeq Hedayat, Sassan Tabatabai - translator introduction
- Narrated by: Ramiz Monsef, Sassan Tabatabai
- Length: 3 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
Written by one of the greatest Iranian writers of the 20th century, Blind Owl tells a three-part story of a pen-case painter, an isolated narrator with a fragile relationship with time and reality. In part one, he relates his own story in the first person, in a string of hazy, dreamlike recollections fueled by opium and alcohol. He spends time painting the covers of pen cases only to paint the exact same scene: an old man wearing a cape and turban sitting under a cypress tree, separated by a stream from a beautiful woman in black who is bending down to offer him a waterlily.
-
-
Masterful Work and Great Narration
- By Anthony W. on 09-24-22
By: Sadeq Hedayat, and others
-
The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein
- By: Kiersten White
- Narrated by: Katharine Lee McEwan
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Elizabeth Lavenza hasn't had a proper meal in weeks. Her thin arms are covered with bruises from her "caregiver", and she is on the verge of being thrown into the streets...until she is brought to the home of Victor Frankenstein, an unsmiling, solitary boy who has everything - except a friend. Victor is her escape from misery. Elizabeth does everything she can to make herself indispensable - and it works. She is taken in by the Frankenstein family and rewarded with a warm bed, delicious food, and dresses of the finest silk.
-
-
Engrossing
- By MK on 02-02-19
By: Kiersten White
-
Death Is Hard Work
- A Novel
- By: Khaled Khalifa, Leri Price - translator
- Narrated by: Neil Shah
- Length: 5 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Abdel Latif, an old man from the Aleppo region, dies peacefully in a hospital bed in Damascus. His final wish, conveyed to his youngest son, Bolbol, is to be buried in the family plot in their ancestral village of Anabiya. Though Abdel was hardly an ideal father, and though Bolbol is estranged from his siblings, this conscientious son persuades his older brother Hussein and his sister Fatima to accompany him and the body to Anabiya, which is - after all - only a two-hour drive from Damascus. There's only one problem: Their country is a war zone.
-
-
The bleakness of living in a war-torn country!
- By Susan on 03-20-19
By: Khaled Khalifa, and others
-
The Monk
- By: Matthew Lewis
- Narrated by: Nicholas Boulton, Georgina Sutton
- Length: 14 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Father Ambrosio, the most pious and venerated monk in all of Madrid, is held as a paragon of virtue. But after 30 years of study and prayer, evil thoughts begin to permeate his mind. As two plots cleverly converge, torture, murder, incest, rape, poison, and magic prevail, sustained by an elegance in the writing of the 19-year-old Matthew Lewis.
-
-
the Platonic Form of the Gothic novel!.org
- By Mao Dom on 11-15-18
By: Matthew Lewis
-
Breasts and Eggs
- By: Mieko Kawakami
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller, Jeena Yi
- Length: 15 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Breasts & Eggs paints a portrait of contemporary womanhood in Japan and recounts the intimate journeys of three women as they confront oppressive mores and their own uncertainties on the road to finding peace and futures they can truly call their own. It tells the story of three women: the 30-year-old Natsu, her older sister, Makiko, and Makiko’s daughter, Midoriko. Makiko has traveled to Tokyo in search of an affordable breast enhancement procedure. She is accompanied by Midoriko, who has recently grown silent.
-
-
Masterful Writing and Performance
- By Noelle on 03-01-21
By: Mieko Kawakami
-
Piñata
- A Novel
- By: Leopoldo Gout
- Narrated by: Krysta Gonzales
- Length: 11 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Carmen Sanchez is back in her home country of Mexico, overseeing the renovation of an ancient cathedral into a boutique hotel. Her teen daughters, Izel and Luna, are with her for the summer, and left to fill their afternoons unsupervised in a foreign city. The locals treat the Sanchez women like outsiders, while Carmen's contractors openly defy and sabotage her work. After a disastrous accident at the construction site nearly injures Luna, Carmen's had enough. They're leaving. Back home in New York, malevolent and unexplainable happenings seem to swarm the Sanchez family.
-
-
What a disappointment!
- By AletaC on 05-24-23
By: Leopoldo Gout
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The Books of Blood, Volume 1
- By: Clive Barker
- Narrated by: Simon Vance, Dick Hill, Peter Berkrot, and others
- Length: 6 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Weaving tales of the everyday world transformed into an unrecognizable place, where reason no longer exists and logic ceases to explain the workings of the universe, Clive Barker provides the stuff of nightmares in packages too tantalizing to resist. This first volume contains the short stories : "The Book of Blood," "The Midnight Meat Train," "The Yattering and Jack," "Sex, Death, and Starshine," and "In the Hills, the Cities,"
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A BOOK OF BLOOD WRITTEN IN BLOOD
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 10-31-14
By: Clive Barker
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The Ballad of Black Tom
- By: Victor LaValle
- Narrated by: Kevin R. Free
- Length: 3 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Charles Thomas Tester hustles to put food on the table, keep the roof over his father's head, from Harlem to Flushing Meadows to Red Hook. He knows what magic a suit can cast, the invisibility a guitar case can provide, and the curse written on his black skin that attracts the eye of wealthy white folks and their trained cops. But when he delivers an occult page to a reclusive sorceress in the heart of Queens, Tom opens a door to a deeper realm of magic.
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“I’ll take Cthulhu over you devils any day”
- By Jefferson on 11-16-19
By: Victor LaValle
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Ghost Story
- By: Peter Straub
- Narrated by: Buck Schirner
- Length: 22 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
For four aging men in the terror-stricken town of Milburn, New York, an act inadvertently carried out in their youth has come back to haunt them. Now they are about to learn what happens to those who believe they can bury the past - and get away with murder. Peter Straub's classic best seller is a work of "superb horror" ( Washington Post Book World) that, like any good ghost story, stands the test of time - and conjures our darkest fears and nightmares.
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Great Story! The Best of Peter Straub
- By Jaimie on 07-17-12
By: Peter Straub
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Her Body and Other Parties
- Stories
- By: Carmen Maria Machado
- Narrated by: Amy Landon
- Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In Her Body and Other Parties, Carmen Maria Machado blithely demolishes the arbitrary borders between psychological realism and science fiction, comedy and horror, fantasy and fabulism. While her work has earned her comparisons to Karen Russell and Kelly Link, she has a voice that is all her own. In this electric and provocative debut, Machado bends genre to shape startling narratives that map the realities of women's lives and the violence visited upon their bodies.
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Beautiful
- By Anonymous User on 11-17-17
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Bunny
- A Novel
- By: Mona Awad
- Narrated by: Sophie Amoss
- Length: 11 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Samantha Heather Mackey couldn't be more of an outsider in her small, highly selective MFA program at New England's Warren University. A scholarship student who prefers the company of her dark imagination to that of most people, she is utterly repelled by the rest of her fiction writing cohort—a clique of unbearably twee rich girls who call each other "Bunny", and seem to move and speak as one. But everything changes when Samantha receives an invitation to the Bunnies' fabled "Smut Salon"....