From the Streets of Chambers Lane

Chambers Lane Series, Book 1

By: Daniel Maldonado

Narrated by: Jack Nolan

Length: 4 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

From the Streets of Chambers Lane follows the intriguing story of the Mendoza family's unexpected loss of their youngest son and sibling Michael. Dealing with spiritual struggles and disillusionment as well as familial rivalries and quirky social interactions, the novella introduces the listener to each diverse family member's perspective of the tragic event while personalizing their cultural past and fears of the unknown future. These perspectives include the drug-using black sheep Jose Luis; the religious, fanatical matriarch Lucia; and the detached and nascent Daniel, as well as, a host of extended family members and friends.

©2017 Daniel Maldonado (P)2018 Daniel Maldonado

Story of a dysfunctional family

This is a sad story about a dysfunctional family. It started out slow, and with all the marriages, children, half siblings, aunts and uncles, it can be quite confusing - unless you pause the reading and make a chart. I eventually gave up on trying to keep track of who is who and tried to focus on the story.

Punch Packing Powerful!

Daniel Maldonado writes stories so real that I swear they could be ripped from life! His characters are so deep, so human, and so realistically flawed that it’s easy to have strong feelings for them. I’ve rooted for them, cheered them on, and rejoiced with them. I’ve been known to get mad at them, and in this one when they suffered a heartbreaking loss, I grieved for them and with them. From the Streets of Chambers Lane is a painful story about a horrific time in the life of the Mendoza family. Magnificently written, there is hurt, pain, and anger and resentment, all honesty expressed. The narration is done beautifully and in a non-sensationalized manner that lets the story just play out perfectly on an even pace. I have to say, this one affected me deeply. It’s many hours later and I’m can’t stop thinking about it. I was held transfixed, pulled deep into the Mendoza family dynamic and part of me is still there. Oddly enough, I saw parts of my own family within some of the characters and I’ll bet I won’t be alone in that. Mr. Maldonado, five stunning stars. This one will not be soon forgotten!

Family

With the death of Daniel's younger brother, we learn more about Daniel and his family.
The narrator has a good voice, but punctuated at the wrong spots

Something was missing

The beginning was great. I liked the sibling rivalry but then it turned into what felt like 50 family members talking about their feelings toward the loss of a family member. The narrator did a great job but the story was missing some sort of action.

Quite a family

The author leads us through many homes in this family as they deal with the death of a family member. The author is very detailed in his descriptions and if you like details, this book is for you. The details were more than I needed but the relationships between family members kept me going. The ending was well done.

The narrator did a good job and I was grateful that he didn’t try to put a different voice to each of the many characters. The nice thing about an audio book is that you can speed up or slow down as you wish, as you might in reading a book.

After the book ends be sure to listen to the bio about the author and especially about the narrator. That’s very funny.

I struggled to listen.

I felt the reader was not interested in the story and was bored. The story was a little boring also

Too short

Interesting story, though I wish it would have gone further after the death of the younger brother, felt too short for me. Narror did a great job and kept a nice pace.

Family dynamics

From the Streets of Chambers Lane is a book that talks about the dynamics of the Mendoza family after the death of the youngest son Michael. Every member of the family has their own memories of Michael some good and some bad. The description of the family is sad to say is something that comes straight out of the headlines about what really goes on behind closed doors. The book is well written and truthful.

interesting

this book follows a family on a loss of a loved one and the struggles they have great book

It’s okay

Not my kind of story I guess I had a hard time and eventually just gave up on it