Gingerbread

By: Rachel Cohn

Narrated by: Carine Montbertrand

After being expelled from boarding school, teenaged Cyd Charisse is coping with her life circumstances as best she can. She even has a new boyfriend named Shrimp. But her mother is disturbed by Cyd's rebellious behavior and sends her away from San Francisco to live with her biological father in New York City.©2002 Rachel Cohn (P)2003 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

"...her magnetic narrative will keep readers hooked." (Publishers Weekly)

Relatable

I love this book. I read it in one day back in High school. I'm not feeling the narration, she is good but not the voice of a young adult.

Great story, meh narration

Gingerbread is one of my favorite books. I probably wouldn't be the person I am if it wasn't for this story. I loved how honest it was about sex and being a teenage girl. I wish the narration was better, maybe a bit younger sounding but still I don't feel like I wasted my money getting this.

Weird story

This was such an odd book. Cyd is a unique sixteen year old that has a difficult relationship with her mom and acts out for attention. She carries around a doll her birth father gave her when she was little and calls it Gingerbread. She acts like the doll can talk and move and is real and her family pretty much goes along with it. I felt like this was just one of the things about Cyd that screamed "needs a therapist." We learn that she's had an abortion and likes to cut herself, as well as defy her parents for no real reason. It did seem to do her some good to go to New York and meet her half siblings and her bond with her mom strengthened.
The narrator fit the character well, but she was whiny and difficult to listen to. There were good parts in the story, but I will not be reading the other books in the series.

Reader is AWFUL

I definitely wasted a credit on this one and wish I could get it back. The narrator’s voice is atrocious and I didn’t make it 3 minutes in.

wrong narrator for slang

Story was engaging, but the narrator was NOT a match! She sounded very awkward with the style of language: a middle aged woman reading the part of a teenager, and the slang used in the book sounded very uncomfortable in this reader's mouth! It became embarrassing to listen--the subject matter was edgy, but the right narrator could have made it more comfortable.