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Guests on Earth
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Fair and Tender Ladies
- By: Lee Smith
- Narrated by: Kate Forbes
- Length: 13 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Author of many novels and short stories, best-selling writer Lee Smith has received numerous awards for her works, including two O. Henry Awards. Fair and Tender Ladies is an epistolary novel that traces the life of Ivy Rowe, born in the isolated Virginia mountain community of Sugar Fork.
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roots
- By Vivian on 12-10-06
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Dimestore
- A Writer's Life
- By: Lee Smith
- Narrated by: Linda Stephens
- Length: 6 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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For the inimitable Lee Smith, place is paramount. For 45 years, her fiction has lived and breathed with the rhythms and people of the Appalachian South. But never before has she written her own story. Set deep in the rugged Appalachian Mountains, the Grundy of Lee Smith's youth was a place of coal miners, mountain music, and her daddy's dimestore. It was in that dimestore - listening to customers and inventing life histories for the store's dolls - that she began to learn the craft of storytelling.
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Pronunciation matters!
- By Tricia on 03-26-16
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Varina
- A Novel
- By: Charles Frazier
- Narrated by: Molly Parker
- Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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With her marriage prospects limited, teenage Varina Howell agrees to wed the much-older widower Jefferson Davis, with whom she expects a life of security as a landowner. He instead pursues a career in politics and is eventually appointed president of the Confederacy, placing Varina at the white-hot center of one of the darkest moments in American history - culpable regardless of her intentions. The Confederacy falling, her marriage in tatters, and the country divided, Varina and her children escape Richmond and travel south on their own, now fugitives.
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The reader and writer had me at hello
- By Norma Mitchell on 06-09-18
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On Agate Hill
- A Novel
- By: Lee Smith
- Narrated by: Kate Forbes, Danielle Ferland, Katie Firth
- Length: 13 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Orphaned when her father dies in the Civil War, Molly Petree is taken in by Uncle Junius on his Agate Hill plantation. But the terminally ill Junius is manipulated into marriage by his housekeeper, Selena, who inherits Agate Hill upon his death. Neglected and abused under Selena's watch, Molly escapes to a better life with help from her father's closest battlefield companion. But as she grows into a refined, educated woman, Molly remains haunted by tragedy.
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engrossing
- By Mary on 03-20-07
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Black Mountain Breakdown
- By: Lee Smith
- Narrated by: Linda Stephens
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
A consummate storyteller in the Southern tradition, Lee Smith tugs at her listeners' heartstrings with this haunting narrative that reads like a country ballad. Touching, funny, and sad, its down-to-earth characters are somehow familiar and endearing as they do their best to meet the demands of daily life.
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Not Lee Smith's best book - but good narration
- By Leslie Grey McCawley on 06-01-05
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Oral History
- By: Lee Smith
- Narrated by: Full Cast
- Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Oral History, the lyrical saga of a Virginia mountain family, follows four generations of Cantrells over more than a century. Researching an assignment for an Oral History course, Jennifer drives to the town where her mother and father grew up. Raised by a stepmother, the young college student wonders why her father never talks of her real mother and is intrigued by the mystery of her heritage. One by one, the Cantrells tell of lives filled with vitality, colored by the land and family history.
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What a treat!
- By Linda on 02-17-12
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Fair and Tender Ladies
- By: Lee Smith
- Narrated by: Kate Forbes
- Length: 13 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Author of many novels and short stories, best-selling writer Lee Smith has received numerous awards for her works, including two O. Henry Awards. Fair and Tender Ladies is an epistolary novel that traces the life of Ivy Rowe, born in the isolated Virginia mountain community of Sugar Fork.
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roots
- By Vivian on 12-10-06
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Dimestore
- A Writer's Life
- By: Lee Smith
- Narrated by: Linda Stephens
- Length: 6 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For the inimitable Lee Smith, place is paramount. For 45 years, her fiction has lived and breathed with the rhythms and people of the Appalachian South. But never before has she written her own story. Set deep in the rugged Appalachian Mountains, the Grundy of Lee Smith's youth was a place of coal miners, mountain music, and her daddy's dimestore. It was in that dimestore - listening to customers and inventing life histories for the store's dolls - that she began to learn the craft of storytelling.
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Pronunciation matters!
- By Tricia on 03-26-16
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Varina
- A Novel
- By: Charles Frazier
- Narrated by: Molly Parker
- Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With her marriage prospects limited, teenage Varina Howell agrees to wed the much-older widower Jefferson Davis, with whom she expects a life of security as a landowner. He instead pursues a career in politics and is eventually appointed president of the Confederacy, placing Varina at the white-hot center of one of the darkest moments in American history - culpable regardless of her intentions. The Confederacy falling, her marriage in tatters, and the country divided, Varina and her children escape Richmond and travel south on their own, now fugitives.
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The reader and writer had me at hello
- By Norma Mitchell on 06-09-18
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On Agate Hill
- A Novel
- By: Lee Smith
- Narrated by: Kate Forbes, Danielle Ferland, Katie Firth
- Length: 13 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Orphaned when her father dies in the Civil War, Molly Petree is taken in by Uncle Junius on his Agate Hill plantation. But the terminally ill Junius is manipulated into marriage by his housekeeper, Selena, who inherits Agate Hill upon his death. Neglected and abused under Selena's watch, Molly escapes to a better life with help from her father's closest battlefield companion. But as she grows into a refined, educated woman, Molly remains haunted by tragedy.
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engrossing
- By Mary on 03-20-07
-
Black Mountain Breakdown
- By: Lee Smith
- Narrated by: Linda Stephens
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A consummate storyteller in the Southern tradition, Lee Smith tugs at her listeners' heartstrings with this haunting narrative that reads like a country ballad. Touching, funny, and sad, its down-to-earth characters are somehow familiar and endearing as they do their best to meet the demands of daily life.
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Not Lee Smith's best book - but good narration
- By Leslie Grey McCawley on 06-01-05
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Oral History
- By: Lee Smith
- Narrated by: Full Cast
- Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Oral History, the lyrical saga of a Virginia mountain family, follows four generations of Cantrells over more than a century. Researching an assignment for an Oral History course, Jennifer drives to the town where her mother and father grew up. Raised by a stepmother, the young college student wonders why her father never talks of her real mother and is intrigued by the mystery of her heritage. One by one, the Cantrells tell of lives filled with vitality, colored by the land and family history.
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What a treat!
- By Linda on 02-17-12
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The Dutch House
- A Novel
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Tom Hanks
- Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
At the end of the Second World War, Cyril Conroy combines luck and a single canny investment to begin an enormous real estate empire, propelling his family from poverty to enormous wealth. His first order of business is to buy the Dutch House, a lavish estate in the suburbs outside of Philadelphia. Meant as a surprise for his wife, the house sets in motion the undoing of everyone he loves. The story is told by Cyril’s son Danny, as he and his older sister, the brilliantly acerbic and self-assured Maeve, are exiled from the house where they grew up by their stepmother.
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Magnificent
- By Amazon Customer on 09-26-19
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Nothing to See Here
- By: Kevin Wilson
- Narrated by: Marin Ireland
- Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
Lillian and Madison were unlikely roommates and yet inseparable friends at their elite boarding school. But then, Lillian had to leave the school unexpectedly in the wake of a scandal, and they’ve barely spoken since. Until now, when Lillian gets a letter from Madison pleading for her help. Madison’s twin stepkids are moving in with her family, and she wants Lillian to be their caretaker. However, there’s a catch: The twins spontaneously combust when they get agitated, flames igniting from their skin in a startling but beautiful way.
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Everything to see here!
- By KayMac on 10-30-19
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The Dearly Beloved
- A Novel
- By: Cara Wall
- Narrated by: Kathy Keane
- Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
Charles and Lily, James and Nan. They meet in Greenwich Village in 1963 when Charles and James are jointly hired to steward the historic Third Presbyterian Church through turbulent times. Their personal differences however, threaten to tear them apart. Charles is destined to succeed his father as an esteemed professor of history at Harvard, until an unorthodox lecture about faith leads him to ministry.
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lovely story, Illuminating and informative
- By JOHN GOSSETT on 09-03-19
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The Giver of Stars
- A Novel
- By: Jojo Moyes
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 13 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
Alice Wright marries handsome American Bennett Van Cleve hoping to escape her stifling life in England. But small-town Kentucky quickly proves equally claustrophobic, especially living alongside her overbearing father-in-law. So, when a call goes out for a team of women to deliver books as part of Eleanor Roosevelt’s new traveling library, Alice signs on enthusiastically. The leader, and soon Alice's greatest ally, is Margery, a smart-talking, self-sufficient woman who's never asked a man's permission for anything.
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Beautiful book / excellent narrator
- By Barbara N. on 10-25-19
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The Devil's Dream
- By: Lee Smith
- Narrated by: Linda Stephens, Tom Stechschulte, Sally Darling
- Length: 13 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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A New York Times Notable Book of the Year, The Devil's Dream is an animated, lyrical novel that is meant to be savored as spoken word. Consummate storyteller Lee Smith's creation will delight anyone who enjoys the sound of language and a good story.
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Lyrical
- By Linda on 03-20-05
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Where the Crawdads Sing
- By: Delia Owens
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 12 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
For years, rumors of the "Marsh Girl" have haunted Barkley Cove. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. When two young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new life - until the unthinkable happens.
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I don't understand all the love for this book
- By O. Lindy on 01-12-19
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The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion
- A Novel
- By: Fannie Flagg
- Narrated by: Fannie Flagg
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Mrs. Sookie Poole of Point Clear, Alabama, has just married off the last of her daughters and is looking forward to relaxing and perhaps traveling with her husband, Earle. The only thing left to contend with is her mother, the formidable Lenore Simmons Krackenberry. Lenore may be a lot of fun for other people, but is, for the most part, an overbearing presence for her daughter. Then one day, quite by accident, Sookie discovers a secret about her mother's past that knocks her for a loop and suddenly calls into question everything she ever thought she knew about herself, her family, and her future.
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What a fun story!
- By Lea Zimmerman on 12-06-13
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Red at the Bone
- A Novel
- By: Jacqueline Woodson
- Narrated by: Jacqueline Woodson, full cast
- Length: 3 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Two families from different social classes are joined together by an unexpected pregnancy and the child that it produces. Moving forward and backward in time, with the power of poetry and the emotional richness of a narrative 10 times its length, Jacqueline Woodson's extraordinary new novel uncovers the role that history and community have played in the experiences, decisions, and relationships of these families, and in the life of this child.
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Magic
- By Nanette L. Stearns on 09-22-19
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Educated
- A Memoir
- By: Tara Westover
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Tara Westover was 17 the first time she set foot in a classroom. Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, she prepared for the end of the world by stockpiling home-canned peaches. In the summer she stewed herbs for her mother, a midwife and healer, and in the winter she salvaged in her father's junkyard. Her father forbade hospitals, so Tara never saw a doctor or nurse. Gashes and concussions, even burns from explosions, were all treated at home with herbalism. Then, lacking any formal education, Tara began to educate herself. Her quest for knowledge transformed her.
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Disturbing
- By Brian Angevine on 05-30-18
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The Last Castle
- The Epic Story of Love, Loss, and American Royalty in the Nation’s Largest Home
- By: Denise Kiernan
- Narrated by: Denise Kiernan
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Orphaned at a young age, Edith Stuyvesant Dresser claimed lineage from one of New York's best known families. She grew up in Newport and Paris, and her engagement and marriage to George Vanderbilt was one of the most watched events of Gilded Age society. But none of this prepared her to be mistress of Biltmore House. Before their marriage, the wealthy and bookish Vanderbilt had dedicated his life to creating a spectacular European-style estate on 125,000 acres of North Carolina wilderness.
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Very factual
- By Jennifer on 11-28-17
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The Eye of the Elephant
- An Epic Adventure in the African Wilderness
- By: Mark Owens, Delia Owens
- Narrated by: Donna Postel, Sean Runnette
- Length: 11 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Intelligent, majestic, and loyal, with lifespans matching our own, elephants are among the greatest of the wonders gracing the African wilds. Yet in the 1970s and 1980s, about 1,000 of these captivating creatures were slaughtered in Zambia each year, killed for their valuable ivory tusks. When biologists Mark and Delia Owens, residing in Africa to study lions, found themselves in the middle of a poaching fray, they took the only side they morally could: that of the elephants.
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elephant preservation
- By Jean Veltema on 04-11-19
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The Last Girls
- By: Lee Smith
- Narrated by: Lee Smith
- Length: 12 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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On a bright June day in 1965, a dozen girls - classmates at a Blue Ridge women's college - launch a ramshackle raft on a trip down the Mississippi. Their journey, inspired by Huckleberry Finn, is duly reported in the Paducah, Kentucky newspaper. 35 years later, four of the "girls" reunite to cruise the river again. This time, it's on the luxury steamboat The Belle of Natchez. This time, when they reach New Orleans, they'll give the River the ashes of a fifth rafter: Margaret ("Baby") Ballou.
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Ear candy book
- By Carmela on 10-01-03
Publisher's Summary
When she is thirteen years old, Evalina Toussaint, the orphaned child of an exotic dancer in New Orleans, is admitted as a mental patient to Highland Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina. The year is 1936, and the hospital, under the direction of celebrity psychiatrist Robert S. Carroll, is famous for its up-to-the-minute shock therapies and for Dr. Carroll's revolutionary theory of the benefits of non-introspection.
Evalina finds herself in the midst of a kaleidoscope of characters, including the estranged wife of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Her role as accompanist for all theatricals and programs at the hospital gives her privileged insight into the events that transpire over the twelve years leading up to a tragic 1948 fire - its mystery unsolved to this day - that killed nine women in a locked ward on the top floor, including Zelda.
In Evalina Toussaint, Lee Smith has a created a narrator whose story is one of unstoppable and defiant introspection. At the risk of Dr. Carroll's ire and at all costs, Evalina listens, observes, delves, pursues, accompanies, remembers - and tells us everything. This is her wildly prescient story about a time and a place where creativity and passion, theory and medicine, fact and fiction are luminously intertwined.
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Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- William
- Winston Salem, NC, United States
- 04-07-15
Typical Lee Smith Excellence
I enjoyed this book very much, in no small part because my great grandmother was at Highland during the period of the novel. Lee Smith gives us her usual rich characters with interesting back-stories. The reader is quite good, but some of her mispronunciations makes one wonder if the editor was out for bagels.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful
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- T. Peppel
- Tifton, GA United States
- 05-14-15
Lee Smith does it again.
A Lee Smith novel is always a safe bet in the sense that she does not disappoint. I never know what type of tale she will tell, but they are always intriguing and tend to stay with you long after the narrator's voice has faded. Guests on Earth shows us us the up close and personal side of mental illness from the perspective of a young woman who deals with it from within and around her. Mostly set in the beautiful and somewhat isolated Asheville, NC in the first half of the 20th century, we watch the unfolding events in her life and the people around her, and how they help and heal each other as best they are able. A great listen that I would recommend to anyone.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
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- wobbly
- WNC USA
- 08-12-14
A book I will long remember
Being a live-long western North Carolina resident, the only thing I ever knew about Highland Hospital was that Zelda had died there in a fire - and there is so much more to know. Lee Smith has done the research for me, along with her first hand knowledge of Highland, having had family members who were residents at various times. I don't know when I have enjoyed a book so much. The narrator was terrific in spite of occasional mispronunciations, which could be jarring to a native. But she more than made up for that with her just-right narration of this book.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
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- Beverly J. Mashburn
- 07-18-14
Great old southern songs butchered
Where does Guests on Earth rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
Somewhere in the middle, good story, wonderful characters
What was one of the most memorable moments of Guests on Earth?
The description of shows performed by patients
Would you listen to another book narrated by Emily Woo Zeller?
Depends on if the story has any old songs
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
When she described having and losing her baby
Any additional comments?
Whenever lyrics were used for old classic southern songs, there was a hiccup in the narration. With just a little research, the narrator could have used the actual tune or at least the proper rhythm of the song. Very disappointing! The songs could have been a big part of the story.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
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- Dee Dee
- 04-11-16
Entertaining
The story line & characters held my interest. I thought the narrator did a good job with her voice & characters. This was a book that my bookclub chose. It was enjoyable & thought provoking concerning mental health.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
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- Jjourneying
- MN
- 08-09-18
The story lags,
maybe I will finish it eventually, but I just don't find myself waiting to be able to listen, or thinking about the story. I just moved on...
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- MM-WM
- 09-18-17
Classic Lee Smith
Smith never disappoints. Excellent narration, but I missed the authentic southern accent of the author.
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- memud
- 09-06-17
Lee Smith is amazing
What made the experience of listening to Guests on Earth the most enjoyable?
I have yet to find a novel by Lee Smith that did not please me. This one in particular did not have that really familiar feel that I associate with growing up southern but it was a wonderful story. Beautifully written, interesting emotionally detached style letting your imagination fill in the lines. It seemed very real.
What did you like best about this story?
Ashville is a beautiful area.
Have you listened to any of Emily Woo Zeller’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
I had not heard her narration before but I enjoyed it.
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- Mary Smiroldo
- Corrales, NM
- 10-22-15
Rather Disjointed
Certainly not my favourite Lee Smith novel. Stories within stories kept me listening, however, there seemed to be no moral to any of them. The narration was passable, but being from the Carolinas myself, I found myself cringing throughout. I would not recommend this book to friends or family. I fear they would be as disappointed as I was.
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- dfbennett59
- 09-18-15
Great story!
Any additional comments?
The story is wonderfully written. However, the narrator has a terrible and distracting Scottish accent for one of the characters. It comes across as this jarring cross between Irish and Russian. Really distracting. Luckily this character does not talk much.