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How to Be Both
- A Novel
- Narrated by: John Banks
- Length: 8 hrs and 29 mins
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How to Be Both
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Publisher's Summary
How to Be Both is the dazzling new novel by Ali Smith. It is long-listed for the Man Booker Prize 2014. Passionate, compassionate, vitally inventive, and scrupulously playful, Ali Smith's novels are like nothing else. How to Be Both is a novel all about art’s versatility. Borrowing from painting’s fresco technique to make an original literary double-take, it's a fast-moving, genre-bending conversation between forms, times, truths, and fictions. There’s a Renaissance artist of the 1460s. There’s the child of a child of the 1960s. Two tales of love and injustice twist into a singular yarn where time gets timeless, structural gets playful, knowing gets mysterious, fictional gets real - and all life’s givens get given a second chance.
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What listeners say about How to Be Both
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- J. Kahn
- 06-28-15
Incompetent Foreign Pronunciation
Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?
I never finish listening to, much less recommend, books in which the narrator has not taken the time to learn to pronounce foreign words correctly.
Who would you have cast as narrator instead of John Banks?
Banks is a good reader/actor, but Like so many narrators, he didn't study the pronunciation of foreign words, in this case Italian. It really detracts from the listening experience to hear names of places and major characters mispronounced. What would it take for the producer to require that a narrator work with an accent and pronunciation coach for a day?
Was How to Be Both worth the listening time?
See comments above.
Any additional comments?
Please don't give prompts for reviews as if we were in grade school.
11 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Saratarvin
- 05-19-15
Impressive
Loved the interesting way stories are told. Impressive work of art and writing. I want to see the real paintings.
4 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Judith
- 01-13-19
Two stories, two responses
Ali Smith is a master of her craft and How to Be Both is masterly, full of nuanced and fascinating characters. The hard copy was published in two versions, half with one narrative at the start, half with the other. I don't know if we audio readers also had two different versions but I preferred reading about the mother/daughter relationship rather than about the life of a Renaissance muralist, even though the two stories interlace.. If you love word play, you'll find that the section on the girl abounds with it, and I ate it up.
2 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- James D. Coburn
- 01-11-16
unresolved ending
Choose your own adventure ending. This is Sad with really no resolution. A big disappointment.
1 person found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Kaitlin
- 02-17-22
Read this one instead
Hard to follow by listening. A lot of elements don’t transfer well to the audiobook format. Not a great story overall but could be better understood in written form.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- sarah lannan
- 11-14-21
Ali Wordsmith
No doubts why she’s a winner
Wow
So life like
Like life,
the unreality of it.
👍
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A landslide has closed the Korowai Pass on New Zealand’s South Island, cutting off the town of Thorndike and leaving a sizable farm abandoned. The disaster presents an opportunity for Birnam Wood, an undeclared, unregulated, sometimes-criminal, sometimes-philanthropic guerrilla gardening collective that plants crops wherever no one will notice. For years, the group has struggled to break even. To occupy the farm at Thorndike would mean a shot at solvency at last. But the enigmatic American billionaire Robert Lemoine also has an interest in the place.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Outstanding thriller w/ exceptional character development
- By Bradley T. Collins on 04-21-23
By: Eleanor Catton
-
Artful
- By: Ali Smith
- Narrated by: Ali Smith
- Length: 4 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 31
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 28
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 29
In 2012, Ali Smith delivered the Weidenfeld lectures on European comparative literature at St. Anne’s College, Oxford. Those lectures, presented here, took the shape of discursive stories that refused to be tied down to either fiction or the essay form. Thus, Artful is narrated by a character who is haunted - literally - by a former lover, the writer of a series of lectures about art and literature. A hypnotic dialogue unfolds between storytelling and a meditation on art that encompasses love, grief, memory, and revitalization.
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3 out of 5 stars
-
#Reality/Loss/Mythology
- By Ellen K. on 11-14-18
By: Ali Smith
-
The Penelopiad
- By: Margaret Atwood
- Narrated by: Laural Merlington
- Length: 3 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2
For Penelope, wife of Odysseus, maintaining a kingdom while her husband was off fighting the Trojan War was not a simple business. Already aggrieved that he had been lured away due to the shocking behaviour of her beautiful cousin Helen, Penelope must bring up her wayward son, face down scandalous rumours, and keep over 100 lustful, greedy, and bloodthirsty suitors at bay.... And then, when Odysseus finally returns and slaughters the murderous suitors, he hangs Penelope's 12 maids.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
A fantastic read with excellent narration!
- By Helen Williams on 01-23-23
By: Margaret Atwood
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There but for the
- By: Ali Smith
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall3 out of 5 stars 54
-
Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 47
-
Story3 out of 5 stars 46
At a dinner party in the posh London suburb of Greenwich, Miles Garth suddenly leaves the table midway through the meal, locks himself in an upstairs room, and refuses to leave. Neighbors and friends slowly gathers around the house, and the story of Miles is one told from the points of view of four of them: a woman in her 40s called Anna, a man in his 60s called Mark, a woman in her 80s called May, and a 10-year-old child called Brooke. The thing is... none of these people knows Miles anything more than glancingly.
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1 out of 5 stars
-
Insufferable as a bad house guest
- By Robert on 08-24-12
By: Ali Smith
-
Bunny
- A Novel
- By: Mona Awad
- Narrated by: Sophie Amoss
- Length: 11 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,304
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,130
-
Story3.5 out of 5 stars 1,126
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"....
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4 out of 5 stars
-
Chuck Palahniuk in Pearls and Ballet Flats
- By Arlis on 06-29-19
By: Mona Awad
-
Adelaide
- A Novel
- By: Genevieve Wheeler
- Narrated by: Caitlin Kelly
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 26
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 22
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 22
For twenty-six-year-old Adelaide Williams, an American living in dreamy London, meeting Rory Hughes was like a lightning bolt out of the blue: this charming Englishman was The One she wasn’t even looking for. Does he respond to texts? Honor his commitments? Make advance plans? Sometimes, rarely, and no, not at all. But when he shines his light on her, the world makes sense, and Adelaide is convinced that, in his heart, he’s fallen just as deeply as she has. Then, when Rory is rocked by an unexpected tragedy, Adelaide does everything in her power to hold him together.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Fabulously written, touching story
- By Brian Wheeler on 05-01-23
-
Birnam Wood
- A Novel
- By: Eleanor Catton
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 12 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 150
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 124
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 123
A landslide has closed the Korowai Pass on New Zealand’s South Island, cutting off the town of Thorndike and leaving a sizable farm abandoned. The disaster presents an opportunity for Birnam Wood, an undeclared, unregulated, sometimes-criminal, sometimes-philanthropic guerrilla gardening collective that plants crops wherever no one will notice. For years, the group has struggled to break even. To occupy the farm at Thorndike would mean a shot at solvency at last. But the enigmatic American billionaire Robert Lemoine also has an interest in the place.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Outstanding thriller w/ exceptional character development
- By Bradley T. Collins on 04-21-23
By: Eleanor Catton
Related to this topic
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Companion Piece
- A Novel
- By: Ali Smith
- Narrated by: Natalie Simpson
- Length: 4 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 55
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 50
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 50
With an eye for rendering the timely in a timeless way and enchanting audiences with lyrical prose and grace, Ali Smith's ambitious Seasonal Quartet—a series of four stand-alone novels, separate but interconnected—artfully guided us through #MeToo, Brexit, the refugee crisis, a global pandemic, and more. Now, Smith's highly anticipated Companion Piece looks to the future and builds upon this "time-sensitive project". This new novel stands apart from the Quartet, which remains discrete unto itself.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Took a few returns to finish
- By rachel cartwright on 01-28-23
By: Ali Smith
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Mr. Fox
- A Novel
- By: Helen Oyeyemi
- Narrated by: Carol Boyd
- Length: 8 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 100
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 86
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Story3.5 out of 5 stars 89
Fairy-tale romances end with a wedding and the fairy tales don't get complicated. In this book, celebrated writer Mr. Fox can't stop himself from killing off the heroines of his novels, and neither can his wife, Daphne. It's not until Mary, his muse, comes to life and transforms him from author into subject that his story begins to unfold differently....
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2 out of 5 stars
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A Great Novel, just Poor for Audio
- By James A. Dittes on 08-13-16
By: Helen Oyeyemi
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Swing Time
- By: Zadie Smith
- Narrated by: Pippa Bennett-Warner
- Length: 13 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,889
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,717
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Story4 out of 5 stars 1,713
Two brown girls dream of being dancers - but only one, Tracey, has talent. The other has ideas: About rhythm and time, about Black bodies and Black music, what constitutes a tribe, or makes a person truly free. It's a close but complicated childhood friendship that ends abruptly in their early 20s, never to be revisited, but never quite forgotten, either. Tracey makes it to the chorus line but struggles with adult life, while her friend leaves the old neighborhood behind, traveling the world as an assistant to a famous singer, Aimee, observing close up how the one percent live.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Enthralling and instructive. A novel of the highest caliber
- By Richmond Surrey on 07-27-17
By: Zadie Smith
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History of the Rain
- By: Niall Williams
- Narrated by: Jennifer McGrath
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 176
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 150
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 147
We are our stories. We tell them to stay alive or keep alive those who only live now in the telling. In Faha, County Clare, everyone is a long story...Bedbound in her attic room beneath the falling rain, Plain Ruth Swain is in search of her father. To find him Ruthie must first trace the jutting jaw lines, narrow faces, and gleamy skin of the Swains from the restless Reverend Swain, her great-grandfather, to her father.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The language is astoundingly beautiful.
- By Kindle Customer on 05-30-17
By: Niall Williams
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The Crocodile Bird
- By: Ruth Rendell
- Narrated by: Jill Tanner
- Length: 12 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 111
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 93
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 94
Liza is raised in a remote rural hamlet. One evening, Liza’s mother orders her to leave home forever. Paralyzed at having to fend for herself, Liza finds refuge with Sean, a drifter with whom she begins to share the bizarre story of her life.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Spooky, fantastic, amazing.
- By Newenglander18 on 12-05-13
By: Ruth Rendell
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Stories
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- By: Neil Gaiman - author/editor, Al Sarrantonio - editor, Joe Hill, and others
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- Length: 18 hrs and 11 mins
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 851
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 665
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Story4 out of 5 stars 665
The best stories pull readers in and keep them turning the pages, eager to discover more—to find the answer to the question: "And then what happened?" The true hallmark of great literature is great imagination, and as Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio prove with this outstanding collection, when it comes to great fiction, all genres are equal.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Something for Everyone
- By Nicole on 05-24-17
By: Neil Gaiman - author/editor, and others
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Companion Piece
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- By: Ali Smith
- Narrated by: Natalie Simpson
- Length: 4 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 55
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 50
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 50
With an eye for rendering the timely in a timeless way and enchanting audiences with lyrical prose and grace, Ali Smith's ambitious Seasonal Quartet—a series of four stand-alone novels, separate but interconnected—artfully guided us through #MeToo, Brexit, the refugee crisis, a global pandemic, and more. Now, Smith's highly anticipated Companion Piece looks to the future and builds upon this "time-sensitive project". This new novel stands apart from the Quartet, which remains discrete unto itself.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Took a few returns to finish
- By rachel cartwright on 01-28-23
By: Ali Smith
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Mr. Fox
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- By: Helen Oyeyemi
- Narrated by: Carol Boyd
- Length: 8 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 100
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 86
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Story3.5 out of 5 stars 89
Fairy-tale romances end with a wedding and the fairy tales don't get complicated. In this book, celebrated writer Mr. Fox can't stop himself from killing off the heroines of his novels, and neither can his wife, Daphne. It's not until Mary, his muse, comes to life and transforms him from author into subject that his story begins to unfold differently....
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2 out of 5 stars
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A Great Novel, just Poor for Audio
- By James A. Dittes on 08-13-16
By: Helen Oyeyemi
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Swing Time
- By: Zadie Smith
- Narrated by: Pippa Bennett-Warner
- Length: 13 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,889
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,717
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Story4 out of 5 stars 1,713
Two brown girls dream of being dancers - but only one, Tracey, has talent. The other has ideas: About rhythm and time, about Black bodies and Black music, what constitutes a tribe, or makes a person truly free. It's a close but complicated childhood friendship that ends abruptly in their early 20s, never to be revisited, but never quite forgotten, either. Tracey makes it to the chorus line but struggles with adult life, while her friend leaves the old neighborhood behind, traveling the world as an assistant to a famous singer, Aimee, observing close up how the one percent live.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Enthralling and instructive. A novel of the highest caliber
- By Richmond Surrey on 07-27-17
By: Zadie Smith
-
History of the Rain
- By: Niall Williams
- Narrated by: Jennifer McGrath
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 176
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 150
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 147
We are our stories. We tell them to stay alive or keep alive those who only live now in the telling. In Faha, County Clare, everyone is a long story...Bedbound in her attic room beneath the falling rain, Plain Ruth Swain is in search of her father. To find him Ruthie must first trace the jutting jaw lines, narrow faces, and gleamy skin of the Swains from the restless Reverend Swain, her great-grandfather, to her father.