Listen Mama

By: M.S.P. Williams

Narrated by: JD Jackson

Length: 7 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

Through a series of heart-breaking and poignant letters, come explore the 20-year journey of a child longing for the love of his mentally ill mother while facing seemingly insurmountable odds. Witness Manny's transformation in this coming of age story of a forgotten and disfigured child, born into spirit-crushing poverty in Houston, Texas, and thrust into adulthood all too soon. Crying out to the world for understanding and forgiveness, Manny battles the silent and treacherous enemy of mental illness in his mother's often erratic and sometimes terrifying behavior as he ultimately becomes her caretaker and guardian while also parenting his four younger siblings. Experience this inspirational soon-to-be modern classic of loss, faith, love, and redemption that is guaranteed to bring forth both tears and laughter, heartache and happiness, as it captures your imagination, ignites your soul, and soon has you resisting to pause, breathlessly waiting to discover what happens next.

©2021 M.S.P. Williams (P)2021 M.S.P. Williams

Critic reviews

2022 Audie Awards Finalist for Best Audiobook Memoir

2022 BookLife/Publishers Weekly Selfies US Book Award Finalist for Best Memoir

2022 Indie Book Awards Finalist for Best African American Literary Nonfiction

"As dramatic as it is heartbreaking." (Kirkus Reviews)

"Young adult (and many an adult) readers will find Listen Mama a thoroughly absorbing story." (Midwest Book Review)

"Even though the book has heartbreak, it has happiness and humor. YA readers will love this moving memoir." (ReaderViews, Reviewer's Choice Silver Award)

"Listen Mama authentically details the sliding scale of hopes and frustration." (IndieReader, starred review)

Wow. Full of Raw Emotion

Listen Mama is one of those titles that I wouldn’t normally pick up without knowing much about it. Sadly, that’s one of the problems that a memoir has. One way they can draw you in (outside of being a celebrity) is through the cover.

I have to say that at first glance, this cover grabbed my attention — but I wasn’t sure why. I can feel the artist trying to tell me something. And I think that’s what you’re me to it. It has this sentence that there’s so much more going on below the surface. I just felt like I needed to know Manny’s story just from the cover alone. Another way that a memoir will get some traction is to be nominated for an award… and an Audie is probably the creme de la creme of those. Knowing that it was up it in the memoir category really made picking this one up easy.

Diving into it, I was surprised at the amount of emotion and raw… feeling that Williams was able to get out of it. Not just from their journey but the tone of the book. That’s hard to do.

I am in no way want to take away from the story that Williams is telling here but dealing with mental health and family is one of the most difficult and frustrating things that anybody can deal with. I think he was able to talk about all of the difficulties that come with it and tell a unique story of his life in a way that made this a very interesting story to listen to.

Overall I enjoyed listening to this book on audio, the performance was excellent. And definitely took a book that was already very good and made it even better. I love when a narrator is able to do that. And it doesn’t happen all the time. It’s pretty easy to see where this book was nominated for an Audie.

I think JD Jackson’s style matched perfectly with Williams’ ability to tell a story. A true story of that. It’s nice when an author and a narrator are able to mesh like this and tell an even better version of the original story.

I’m really glad that I picked this one up and if you’re looking for a tail that’s almost unbelievable but you also know it’s true definitely check this one out.

Nightmares of past pains!

Listen Mama is a dramatically heartbreaking and movingly beautiful coming-of-age memoir written with care and love by M.S.P. Williams about how as a teenager he struggled to cope with an unfair life and, at the same time, to accept the mental illness issues of his mother.

We meet Manny in the early 90s when he begins his journey through the turbulent waters of his existence as a teenager and we are witnesses to his ordeals and tribulations until the bittersweet but satisfying conclusion of his story, in the late 2000s. This is definitely a painfully honest recollection of someone who endured more than anyone should…

For Listen Mama, theater professor, aspiring stage director, and Audie award-winning narrator JD Jackson delivers a superb and exquisite performance filled with emotion and intensity! He takes the time with the narration, brings each character to life with extra attention, and elevates the level of immersion for the listener throughout the eight hours of the audio production.

JD Jackson is one of the best artists in the audiobook industry and thanks to his significant skills this haunting but at the same time uplifting journey of human resilience is made even better.

Listen Mama is a finalist for the 2022 Audie Awards for Best Audiobook Memoir and after listening to it I can say that it definitely deserves a chance at this prestigious award. Both the author and the narrator have done their absolute best when it comes to this production and this is all that we as audiobook listeners can ask for.

I’m really glad that I got the opportunity to discover Manny’s story and I know that I will never forget it. For me, this was a narrative experience filled with tears, sad smiles, and heartfelt emotions.

I hope that you found this review interesting and will consider leaving a helpful vote below. Thank you! Take care, stay safe, and don't forget, always listen with your heart.