Listen, Slowly

By: Thanhhà Lai

Narrated by: LuLu Lam

This remarkable and bestselling novel from Thanhha Lai, author of the National Book Award–winning and Newbery Honor Book Inside Out & Back Again, follows a young girl as she learns the true meaning of family.

Listen, Slowly is a New York Times Book Review Notable Book and a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year!

A California girl born and raised, Mai can’t wait to spend her vacation at the beach. Instead, she has to travel to Vietnam with her grandmother, who is going back to find out what really happened to her husband during the Vietnam War.

Mai’s parents think this trip will be a great opportunity for their out-of-touch daughter to learn more about her culture. But to Mai, those are their roots, not her own. Vietnam is hot, smelly, and the last place she wants to be. Besides barely speaking the language, she doesn’t know the geography, the local customs, or even her distant relatives. To survive her trip, Mai must find a balance between her two completely different worlds.

Perfect for fans of Rita Williams-Garcia and Linda Sue Park, Listen, Slowly is an irresistibly charming and emotionally poignant tale about a girl who discovers that home and culture, family and friends, can all mean different things.

Pretty good

I’m reading this book in school, it’s a really great book but it’s lengthy and hard to follow with, which is why I prefer the audiobook. It captures the mind of a 12 year old girl pretty accurately, bravo to Thanhhà Lai!

Meh

The person talking was great I loved to little voices and things that she did but the book it self was no good.It was slow moving and there were points that were just unnecessary!

Magnificent reader

I loved this book! I purchase the paper book for my daughters I wonder how much they will enjoy it, I worry the names will be tough to get into but this reader made it easy, her accents were wonder and each character was distinct. I will look for this reader again.

I'm glad my husband bought me this book.

What made the experience of listening to Listen, Slowly the most enjoyable?

Both the story and the narrator provided a pleasant performance and experience. It certainly brought my own family memories up and somewhat parallels my upbringing. I felt like I was laughing at myself at that age. We were all so melodramatic at that age about such silly things.

What other book might you compare Listen, Slowly to and why?

I would compare this to books where individuals go back to their countries to learn about who they are and where they come from. None, however, were fictional.

What about Lulu Lam’s performance did you like?

She has a great voice, her pronunciation going between Vietnamese and American raised Vietnamese was really delightful. Her portrayal of the American raised tween was fun and made me smile a lot.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Not sure.

Any additional comments?

None, I am interested in the authors other published works.

May be better read in text

Whilel I enjoyed the story, I was very distracted by the reading of it. I often imagined other ways to read the same words. The narrator read the protagonist's point of view as too "valley girl" for me. That being said, I loved the way she read the other characters' words. Hearing the Vietnamese language was beautiful.