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Narrated by:
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Emily Zeller
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By:
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Banana Yoshimoto
About this listen
"Bananamania" has returned in an enchanting new novel of uncanny subtlety, style, magic, and mystery that Frank Ramirez of the South Bend Tribune declares is "every bit as good as Yoskimoto's first book...perhaps better".
A celebrated Japanese writer has committed suicide, leaving behind a collection of stories written in English, NP. But the book may never be published in his native Japan: Each translator who takes up the 98th story chooses death too - including Kazami Kano's boyfriend, Shoji. Haunted by Shoji's death, Kazami is inexorably drawn to three young people whose lives are intimately bound to the late writer and his work. Over the course of an astonishing summer, she will discover the truth behind the 98th story - and she will come to believe that "everything that had happened was shockingly beautiful enough to make you crazy".
©1988 Banana Yoshimoto. English translation Fukutake Publishing Co., Ltd., through the Japan Foreign-Rights Centre. Translation 1993 by Megan Backus. (P)2015 Audible Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Lizard
- By: Banana Yoshimoto
- Narrated by: Emily Zeller
- Length: 3 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 150
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 135
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 134
In "Newlywed", an unhappily married young man deliberately misses his stop on the train, only to be questioned by a shape-shifting homeless man about the trials of his marriage. In "Blood and Water", a woman recalls how she left the village she grew up in - which was run by a New Age cult - in order to lead a fulfilling life, even against her parents' wishes. And in the title story, "Lizard", a woman who has never before felt truly secure in her life admits a deep secret to her lover.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Profound!
- By Bonn Karla on 10-03-21
By: Banana Yoshimoto
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Amrita
- By: Banana Yoshimoto
- Narrated by: Alexandra Bailey
- Length: 12 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 53
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 46
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 45
When a celebrated actress dies under shocking circumstances, she leaves behind an older sister, Sakumi, who suffers from memory loss in the wake of an accident. Struggling to remember whom she loves and what she lost, Sakumi embarks on a unique emotional journey, accompanied by her dead sister's lover and her clairvoyant kid brother.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Kind of ethereal - appealed to my taste
- By just asking for some common sense on 08-18-21
By: Banana Yoshimoto
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Kitchen
- By: Banana Yoshimoto
- Narrated by: Emily Zeller
- Length: 4 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 260
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 223
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 223
Mikage is an orphan raised by her grandmother, who has passed away. Grieving, Mikage is taken in by her friend, Yoichi, and his mother (who is really his cross-dressing father), Eriko. As the three of them form an improvised family that soon weathers its own tragic losses, Yoshimoto spins a lovely, evocative tale with the kitchen and the comforts of home at its heart.
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5 out of 5 stars
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First Time is the Charm
- By just asking for some common sense on 08-22-19
By: Banana Yoshimoto
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Moshi Moshi
- By: Banana Yoshimoto, Asa Yoneda - translator
- Narrated by: Kathleen Li
- Length: 6 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 9
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 8
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 8
Yoshie's much-loved musician father died in a suicide pact with an unknown woman. It is only when Yoshie and her mother move to Shimokitazawa, a traditional Tokyo neighborhood of narrow streets, quirky shops, and friendly residents, that they can finally start to put their painful past behind them. However, despite their attempts to move forward, Yoshie is haunted by nightmares in which her father is looking for the phone he left behind on the day he died, or on which she is trying—unsuccessfully—to call him. Is her dead father trying to communicate a message through these dreams?
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4 out of 5 stars
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The story is good but the performance is lacking
- By Juliana on 10-24-24
By: Banana Yoshimoto, and others
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The Ten Loves of Nishino
- By: Hiromi Kawakami, Allison Markin Powell - translator
- Narrated by: Cindy Kay
- Length: 5 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 16
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 14
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 13
Best-selling and beloved Japanese author Hiromi Kawakami (The Nakano Thrift Shop) tells the story of an enigmatic man through the voices of 10 remarkable women who have loved him. Each woman has succumbed, even if only for an hour, to that seductive, imprudent, and furtively feline man who drifted so naturally into their lives. Still clinging to the vivid memory of his warm breath and his indecipherable sentences, 10 women tell their stories as they attempt to recreate the image of the unfathomable Nishino.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Enjoyable
- By Rose on 08-08-21
By: Hiromi Kawakami, and others
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The Memory Police
- A Novel
- By: Yoko Ogawa, Stephen Snyder - translator
- Narrated by: Traci Kato-Kiriyama
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 930
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 800
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Story4 out of 5 stars 798
On an unnamed island off an unnamed coast, objects are disappearing: first hats, then ribbons, birds, roses - until things become much more serious. Most of the island's inhabitants are oblivious to these changes, while those few imbued with the power to recall the lost objects live in fear of the draconian Memory Police, who are committed to ensuring that what has disappeared remains forgotten. When a young woman who is struggling to maintain her career as a novelist discovers that her editor is in danger from the Memory Police, she concocts a plan to hide him beneath her floorboards.
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3 out of 5 stars
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A Calm, Quiet Dystopian
- By Booky Nooky on 12-13-19
By: Yoko Ogawa, and others
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Lizard
- By: Banana Yoshimoto
- Narrated by: Emily Zeller
- Length: 3 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 150
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 135
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 134
In "Newlywed", an unhappily married young man deliberately misses his stop on the train, only to be questioned by a shape-shifting homeless man about the trials of his marriage. In "Blood and Water", a woman recalls how she left the village she grew up in - which was run by a New Age cult - in order to lead a fulfilling life, even against her parents' wishes. And in the title story, "Lizard", a woman who has never before felt truly secure in her life admits a deep secret to her lover.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Profound!
- By Bonn Karla on 10-03-21
By: Banana Yoshimoto
-
Amrita
- By: Banana Yoshimoto
- Narrated by: Alexandra Bailey
- Length: 12 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 53
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 46
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 45
When a celebrated actress dies under shocking circumstances, she leaves behind an older sister, Sakumi, who suffers from memory loss in the wake of an accident. Struggling to remember whom she loves and what she lost, Sakumi embarks on a unique emotional journey, accompanied by her dead sister's lover and her clairvoyant kid brother.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Kind of ethereal - appealed to my taste
- By just asking for some common sense on 08-18-21
By: Banana Yoshimoto
-
Kitchen
- By: Banana Yoshimoto
- Narrated by: Emily Zeller
- Length: 4 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 260
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 223
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 223
Mikage is an orphan raised by her grandmother, who has passed away. Grieving, Mikage is taken in by her friend, Yoichi, and his mother (who is really his cross-dressing father), Eriko. As the three of them form an improvised family that soon weathers its own tragic losses, Yoshimoto spins a lovely, evocative tale with the kitchen and the comforts of home at its heart.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
First Time is the Charm
- By just asking for some common sense on 08-22-19
By: Banana Yoshimoto
-
Moshi Moshi
- By: Banana Yoshimoto, Asa Yoneda - translator
- Narrated by: Kathleen Li
- Length: 6 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 9
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 8
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 8
Yoshie's much-loved musician father died in a suicide pact with an unknown woman. It is only when Yoshie and her mother move to Shimokitazawa, a traditional Tokyo neighborhood of narrow streets, quirky shops, and friendly residents, that they can finally start to put their painful past behind them. However, despite their attempts to move forward, Yoshie is haunted by nightmares in which her father is looking for the phone he left behind on the day he died, or on which she is trying—unsuccessfully—to call him. Is her dead father trying to communicate a message through these dreams?
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
The story is good but the performance is lacking
- By Juliana on 10-24-24
By: Banana Yoshimoto, and others
-
The Ten Loves of Nishino
- By: Hiromi Kawakami, Allison Markin Powell - translator
- Narrated by: Cindy Kay
- Length: 5 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 16
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 14
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 13
Best-selling and beloved Japanese author Hiromi Kawakami (The Nakano Thrift Shop) tells the story of an enigmatic man through the voices of 10 remarkable women who have loved him. Each woman has succumbed, even if only for an hour, to that seductive, imprudent, and furtively feline man who drifted so naturally into their lives. Still clinging to the vivid memory of his warm breath and his indecipherable sentences, 10 women tell their stories as they attempt to recreate the image of the unfathomable Nishino.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Enjoyable
- By Rose on 08-08-21
By: Hiromi Kawakami, and others
-
The Memory Police
- A Novel
- By: Yoko Ogawa, Stephen Snyder - translator
- Narrated by: Traci Kato-Kiriyama
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 930
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 800
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 798
On an unnamed island off an unnamed coast, objects are disappearing: first hats, then ribbons, birds, roses - until things become much more serious. Most of the island's inhabitants are oblivious to these changes, while those few imbued with the power to recall the lost objects live in fear of the draconian Memory Police, who are committed to ensuring that what has disappeared remains forgotten. When a young woman who is struggling to maintain her career as a novelist discovers that her editor is in danger from the Memory Police, she concocts a plan to hide him beneath her floorboards.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
A Calm, Quiet Dystopian
- By Booky Nooky on 12-13-19
By: Yoko Ogawa, and others
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On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
- A Novel
- By: Ocean Vuong
- Narrated by: Ocean Vuong
- Length: 7 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,483
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,990
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,970
Poet Ocean Vuong’s debut novel is a shattering portrait of a family, a first love, and the redemptive power of storytelling. On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous is a letter from a son to a mother who cannot read. Written when the speaker, Little Dog, is in his late 20s, the letter unearths a family’s history that began before he was born - a history whose epicenter is rooted in Vietnam - and serves as a doorway into parts of his life his mother has never known, all of it leading to an unforgettable revelation.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Beautifully written, but painful.
- By NB on 06-10-19
By: Ocean Vuong
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Norwegian Wood
- By: Haruki Murakami
- Narrated by: John Chancer
- Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 2,383
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,084
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Story4 out of 5 stars 2,090
Toru, a serious young college student in Tokyo, is devoted to Naoko, a beautiful and introspective young woman, but their mutual passion is marked by the tragic death of their best friend years before. As Naoko retreats further into her own world, Toru finds himself drawn to a fiercely independent and sexually liberated young woman.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Sorry, but I didn't like the narrator.
- By Kelly McCarty on 10-30-15
By: Haruki Murakami
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Bliss Montage
- Stories
- By: Ling Ma
- Narrated by: Katharine Chin
- Length: 6 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 67
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 55
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Story4 out of 5 stars 55
In Bliss Montage, Ling Ma brings us eight wildly different tales of people making their way through the madness and reality of our collective delusions: love and loneliness, connection and possession, friendship, motherhood, the idea of home. A woman lives in a house with all her ex-boyfriends. A toxic friendship grows up around a drug that makes you invisible. An ancient ritual might heal you of anything—if you bury yourself alive.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Audiobook is defective
- By ᵔᴥᵔ on 09-22-22
By: Ling Ma
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Life Ceremony
- Stories
- By: Sayaka Murata
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller, Jeena Yi, Nancy Wu, and others
- Length: 5 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 92
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 78
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 78
With Life Ceremony, the incomparable Sayaka Murata is back with her first collection of short stories ever to be translated into English. In Japan, Murata is particularly admired for her short stories, which are sometimes sweet, sometimes shocking, and always imbued with an otherworldly imagination and uncanniness.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Interesting concept but boring story
- By Roberta Marques on 09-06-24
By: Sayaka Murata
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The Devotion of Suspect X
- By: Keigo Higashino, Alexander O. Smith Translated by
- Narrated by: David Pittu
- Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,418
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,024
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,027
Yasuko Hanaoka is a divorced, single mother who thought she had finally escaped her abusive ex-husband Togashi. When he shows up one day to extort money from her, threatening both her and her teenaged daughter Misato, the situation quickly escalates into violence and Togashi ends up dead on her apartment floor.
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4 out of 5 stars
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not really like Larsson -- but that's OK
- By connie on 02-04-11
By: Keigo Higashino, and others
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Sweet Bean Paste
- By: Durian Sukegawa, Alison Watts - translator
- Narrated by: Cindy Kay
- Length: 5 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 136
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 126
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 126
Sentaro has failed. He has a criminal record, drinks too much, and his dream of becoming a writer is just a distant memory. With only the blossoming of the cherry trees to mark the passing of time, he spends his days in a tiny confectionery shop selling dorayaki, a type of pancake filled with sweet bean paste. Into his life comes Tokue, an elderly woman with disfigured hands and a troubled past. Tokue makes the best sweet bean paste Sentaro has ever tasted. She begins to teach him her craft, but as their friendship flourishes, social pressures become impossible to escape.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Loved it
- By irenerosem on 03-18-25
By: Durian Sukegawa, and others
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Earthlings
- A Novel
- By: Sayaka Murata
- Narrated by: Nancy Wu
- Length: 7 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 562
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 501
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Story4 out of 5 stars 498
As a child, Natsuki doesn’t fit into her family. Her parents favor her sister, and her best friend is a plush toy hedgehog named Piyyut who has explained to her that he has come from the planet Popinpobopia on a special quest to help her save the Earth.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Intriguing but disturbing
- By C. Parham on 01-01-21
By: Sayaka Murata
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On Freedom
- Four Songs of Care and Constraint
- By: Maggie Nelson
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 10 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 74
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 57
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Story5 out of 5 stars 56
So often deployed as a jingoistic, even menacing rallying cry, or limited by a focus on passing moments of liberation, the rhetoric of freedom both rouses and repels. Does it remain key to our autonomy, justice, and well-being, or is freedom's long star turn coming to a close? Does a continued obsession with the term enliven and emancipate, or reflect a deepening nihilism (or both)? On Freedom examines such questions by tracing the concept's complexities in four distinct realms: art, sex, drugs, and climate.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Just great
- By Kristi Strong on 12-14-21
By: Maggie Nelson
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Lapvona
- A Novel
- By: Ottessa Moshfegh
- Narrated by: Ottessa Moshfegh
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 732
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 617
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Story4 out of 5 stars 617
Little Marek, the abused and delusional son of the village shepherd, believes his mother died giving birth to him. One of Marek’s few consolations is his enduring bond with the blind village midwife, Ina, who suckled him when he was a baby. For some people, Ina’s ability to receive transmissions of sacred knowledge from the natural world is a godsend. For others, Ina’s home in the woods is a godless place.
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3 out of 5 stars
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uncomfortable
- By Stetson on 07-04-22
By: Ottessa Moshfegh
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The Elephant Vanishes
- Stories
- By: Haruki Murakami, Alfred Birnbaum - translator, Jay Rubin - translator
- Narrated by: Teresa Gallagher, John Chancer, Walter Lewis, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 223
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 196
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Story4 out of 5 stars 195
With the same deadpan mania and genius for dislocation that he brought to his internationally acclaimed novels A Wild Sheep Chase and Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, Haruki Murakami makes this collection of stories a determined assault on the normal. A man sees his favorite elephant vanish into thin air; a newlywed couple suffers attacks of hunger that drive them to hold up a McDonald's in the middle of the night; and a young woman discovers that she has become irresistible to a little green monster who burrows up through her backyard.
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1 out of 5 stars
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dull
- By Shelli Rodgers on 01-06-19
By: Haruki Murakami, and others
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The Miracles of the Namiya General Store
- By: Keigo Higashino
- Narrated by: Brian Nishii, Sura Siu, Kyle Omori
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 318
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 256
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 256
“From exactly midnight until daybreak, the Namiya General Store advice box will be reopening for one night only.” When three delinquents hole up in an abandoned general store after their most recent robbery, to their great surprise, a letter drops through the mail slot in the store’s shutter. This seemingly simple request for advice sets the trio on a journey of discovery as, over the course of a single night, they step into the role of the kindhearted former shopkeeper who devoted his waning years to offering thoughtful counsel to his correspondents.
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5 out of 5 stars
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One of my favorite books now
- By Anonymous User on 01-15-23
By: Keigo Higashino
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Ranger
- A Standalone MM Romance
- By: Nora Phoenix, K.M. Neuhold
- Narrated by: John Solo
- Length: 6 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 169
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 159
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 158
I’ve been living under storm clouds since my honorable discharge, but Julian’s the sun. I’ve tried everything to deal with my PTSD, but nothing seemed to help. So when my brother suggests a service dog, I figure I don’t have anything to lose. The last thing I expect is for the dog to come with a cheerful, quirky trainer I can’t get out of my head. I’m too screwed up for love, but a chance to explore a side of myself I didn’t realize existed until recently is too good to pass up.
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5 out of 5 stars
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This. This is why a true ‘voice actor’ makes the story even better
- By CLS-LRS on 05-06-21
By: Nora Phoenix, and others
Featured Article: 10 Famous Japanese Authors You Have to Hear
Thanks to the work of translators and publishers, Japanese literature is now more accessible than ever to English-speaking audiences. If you've ever wanted to learn more about Japanese culture and literature, you cannot go wrong with listening to audiobooks from Japan. We've compiled a list of the most famous Japanese authors who have helped define Japanese literature, and their notable works across genres and time periods.
What listeners say about NP
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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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- jaynay
- 05-06-21
Romanticises pedophilia and Incest
The female protagonist had a sexual relationship with her 24(?) year old adult boyfriend, Shoji, at the age of 17 when there was an evident imbalance in power within their relationship. The inappropriateness of this was never addressed at any point in the book, and their relationship was viewed with rose coloured glasses by both the protagonist and other people looking back on her relationship. It also depicts the incestuous relationship of two half siblings in a similar, romanticised light. This would make most readers feel mildly
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- skycrystal
- 12-31-20
Interesting ... ish?
Story was on the side of melodramatic - maybe even slightly contrived to my western ears. Not sure how much of that is a 90s thing, Japanese thing, or a 90s Japanese thing. But beautiful and poetic. Sometimes hard to tell which character the narrator is narrating, but it's a good performance overall.
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1 person found this helpful