Never Stop Walking

By: Christina Rickardsson, Tara F. Chace - translator

Narrated by: Siiri Scott

Length: 9 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's Summary

An extraordinary memoir of one woman’s fight to find her true self between the life into which she was born and the one she was given.

Christiana Mara Coelho was born into extreme poverty in Brazil. After spending the first seven years of her life with her loving mother in the forest caves outside São Paulo and then on the city streets, where they begged for food, she and her younger brother were suddenly put up for adoption. When one door closed on the only life Christiana had ever known and on the woman who protected her with all her heart, a new one opened.

As Christina Rickardsson, she’s raised by caring adoptive parents in Sweden, far from the despairing favelas of her childhood. Accomplished and outwardly “normal,” Christina is also filled with rage over what she’s lost and having to adapt to a new reality while struggling with the traumas of her youth. When her world falls apart again as an adult, Christina returns to Brazil to finally confront her past and unlock the truth of what really happened to Christiana Mara Coelho.

A memoir of two selves, Never Stop Walking is the moving story of the profound love between families and one woman’s journey from grief and loss to survival and self-discovery.

©2016 Christina Rickardsson. Translation © 2018 by Tara F. Chace. (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

A Vent

The writing was poor(although it may have not translated well). So...it was a difficult read which took me days...which is abnormal for me. I persevered because I do know children who have been adopted from orphanages in foreign countries and have been diagnosed with RAD. I thought that Christina's perspective might help me to understand why some of these children rip off doors and seem to want to destroy the new and loving home they have been given. At least, the book, ponderous as it was, has helped me to do that in some small measure. A couple of sentences and her perspective at 32 instead of 8 helped me to have hope for those kids I have met in various places. How do you get over seeing your own father killed?? How do you get over the feeling that you have been ripped from the arms of someone who loves you!

I am sad that Christina still seems to have very little tangible source of strength since she has relegated God to the "fairy tale" realm. It is also sad that she apparently didn't have an editor or perhaps the book may have been more tolerable.

On.a positive note, I would like to introduce this book to some of the people at the church where I go who seem to think that people who are homeless have brought it on themselves...some of us even drive a Lexus!

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Needs an editor!

The story is interesting and the performance is good but it covers the same ground many times. The author needs to write the same thing repeatedly to heal but the reader does not.

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

Interesting story but the writing (or translation)

...doesn't even rise to the level of "adequate."

I don't like to read books in translation because you never know if the translation improved the writing or made it worse. The writing in Rickardsson's book is so very basic I'm not sure how it got published. There's lots of telling (and very little showing), not an unusual sentence in sight, no interesting metaphors, similes, description, etc. The audio narrator valiantly tried to enhance the story by infusing some emotion into it but alas...

I'm not sure why I kept listening other than the fact that I lived in São Paulo for six months while the author was a child on the streets there--and it was free with KU. So I listened to most of it with half an ear.

an inspiration to think deeper about life

as I listened to this book I couldn't stop but thinking how everyone face their struggles and trauma differently and how strength is born through the hardship one faces. Christina had done a wonderful job in sharing not just hardships she overcome but tried to voice for those who go through similar struggles in life. the narration was really moving and caught hold of one's attention that one couldn't help but listen whole day long with unwavering attention. jotting down these lines earnestly and with gratitude towards what the book and it's author shared generously.

1 of 2 people found this review helpful

Loved this book!

Made me laugh and cry. Gripping true life accounts of what she lived through and how she survived as a young child in Brazil mixed together with her modern day life and what she found when she returned to search for her mother and the truth.

The narrator was a little bit on the robotic side at times but otherwise I loved it.

0 of 1 people found this review helpful

Thought Provoking

Very interesting story. Well written, and gives you a peak into another world . Would recommend

0 of 1 people found this review helpful

great story of hope, narration is stiff

Against all odds this girl survived and that makes you feel good. but I also felt a little sad knowing how many children don't get this opportunity. rescue comes in many forms and I think as a society we need to look at our decisions regarding refugees and remember these children and many of their parents have no place to go in their own country for safety.

0 of 1 people found this review helpful

Excellent work

This author has done a phenomenal job of detailing her life growing up in Brazil, her traumatic time in the orphanage and growing up in a new culture in Sweden. Ultimately, she asks us all to think about the value of a human life. Is there more value in one over another because one is richer. What about the refugees, especially the children, and their needs for a stable future. This was a great book, though slow in parts, with an overall great message brought though the details of one woman's life

0 of 1 people found this review helpful

Daring Share

I found the story very compelling especially from a child's point of view. I am grateful the story was shared to bring awareness for children in poverty and also women who need assistance with healthcare and education. I am so sorry so many children have to go through so much. This book is also a call to action to help the children of our communities and also accept the children and refugees into our communities. If we all do something in a small way great things can happen. Keep on sharing your story and bring to light the children.... Our Greatest Resource. Thank you so much for the courage to share.

0 of 1 people found this review helpful

how kids think, and how we must talk to them

Sensitive and companionate story of a young girl growing up in Brazil's slams and then adoption. This is the deepest insight and most believable psychological explaination how kids think and feel I have ever read. If not the moralizing epilogue I would rate the Overall as 5*. The whole book was dedicated to the reader to come to the conclusion on our own, and it was not teally necessary to sell it out... O erall: wonderful work. I thank the Author.

0 of 1 people found this review helpful

Terrible narrator

The narrator spoiled the book for me. She reads the story as if she was reading poetry full of pathos. I found it annoying and disangaging. The story is good although I did not appreciated the constant jumps from the past to the presence and back to the past. I feel that the story is much more interesting when told chronologically.