Patience and Not-Forsaken

By: Alix E. Harrow

Narrated by: Jennifer Nittoso

Length: 47 mins

Publisher's summary

In Harrow's eerie tale of madness and heartache, Patience, diagnosed with a "nervous disposition," is forced to take up residence in the rural, dilapidated Gravely House, in hopes that she will "calm down and get better" before her senior year begins. But when she discovers a girl living inside her bedroom mirror, the past comes back to haunt, in more ways than one.

©2016 Alix E. Harrow (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

Gothic tale

Patience finds a girl in her mirror... A gothic short story about a girl trying to accept herself. Enjoyable narration!

Short story with heart

Basic combination of broken hearts, loss, hurt, bullying, hope, faith, manipulation, survival, and the power of human kindness.

Great narrator, Good short story

I don’t listen to a whole bunch of short stories but this one was included with the type of Audible subscription I have. I’m really happy too because not only did I get to hear this really good story, Audible introduced me to another great author! I’ll be listening to Harrow’s “The Ten Thousand Doors of January” next and her latest book, “Starling House” to be released in October, is in my Wishlist to Pre-Order!
Firstly, I wanted to comment that a previous reviewer mentioned that the narrator was terrible. I don’t know if we listened to the same book? Compared to other narrators, there are some that hands down, I could listen to all day and some that are downright horrible and monotone. Jennifer Nittoso has a good, clear voice and imo, put a lot of feeling into the story. She certainly was not terrible and I’d happily listen to her narrate another book. I think she was perfect for this type of book.

This story was so imaginative! What I truly loved is that it had a heart, as a previous reviewer had noted. It also had a bitter sweet lesson. Childhood does indeed come to an end, usually and extremely abruptly at that! I tend to think of it akin to hitting a brick wall. Typically, as it had with the girl in the story as well as myself, it came at the expense of my first heartbreak.

The ending was a bit of a surprise! Reality comes calling for us all, like death and taxes! LOL It usually comes unexpectedly, no matter what age we are when it finds us. Our age doesn’t necessarily matter when it does happen, unfortunately. It’s the fact that we can never go back once it happens, that has the biggest impact.

Touching and relatable

I think the story would be touching and relatable to any young Sapphic readers. It really brought me back to a younger time in my life.

Terrible reader, decent story

I found the reader’s performance to be really annoying and overly emotive. It was really distracting.

Patience and not forsaken

I think that more could have been done with this story. it just felt like the author gave up on the story.

Left Wanting More

Absolutely loved this debut from Alix Harrow. Her story and writing from this short story reminded me of Neil Gaiman's Coraline and The Graveyard Book. It was a bit of a rough start, only because I wasn't expecting the narrator, Jennifer Nittoso, to sound upbeat when the story was borderline depressive, however I was still able to get into the story, especially as the MC began her growth. That, and the fact I found myself wanting more by the end are my only complaints (I personally do not like open-ended stories, but I do understand this was a debut short-story that was very well written and performed).

I will definitely be looking into the other works by Alix Harrow, and I look forward to hear Jennifer's voice again.

loved it

This is a great short story, well written and narrated. Twist ending was a total surprise.

You're not forsaken

Spooky! Hauntingly beautiful story of trying to run away and you end up finding yourself.

A reversal of sorts

I am completely in love with the beautiful and unexpected twist of the story. I was impressed by the growth of the main character in such a short amount of time. Alix E. Harrow is easily one of my favorite writers.

I was slightly put off by the overly cheery nature of the narrator. Jennifer Nittoso has a beautiful voice, and in the end, her cheerfulness worked. I would have liked however to have heard more of our protagonist sadness and depression earlier in the narration.