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Many Waters  By  cover art

Many Waters

By: Madeleine L'Engle
Narrated by: Ann Marie Lee
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Publisher's summary

A touch of computer keys, a blast of heat, and suddenly the Murry twins, Sandy and Dennys, are gasping in a shimmering desert land.

If only the brothers had normal parents, not a scientist mother and a father who experiments with space and time travel.

If only the Murry twins had noticed the note on the door of their mother's lab: Experiment In Progress. Please Keep Out.

But it's too late for regrets.

There's a strange-and very small-person approaching, with a miniature mammoth in tow...At last it's Sandy and Dennys's turn for an adventure-an adventure that turns serious when they discover that "many waters" are coming to flood the desert.

The twins must find a way back home soon, or they will drown. But how will they get back to their own time? Can they?

©2007 Madeleine L'Engle (P)2007 Listening Library

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What listeners say about Many Waters

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Love! Mildly suggestive material.

I read this series, as a child, and this was my favorite book of the series.
It's so fascinating, to bring to life the story of Noah and the flood, and combine it with science fiction.
Having said that, I would like to warn parents about a couple of "iffy" parts, that were mildly uncomfortable or suggestive. First, it talks about the girls being topless, and having "small, rosy breasts, which she covered". My boys were a bit embarrassed. It was handled as tastefully as possible, but...
Next, there is some seduction, and also a part where it says that the main character "...knew what he wanted, what his body wanted, and that he was ready for it. But not with this girl....but with the other one..." This is while a girl is trying to seduce him.
I am really picky, with my kids, and these parts, I would have preferred weren't there...but they did pass so quickly, that I am not sure that my kids really noticed. (My oldest is 12 1/2.)
I just think it's fair to warn parents.

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44 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Loved the book, not the narrator

I love this series from Madeleine L'Engle and I've read Many Waters a number of times. In listening to it, I found that it is a better book read than heard. I'm not sure if that came from the narration or if the book really was more simplistically written than Wrinkle In Time series featuring Meg and Charles Wallace.

I have listened to the other older books in this series and found them to be as good as I remember the written novels. The narrator was wonderful with different voices for different characters and really drawing me into the book. I found the narrator for this book to be very hard to listen to. Her words were overly enunciated to the point of being distracting and there was very little nuance in her voice or how she spoke the characters or situations. It was clear to me that she was "reading a book" rather than "telling a story" which tends (for me) to be the best part of the audio book. I would actually go out of my way not to listen to a book with this narrator.

That being said, I love this story and was overall disappointed in the performance.

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17 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Should have been book #3 instead of book #4

Great book however completely different than the others. This book should have been book 3 instead of book 4 because the timing is a little out of sort. This book is before Meg goes to college and the 3rd is after college. So that's my only criticism here other than that the book was great, a different voice reading tho. It was nice to hear about the twins in this book but definitely a different twist then the others. Still a good read however doesn't keep you as interested as the other books do.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Love and Pain...and Delight

I thoroughly enjoy exploring possible scenarios for historical eras we know little about. Madeleine L'Engle adds her considerable creativity to the archaeological mix and a powerful story emerges. The power is in the heart-pain we suffer for people we love dearly but are seemingly unable to "save" from what ever catastrophic danger they are facing. The author delves into the strengths and weaknesses of the human heart, painting vivid portraits of the basic temptations we all encounter and following the characters' varied responses to the ultimate consequences, for better and for worse.

Plus, who doesn't love a story that includes unicorns, mammoths, and pelicans? The unicorns and pelicans are recurring theme's in L'Engle's work, but mammoths? You'll have to read the book to learn about those cute loveable furry creatures; yes, that's how the author draws them. Really. It's a delight to read



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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

interesting but not her best

I enjoyed it but I found it lacked the philosophical depth of the first two books in this series, which I absolutely loved. also a warning to parents: this book has a lot of sexual innuendo

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Story was great but chapters are wrong

What did you love best about Many Waters?

I enjoyed the twist on the Biblical story of the flood.

What did you like best about this story?

I liked how the twins, Sandy and Dennis, finally had the spotlight on them after 3 books of them being just the twins. I liked the mix of the flood story as told in the Bible and science.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

I wish that she had done different voices for Sandy and Dennis. Sometimes when they were talking to one another, I couldn't tell who said what because she didn't do anything different for their voices.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Science and the flood mix.

Any additional comments?

The audiobook said it was 7 chapters, but there would be 2 "book" chapters in one audiobook chapter. It was a pain to figure out how much longer there was left in a "book" chapter.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Crazy book

I don't like the narrator her voice is so weird , there's no difference in her voice but the book is good.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

I listen over and over again.

I love these books and the narrator brings the characters to life. I listen with my children and we are always a little sad when they are completed. Fantastic story.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

 Many waters was the best book ever 

So it had a lot of Bible to Pitchin. It was incredible and definitely give Dennis and Sandy a lot of character I read the audiobook version, and though it is not the same reader, she still does an amazing job of depicting. The story and all of these books have been amazing for me and my mom loves them to this is Kathryn a 10-year-old  some of you might think the adult but I love it and all of the plot!!!🩷🩷🩷🩷😍😍😍 but I am really sad that it’s over, but I get to read the next book 😔

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
  • DJ
  • 11-20-23

TERRIBLE BOOK WOULD NOT RECOMMEND

Unless you enjoy listening to a cryptic, time wasting, slow going book that makes you want to put your head through a wall kind of book, not for you.
Big let down from the other books in the series!

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