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The Bluest Eye
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Beloved
- By: Toni Morrison
- Narrated by: Toni Morrison
- Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,677
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,334
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,329
Staring unflinchingly into the abyss of slavery, this spellbinding novel transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby. Sethe, its protagonist, was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but 18 years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe's new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Perhaps best read on paper
- By Cathy on 07-29-06
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Sula
- By: Toni Morrison
- Narrated by: Toni Morrison
- Length: 5 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 511
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 408
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 413
Two girls who grow up to become women...two friends who become something worse than enemies. In this brilliantly imagined novel, Toni Morrison tells the story of Nel Wright and Sula Peace, who meet as children in the small town of Medallion, Ohio. Their devotion is fierce enough to withstand bullies and the burden of a dreadful secret.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Good against evil and a riotous story to boot
- By Karen on 04-11-11
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Song of Solomon
- By: Toni Morrison
- Narrated by: Toni Morrison
- Length: 15 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 235
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 208
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 207
Milkman Dead was born shortly after a neighborhood eccentric hurled himself off a rooftop in a vain attempt at flight. For the rest of his life, he, too, will be trying to fly. With this brilliantly imagined novel, Toni Morrison transfigures the coming-of-age story as audaciously as Saul Bellow or Gabriel García Márquez. As she follows Milkman from his rustbelt city to the place of his family's origins, Morrison introduces an entire cast of strivers and seeresses, liars and assassins, the inhabitants of a fully realized black world.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Death United Them
- By Carol Binta Nadeem on 09-28-17
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Paradise
- By: Toni Morrison
- Narrated by: Toni Morrison
- Length: 15 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 22
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 21
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 21
In Paradise - her first novel since she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature - Toni Morrison gives us a bravura performance. As the book begins deep in Oklahoma early one morning in 1976, nine men from Ruby (pop. 360), in defense of "the one all-black town worth the pain", assault the nearby Convent and the women in it. From the town's ancestral origins in 1890 to the fateful day of the assault, Paradise tells the story of a people ever mindful of the relationship between their spectacular history and a void.
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1 out of 5 stars
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No clue
- By Bree Breski on 01-27-19
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Their Eyes Were Watching God
- By: Zora Neale Hurston
- Narrated by: Ruby Dee
- Length: 6 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 5,229
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 4,401
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4,382
Their Eyes Were Watching God, an American classic, is the luminous and haunting novel about Janie Crawford, a Southern Black woman in the 1930s, whose journey from a free-spirited girl to a woman of independence and substance has inspired writers and readers for close to 70 years.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Ruby Dee is amazing
- By Jennifer on 04-20-13
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Jazz
- By: Toni Morrison
- Narrated by: Toni Morrison
- Length: 3 hrs
- Abridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 128
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 110
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 110
In the winter of 1926, when everybody everywhere sees nothing but good things ahead, Joe Trace, middle-aged door-to-door salesman of Cleopatra beauty products, shoots his teenage lover to death. At the funeral, Joe's wife, Violet, attacks the girl's corpse. This passionate, profound story of love and obsession brings us back and forth in time, as a narrative is assembled from the emotions, hopes, fears, and deep realities of black urban life.
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1 out of 5 stars
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The audio is not the same as the book
- By Rocio on 03-29-16
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Beloved
- By: Toni Morrison
- Narrated by: Toni Morrison
- Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,677
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,334
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,329
Staring unflinchingly into the abyss of slavery, this spellbinding novel transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby. Sethe, its protagonist, was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but 18 years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe's new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved.
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3 out of 5 stars
-
Perhaps best read on paper
- By Cathy on 07-29-06
-
Sula
- By: Toni Morrison
- Narrated by: Toni Morrison
- Length: 5 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 511
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 408
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 413
Two girls who grow up to become women...two friends who become something worse than enemies. In this brilliantly imagined novel, Toni Morrison tells the story of Nel Wright and Sula Peace, who meet as children in the small town of Medallion, Ohio. Their devotion is fierce enough to withstand bullies and the burden of a dreadful secret.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Good against evil and a riotous story to boot
- By Karen on 04-11-11
-
Song of Solomon
- By: Toni Morrison
- Narrated by: Toni Morrison
- Length: 15 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 235
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 208
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 207
Milkman Dead was born shortly after a neighborhood eccentric hurled himself off a rooftop in a vain attempt at flight. For the rest of his life, he, too, will be trying to fly. With this brilliantly imagined novel, Toni Morrison transfigures the coming-of-age story as audaciously as Saul Bellow or Gabriel García Márquez. As she follows Milkman from his rustbelt city to the place of his family's origins, Morrison introduces an entire cast of strivers and seeresses, liars and assassins, the inhabitants of a fully realized black world.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Death United Them
- By Carol Binta Nadeem on 09-28-17
-
Paradise
- By: Toni Morrison
- Narrated by: Toni Morrison
- Length: 15 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 22
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 21
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 21
In Paradise - her first novel since she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature - Toni Morrison gives us a bravura performance. As the book begins deep in Oklahoma early one morning in 1976, nine men from Ruby (pop. 360), in defense of "the one all-black town worth the pain", assault the nearby Convent and the women in it. From the town's ancestral origins in 1890 to the fateful day of the assault, Paradise tells the story of a people ever mindful of the relationship between their spectacular history and a void.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
No clue
- By Bree Breski on 01-27-19
-
Their Eyes Were Watching God
- By: Zora Neale Hurston
- Narrated by: Ruby Dee
- Length: 6 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 5,229
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 4,401
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4,382
Their Eyes Were Watching God, an American classic, is the luminous and haunting novel about Janie Crawford, a Southern Black woman in the 1930s, whose journey from a free-spirited girl to a woman of independence and substance has inspired writers and readers for close to 70 years.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Ruby Dee is amazing
- By Jennifer on 04-20-13
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Jazz
- By: Toni Morrison
- Narrated by: Toni Morrison
- Length: 3 hrs
- Abridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 128
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 110
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 110
In the winter of 1926, when everybody everywhere sees nothing but good things ahead, Joe Trace, middle-aged door-to-door salesman of Cleopatra beauty products, shoots his teenage lover to death. At the funeral, Joe's wife, Violet, attacks the girl's corpse. This passionate, profound story of love and obsession brings us back and forth in time, as a narrative is assembled from the emotions, hopes, fears, and deep realities of black urban life.
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1 out of 5 stars
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The audio is not the same as the book
- By Rocio on 03-29-16
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If Beale Street Could Talk
- A Novel
- By: James Baldwin
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
- Length: 7 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,079
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 981
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 977
Told through the eyes of Tish, a 19-year-old girl in love with Fonny, a young sculptor who is the father of her child, Baldwin's story mixes the sweet and the sad. Tish and Fonny have pledged to get married, but Fonny is falsely accused of a terrible crime and is imprisoned. Their families set out to clear his name, and as they face an uncertain future, the young lovers experience a kaleidoscope of emotions - affection, despair, and hope.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The narrator did her thing, I love it!!!
- By Vicky on 03-22-16
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The Fire Next Time
- By: James Baldwin
- Narrated by: Jesse L. Martin
- Length: 2 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 3,474
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 3,062
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Story5 out of 5 stars 3,038
At once a powerful evocation of his early life in Harlem and a disturbing examination of the consequences of racial injustice to both the individual and the body politic, James Baldwin galvanized the nation in the early days of the civil rights movement with this eloquent manifesto. The Fire Next Time stands as one of the essential works of our literature.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Brilliant and Sadly Relevant
- By Steve M on 03-20-16
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I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
- By: Maya Angelou
- Narrated by: Maya Angelou
- Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,598
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,247
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3,245
Sent by their mother to live with their devout, self-sufficient grandmother in a small Southern town, Maya and her brother, Bailey, endure the ache of abandonment and the prejudice of the local “powhitetrash.” At eight years old, Maya is attacked by a man many times her age - and has to live with the consequences for a lifetime. But years later, she learns about love for herself and the kindness of others, her own strong spirit, and the ideas of great authors.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Emotional & Powerful
- By Miss Toni on 06-30-13
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Kindred
- By: Octavia E. Butler
- Narrated by: Kim Staunton
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 5,165
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 4,518
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4,502
Having just celebrated her 26th birthday in 1976 California, Dana, an African-American woman, is suddenly and inexplicably wrenched through time into antebellum Maryland. After saving a drowning white boy there, she finds herself staring into the barrel of a shotgun and is transported back to the present just in time to save her life. During numerous such time-defying episodes with the same young man, she realizes she's been given a challenge.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Octavia is awesome!!
- By Kirsten on 01-30-08
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The Twelve Tribes of Hattie (Oprah's Book Club 2.0)
- By: Ayana Mathis
- Narrated by: Adenrele Ojo, Bahni Turpin, Adam Lazarre-White
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,036
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 896
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Story4 out of 5 stars 899
A debut of extraordinary distinction: through the trials of one unforgettable family, Ayana Mathis tells the story of the children of the Great Migration, a story of love and bitterness and the promise of a new America. In 1923, 15-year-old Hattie Shepherd flees Georgia and settles in Philadelphia, hoping for a chance at a better life. Instead, she marries a man who will bring her nothing but disappointment and watches helplessly as her firstborn twins succumb to an illness a few pennies could have prevented.
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4 out of 5 stars
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For me...So So
- By allison on 12-27-12
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Invisible Man
- A Novel
- By: Ralph Ellison
- Narrated by: Joe Morton
- Length: 18 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 6,205
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 5,626
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Story4 out of 5 stars 5,628
Ralph Elllison's Invisible Man is a monumental novel, one that can well be called an epic of 20th-century African-American life. It is a strange story, in which many extraordinary things happen, some of them shocking and brutal, some of them pitiful and touching - yet always with elements of comedy and irony and burlesque that appear in unexpected places.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Masterfully written; perfectly narrated
- By Imhokhai on 03-04-13
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The Heart of a Woman
- By: Maya Angelou
- Narrated by: Maya Angelou
- Length: 3 hrs and 3 mins
- Abridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 295
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 230
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 227
The Heart of a Woman sings with Maya Angelou's eloquent prose and is filled with unforgettable vignettes of famous people, from Billie Holiday to Malcolm X. Even more central is Maya Angelou's chronicle of the joys and the burdens of being a black mother in America and how the son she has cherished so intensely and worked for so devotedly finally grows to be a man.
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5 out of 5 stars
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It’s Maya
- By Tami Bogatiuk on 11-18-17
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Tar Baby
- By: Toni Morrison
- Narrated by: Desiree Coleman
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 115
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 97
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Story4 out of 5 stars 100
Jadine Childs is a black fashion model with a white patron, a white boyfriend, and a coat made out of ninety perfect sealskins. Son is a black fugitive who embodies everything she loathes and desires. As Morrison follows their affair, which plays out from the Caribbean to Manhattan and the deep South, she charts all the nuances of obligation and betrayal between blacks and whites, masters and servants, and men and women.
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5 out of 5 stars
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So good that I'm writing my first Audible review!
- By BL on 12-10-11
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Breath, Eyes, Memory
- By: Edwidge Danticat
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 6 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 132
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 114
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 114
At the age of 12, Sophie Caco is sent from her impoverished village of Croix-des-Rosets to New York, to be reunited with a mother she barely remembers. There she discovers secrets that no child should ever know and a legacy of shame that can be healed only when she returns to Haiti - to the women who first reared her. What ensues is a passionate journey through a landscape charged with the supernatural and scarred by political violence in a novel that bears witness to the traditions, suffering, and wisdom of an entire people.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Amazing Narrator
- By Luis on 04-03-16
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The Color Purple
- By: Alice Walker
- Narrated by: Alice Walker
- Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 78
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 67
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Story5 out of 5 stars 67
Celie has grown up poor in rural Georgia, despised by society and abused by her own family. She strives to protect her sister, Nettie, from a similar fate, and while Nettie escapes to a new life as a missionary in Africa, Celie is left behind without her best friend and confidante, married off to an older suitor, and sentenced to a life alone with a harsh and brutal husband. In an attempt to transcend a life that often seems too much to bear, Celie begins writing letters to God. The letters, spanning 20 years, record a journey of self-discovery and empowerment guided by the light of a few strong women.
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5 out of 5 stars
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In depth
- By Precious Honey on 01-09-19
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Children of Virtue and Vengeance
- Legacy of Orisha, Book 2
- By: Tomi Adeyemi
- Length: Not Yet Known
- Unabridged
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Overall0 out of 5 stars 0
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Performance0 out of 5 stars 0
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Story0 out of 5 stars 0
After battling the impossible, Zélie and Amari have finally succeeded in bringing magic back to the land of Orïsha. But the ritual was more powerful than they could’ve imagined, reigniting the powers of not only the maji, but of nobles with magic ancestry, too. Now, Zélie struggles to unite the maji in an Orïsha where the enemy is just as powerful as they are. But when the monarchy and military unite to keep control of Orïsha, Zélie must fight to secure Amari's right to the throne and protect the new maji from the monarchy's wrath.
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The Souls of Black Folk
- By: W. E. B. Du Bois
- Narrated by: Mirron Willis
- Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 941
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 826
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 825
“The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line,” writes Du Bois, in one of the most prophetic works in all of American literature. First published in 1903, this collection of 15 essays dared to describe the racism that prevailed at that time in America—and to demand an end to it. Du Bois’ writing draws on his early experiences, from teaching in the hills of Tennessee, to the death of his infant son, to his historic break with the conciliatory position of Booker T. Washington.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Essays of 'life and love and strife and failure'
- By ESK on 02-08-13
Publisher's Summary
The Bluest Eye, published in 1970, is the first novel written by Toni Morrison, winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize in Literature.
It is the story of 11-year-old Pecola Breedlove--a black girl in an America whose love for its blond, blue-eyed children can devastate all others--who prays for her eyes to turn blue: so that she will be beautiful, so that people will look at her, so that her world will be different. This is the story of the nightmare at the heart of her yearning and the tragedy of its fulfillment.
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Overall
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4.5 out of 5 stars
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4.5 out of 5 stars
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4.5 out of 5 stars
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5 Stars618
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4 Stars164
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3 Stars77
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- MerryJovialL
- Tappahannock, VA
- 10-01-12
Excellent but not an easy story.
Would you listen to The Bluest Eye again? Why?
Yes, it is a very well written story that touched and challenged me.
Which character – as performed by Toni Morrison – was your favorite?
All of the story was impressionable. The character, Pecola, was very strong for me.
Any additional comments?
This was a difficult story to get through but it was important. I plan to listen to it again after I let some time pass. It was a powerful story and had a lot to offer from different views.
14 of 15 people found this review helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 10-26-16
READ LIKE ONE LONG BEAUTIFUL POEM!
Ms. Morrison's narration was so melodically engaging. I could listen to her all day! Brava! And this story of not quite knowing how to come to grips with the YOU that you are is one that we all can relate to.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Fatima
- 11-28-15
Beautiful book
As someone who has struggled with discrimination and isolation throughout most of my life, this book truly touched me. Toni Morrison's narration of the book made it that much more of a powerful and wonderful experience.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- J. Harris
- Atlanta, GA
- 05-15-15
One of my all-time favorite books.
Loved reading it, adored listening to it. Great narrating, Ms. Morrison really brought the book alive. You might want to keep a box of tissues handy, there are parts that will break your heart . However, I still feel uplifted by this book. I highly recommend it.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Willis Butcher
- 02-17-15
Toni Morrison at Her Best!
A sad story, but it depicts a true reality. I was hoping for a happy ending. Instead I was given the gift of truth.
8 of 10 people found this review helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anna H
- 09-18-17
What an experience!
Listening to Toni Morrison read her own work aloud honestly makes the experience even richer. This is a difficult book -- and at times disturbing. That being said, it had me 100% engaged the whole time! You really get to feel the cadence of her work in a new way. Highly recommend!!
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Prof. RShawntezJackson
- OAKLAND, CA, United States
- 02-05-16
Strikingly Beautiful
For this to be her first novel, it's purely astonishing. The rich nature of language and raw aggressive content makes for a longer than prescribed listen. You will rewind. You must rewind! Sometimes three and four times just to take in the magic of her construction of emotions, locations, people and conversations. Epic, tragic and haunting are the words left ed burned in my brain.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Readin' and Rockin'
- USA
- 05-17-15
Marvelous Performance of My Favorite Book
Morrison is much too hard on herself in her author's note; even after so many readings, I am still deeply moved.
I first read it on New Year's Eve 1991. I cried and cried as one year became another. I knew "Pecola." in a variety of ways. And I knew it was much, much, much too late. Midnight struck a while back.
Thank you.
Robin Markowitz
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Whitney L. McBee
- 01-29-15
Remarkable!
Toni Morrison's ability to communicate emotions and a characters internal motivation and to paint an incredibly vivid world, is remarkable.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Geneva
- 09-03-14
fantastic reading of an excellent book
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Yes-- it was excellent. One of the best audiobooks I've ever heard. The book was great and the author's peerless reading of it only serves to make it all the more of a gripping experience.
What did you like best about this story?
Morrison's prose is so excellent. She perfectly writes with the voice of a child narrator-- indifferent, pragmatic, but never simplistic. I've never read/heard anything like it.
Have you listened to any of Toni Morrison’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
This one is my absolute favorite. The delivery is riveting-- so patient and emotive-- downright chilling at times.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
Yes
3 of 4 people found this review helpful