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The Privileges
- A Novel
- Narrated by: David Aaron Baker
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Release date: 12-13-10
- Language: English
- Publisher: Recorded Books
- Whispersync for Voice-ready
Regular price: $27.99
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Lydia is dead. But they don't know this yet.… So begins the story in this exquisite debut novel about a Chinese American family living in a small town in 1970s Ohio. Lydia is the favorite child of Marilyn and James Lee; their middle daughter, a girl who inherited her mother's bright blue eyes and her father's jet-black hair. Her parents are determined that Lydia will fulfill the dreams they were unable to pursue When Lydia's body is found in the local lake, the delicate balancing act that has been keeping the Lee family together tumbles into chaos.
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Publisher's Summary
Jonathan Dee is the critically acclaimed author of Palladio. With The Privileges, Dee crafts a “suspenseful, melancholy, and acidly funny tale” (Booklist). In it, ambitious couple Adam and Cynthia Morey marry straight out of college and have two children. Then Adam, unfulfilled with his job at a private investment firm, becomes involved in insider trading and gains excessive wealth for his family. But as Adam and Cynthia discover, money can’t buy happiness.
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Overall
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- Pat
- Frankfort, KY, United States
- 03-11-13
A little boring
What disappointed you about The Privileges?
I just had trouble getting into the story..
Who would you have cast as narrator instead of David Aaron Baker?
I liked him as the narrator. I just do not think changing would have made a difference/
2 of 3 people found this review helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Patricia Monahan
- 07-14-17
Terrible Narrator
The narrator of The Privileges was dreadful. His women and children voices sounded like mockeries. I would have stopped listening to it but I was on a long drive and I had run through my podcasts.
The story was interesting enough for a long drive. Not great literature but entertaining.
It would not be the first book I would recommend, I have listened to worse.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Cudmore Family
- Charlotte, NC
- 02-08-15
Franzen without the meat
If you like John Franzen novels, you might get excited as I did toward the beginning when the author introduces many interesting and well thought out characters. The somewhat ironic or at least aloof writing style very Franzen-esque.... The problem with this story though is that there is no point.. There are no lessons learned or really interesting consequences to anything... In fact the author seems to tease us with things that almost go terribly terribly wrong, but nothing ever really does... This family seems to just bounce around through life until the book ends..
Not sure if I could go back in time, would I buy this book.
Narration was great, and admittedly is probably the only reason I made it all the way through it