Download Best Sellers Audiobooks in Fiction, Literary

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Title: The Boy Who Followed Ripley

Author: Patricia Highsmith

Narrator: Kevin Kenerly

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs

Language: English

Release date: 01-24-12

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 164 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

Now part of American film and literary lore, Tom Ripley, "a bisexual psychopath and art forger who murders without remorse when his comforts are threatened" (New York Times Book Review), was Patricia Highsmith's favorite creation.

In The Boy Who Followed Ripley, Highsmith explores Ripley's bizarrely paternal relationship with a troubled young runaway, whose abduction draws them into Berlin's seamy underworld. More than any other American literary character, Ripley provides "a lens to peer into the sinister machinations of human behavior." (John Freeman, Pittsburgh Gazette).

Critic Reviews:

"Ripley is an unmistakable descendant of Gatsby, that 'penniless young man without a past' who will stop at nothing." (Frank Rich)

Members Reviews:

Ripley coldly floats between two steep cliffs.

This was a slippery Highsmith. Ripley coldly floats between two steep cliffs. He isn't necessarily a likable or even sympathetic narrator, but still manages to be someone it is natural to root for.

With the first three books in the Riplad, I bought into the idea that Tom Ripley was absolutely amoral. But that expecation, that setup, makes this novel seem even more crafty. Highsmith bends genders, flips expecations, dodges emotions, transforms motives, etc., and almost clones Ripley with Frank.

Probably the most disturbing character in the whole series is Tom's wife Heloise. I can sympathize Tom's amorality easy enough, but I just can't UNDERSTAND Heloise. While nothing about her is directly creepy, it is like Highsmith is using Heloise to point a finger at the West or perhaps at the reader.

Once again, Ripley is a fascinating character

What did you love best about The Boy Who Followed Ripley?

I like how Ripley has evolved and the various situations he is placed in.

What did you like best about this story?

the author has cleverly placed you inside the mind of Ripley. and a fascinating mind it is

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I thought it was great how Ripley wore a ' costume ' and took on the kidnappers. Absolute genius of the imagination

Any additional comments?

this is not the most thrilling of the Ripley series, but you should give it your time.

4th of Ripliad

I was truly moved by the hopelessness of helping Frank. Truly enjoy the author's works.

Tom Ripley

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes. As part of the whole Ripley series. Highsmith's character is a lesson in human nature. the amazing thing about Ripley is that he is such a perfect survivor. Ripley is completely unable to understand the reactions and sensibilities of 'normal' people. and yet he is not devoid of empathy or compassion. He just lacks conscience. He is an enigma but a believable on in Patricia Highsmith's skilled hands. And the reader likes him and doesn't want him to be caught.

What other book might you compare The Boy Who Followed Ripley to and why?

Denise Mina's Deception - the amount of self-deception by a point of view character is comparable. Although more happens in Mina's book. In the Ripley series it is just Tom Ripley, Tom Ripley, Tom Ripley.

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Title: The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break: A Novel

Author: Steven Sherrill

Narrator: Holter Graham

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-25-11

Publisher: Neil Gaiman Presents

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 1071 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

Award-winning author, narrator, and screenwriter Neil Gaiman personally selected this book, and, using the tools of the Audiobook Creation Exchange (ACX), cast the narrator and produced this work for his audiobook label, Neil Gaiman Presents.

A few words from Neil on The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break: "When Steve and I talked about the ideal voice for M, he suggested Holter Graham.because 'Holters handling of the Minotaurs grunt was PERFECT. Exactly what I heard in my head.'"

Five thousand years out of the Labyrinth, the Minotaur finds himself in the American South, living in a trailer park and working as a line cook at a steakhouse. No longer a devourer of human flesh, the Minotaur is a socially inept, lonely creature with very human needs. But over a two-week period, as his life dissolves into chaos, this broken and alienated immortal awakens to the possibility for happiness and to the capacity for love. "Sherrill also insinuates other mythological beasts - the Hermaphroditus, the Medusa - into the story, suggesting how the Southern landscape is shadowed by these myths. The plot centers around the Minotaur's feelings for Kelly, a waitress who is prone to epileptic fits. Does she reciprocate his affections? As the reader might expect, the course of interspecies love never does run smooth." (Publishers Weekly) Steven Sherrill created the artwork used for the audiobook edition of The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break.

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Members Reviews:

THE, THE, THE, THE, THE, THE MINOTAUR

If living 5000 years does this to your personality, then kill me at 80 please. THE Minotaur has lived 5000 years, yet he is inept and insecure in all things, except mechanical. Forget the title, he does not smoke. He does not drink, swim, talk or have fun. He is Anal.

The plot is, he works in a restaurant, lives in a trailer park, helps a guy move and that is it. I worked in a restaurant as a kid, you worked in a restaurant as a kid, 95% of the people who read this have worked in a restaurant. The descriptive, lengthy restaurant tripe might be interesting to rich academia types, but not the average reader. Even Koontz did not go to this length with his fry cook, Odd.

Through out the book he is consistently referred to as THE Minotaur. THE writer probably had some deep reason for not giving THE Minotaur a name. THE result for THE reader is that it is hard to empathize with THE Minotaur, since he as no name and in the English language we put THE in front of inanimate objects. His co-workers do call him M, he has no friends. Take THE Minotaur out of the book and you cut it in half. I wanted to give up on this book several times, but kept with it. Despite the lack of story, I did start to feel some empathy for the THE Minotaur toward the last part of the book. If my constant use of THE is irritating you then you do not want to listen to this book.

There are characters here from "My Name is Earl", but not well developed. The Minotaur is so un-minotaur like it is unbelievable. His hips and legs are as skinny as a girl. Even obese people have large legs and hips, from carry the load of there upper body. He has no balls. A bull with no balls. He is one sad bull and you will be sad if you expect too much from this.

I gave it three stars as the writer does show promise in his prose.

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Title: Let It Come Down

Author: Paul Bowles

Narrator: Marc Vietor

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 48 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-18-11

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 32 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

In Let It Come Down, Paul Bowles plots the doomed trajectory of Nelson Dyar, a New York bank teller who comes to Tangier in search of a different life and ends up giving in to his darkest impulses. Rich in descriptions of the corruption and decadence of the International Zone in the last days before Moroccan independence, Bowles's second novel is an alternately comic and horrific account of a descent into nihilism.

Members Reviews:

Well written and a great sense of place and time

Well written and a great sense of place and time. There were a great many typos in the book - it appeared to have been optically scanned into digital format without much proofreading.

Glimpse of last century's tangier

Captures glimpses of the famous city in the post war international zone. Truly a rich depiction of a man slowly corrupted, with a host of colorful and flawed characters around him.

it was a come down

Enjoyed reading about the time period this novel was set in. Bowles bogged down when he tried to describe the hashish experience. Not really happy with the ending

Good Read

I would have loved to have met him.

Not my cup of tea

Granted he is a very good writer (and musician) but this book is so depressing. The leading character is unlikeable and like just about every other character, is alcoholic and on drugs. Most of the writing internalizes each character - you are more aware of their thoughts than who they are...and usually they are drunk or stoned. I found no humor in any of the writing. It might have helped if there was some. When I finished reading I was left rather depressed.....

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Title: One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich

Author: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Narrator: Richard Brown

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 8 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-17-11

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 170 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

One of the most extraordinary literary documents to have emerged from the Soviet Union, this is the story of labor camp inmate Ivan Denisovich Shukhov and his struggle to maintain his dignity in the face of Communist oppression. Based on the authors own experience in the gulags, where he spent nearly a decade as punishment for making derogatory remarks against Stalin, the novel is an unforgettable portrait of the entire world of Stalins forced work camps. An instant classic upon publication in 1962, it confirmed Aleksandr Solzhenitsyns international stature as a literary genius whose talent matches that of Dostoevsky, Turgenev, Tolstoy (Harrison Salisbury).

Critic Reviews:

Richard Browns razor-sharp narration perfectly suits this fine translation. (

Library Journal)

"

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich yields, more than anything else, a beautiful sense of its author as a Chekhovian figure: simple, free of literary affectation, wholly serious. (

New Republic)

Members Reviews:

I wanted way more than one day -

I agree with one reviewer that the first 10 minutes are painful and I did consider turning it off. So glad I didn't though. This snapshot "day" opens the world of Stalin's forced labor camps. There is magic in the details, the thoughts, the motives... the bite of sausage, the bread in the mattress. I am so glad it was a good day he chose to share, since I felt almost as if with him. A classic I should have read years ago and will read again.

Most engaging book I have heard/read in months

I was a little reluctant to listen to this book as I was aware of the subject matter, a detailing of life in the Soviet gulag post- World War II, which sounds rather depressing. The reality of the experience was quite the opposite - a detailed description of a day in the life of an inmate of a forced labour camp, Ivan Denisovich, was engaging, and completely absorbing. Listening how the men were able to survive the seemingly endless series of days without hope of release or improvement in their gray, difficult tormented lives was in a strange way, very uplifting. Their endless sense of resourcefulness was touching, and despite the vast unjustness of their situation, the book paints a wonderful picture of human resilience, and leaves one with the sense that no matter how bad things get, one can always find meaning in the minutae of daily existence.

Will haunt you the rest of your life

What made the experience of listening to One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich the most enjoyable?

Actually, this is not an "enjoyable" book. It is, on the other hand, one of the most important books ever written about the 20th century. The story of Russia under Stalinst rule would be completely unbelievable if it weren't completely true.

What did you like best about this story?

How understated it is. By not overdoing it the auther made the story more powerful.

Which scene was your favorite?

I did not have a favorite scene. The book is so short it reads like a one-act play

Who was the most memorable character of One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich and why?

The narrator because his is the only mind tha author explores.

Any additional comments?

The reader for this book was a perfect choice.

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Title: The Lady Matadors Hotel

Author: Cristina Garcia

Narrator: Suzanne Toren

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 48 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-04-11

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 16 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

National Book Award finalist Cristina Garcia delivers a powerful and gorgeous novel about the intertwining lives of the denizens of a luxurious hotel in an unnamed Central American capital in the midst of political turmoil. The lives of six men and women converge over the course of one week. There is a Japanese-Mexican-American matadora in town for a bull-fighting competition; an ex-guerrilla now working as a waitress in the hotel coffee shop; a Korean manufacturer with an underage mistress ensconced in the honeymoon suite; an international adoption lawyer of German descent; a colonel who committed atrocities during his country's long civil war; and a Cuban poet who has come with his American wife to adopt a local infant. With each day, their lives become further entangled, resulting in the unexpected the clash of histories and the pull of revenge and desire. Cristina Garcia's magnificent orchestration of politics, the intimacies of daily life, and the frailty of human nature unfolds in a moving, ambitious, often comic, and unforgettable tale.

Critic Reviews:

The sultry atmosphere, dash of the supernatural, and well-developed characters are a winning mix, and the storys many parts move with frictionless ease. (Publishers Weekly)

"The novel has the energy of an obsessive tango. Or, indeed, a bullfight. (The New York Times Book Review)

Skilled, sensuous and wry. (Kirkus)

Members Reviews:

An entertaining short novel full of unique characters

This book reminds me of the classic movies were numerous characters run parallel lives and stars act in cameo roles to play all the multitude of characters in the story. It is like an airplane movie where we understand just enough about the characters to appreciate their history and point of view and then get to watch them interact. There are six storylines that involve six main characters that all interact in a hotel in Central America. The novel revolves around character traits more than about plot, so we see characters interact in situations rather than follow a smaller number of characters through a more complex plot that acts as a central armature, which is more typical of novels. It is also a novel that clearly deals with feminist themes, especially the role of women in society. Garcia's depiction of women and the life choices and life paths they take showed considerable insight. All of this personality drama is further embedded in political drama as the leftist freedom fighters struggle against the rightist fascist military powers. In fact this theme is as strong as the feminist themes that run through the book. I found the book to be humorous, not in a slapstick silly way, but in a cynical observer way. The details sum up the character. Fashion choices are fate. The lady matador's press conference answers to questions from the press is a perfect example of the sly humor embedded in the cynicism. Garcia writes well in a journalistic style that conveys meaning with well chosen details about the characters. She never bores the reader but keeps up a fast pace since she has six main characters to juggle in a short 200 page novel. You will speed through it, you will be entertained.

One hotel; six lives.

There are many stories about these six people and one hotel. Those lives and their stories intermingle in this all too short book. And, I felt as if I was a guest at Hotel Miraflor. But, I didn't need a room.

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Title: Gould's Book of Fish

Author: Richard Flanagan

Narrator: Humphrey Bower

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 48 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-01-10

Publisher: Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 38 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

Once upon a time that was called 1828, before all the living things on the land and the fishes in the sea were destroyed, there was a man named William Buelow Gould, a convict in Van Dieman's Land who fell in love with a black woman and discovered too late that to love is not safe. Silly Billy Gould, invader of Australia, liar, murderer, forger, fantasist, was condemned to live in the most brutal penal colony in the British Empire, and there ordered to paint a book of fish. Once upon a time, miraculous things happened....

Critic Reviews:

"Flanagan's fact-based fiction is a miraculously vulgar and sensationally evocative listen. The story of Billy Gould, a convict who has been sent to Van Dieman's Land, a Tasmanian penal colony, in 1828, reveals in graphic detail both the essence of inhumanity and bizarre acts of humanity. This vivid description of prison life combined with the story's surrealistic miracles could be a life-changing experience for the listener. Taking his cue from the enormous imagination of the author, Humphrey Bower catches the excessive vitality of Gould. Sometimes the manic pace of his narration overwhelms the novel's quieter moments, but the convict himself would probably not be disturbed. Prepare yourself to be drawn in, tossed about, horrified, and totally dazzled." (AudioFile magazine)

Members Reviews:

A bewildering experience

Flanagan created a twisting, turning tale that is both entertaining and bewildering. This book demands multiple readings. And, the experience is more enjoyable with every reading. The audio version is top-notch; the narrator completely nails the performance.

Wonderful, Funny & Oh So Well Written!

Just discovered this writer from down under and plan to read everything I can. Started with The Long Narrow Road ... and then found this book. Both were incredibly well written. Can see how he nabbed the Man Booker Prize and is so well reviewed around the globe. The books are entirely different but equally satisfying . Gould is the more humorous of the two and the most fantastical with the early years of Tasmanian history (early 1800's) as a backdrop. You will incidentally learn a great deal about Tasmania while you learn to love the larger than life William Buelow Gould who was a real prisoner artist. So beneath this entertaining, thoughtful tale are the bones of s true story and the crazy birth of a nation. Just read it...the work defies description.

A Treasure

What made the experience of listening to Gould's Book of Fish the most enjoyable?

Richard Flanagan is a treasure, and like so many treasures, he is precious, and undiscovered. Passages like, "Maybe we have lost the ability , that sixth sense that allows us to see miracles and have visions and understand that we are something other, larger than what we have been told", and " I have stolen songs from God," and lastly, "There is much more I don't know:....Why an alphabet can be contained in a world, but a world could never be contained in an alphabet", are but a few of the Gems that one finds in this book. One theme in this book that floats through the story is the power of words, how they can be used to revise the history of the world we live in, and as a result, create a world that has absolutely no resemblance to the world we live in.

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Title: Luka and the Fire of Life

Author: Salman Rushdie

Narrator: Lyndam Gregory

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-24-10

Publisher: Recorded Books

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 102 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

Honored with almost every conceivable award for literary merit, Salman Rushdie penned this richly imagined fable for his sonand for book lovers the world over. From Rashids fertile intellect spring bedazzling tales his son Luka devours with a childs earnestness. But when Rashid succumbs to an unending sleep, Luka must enter a magical world ruled by video-game logic.

Critic Reviews:

A celebration of storytelling, a possible prequel to the book Rushdie is said to be writing about his own enforced slumber, and a colorful, kick-up-your-heels delight." (Kirkus Review, starred review)

"Luka and the Fire of Life is a beautiful book. Well-written (obviously), imaginative (astonishingly so) and wonderful in the way it builds heartfelt magical fiction for kids who love video games: It's like a bridge, built between generations, fabulous and strange and from the heart." (Neil Gaiman)

"A book that can reach out to meet and move and touch a reader at any time of the reader's life, from childhood to middle age and beyond, is a rare and magical book, and Salman Rushdie is a rare and magical writer." (Michael Chabon)

Members Reviews:

An artful fantasy/mythology/video game mashup

I wish I could read this as a twelve year-old. It would send me scurrying to find the myriad sources of the storyteller's material, filling a summer with wonder and delight. Rushdie's literary fantasy video game seems capable of seducing a kid away from XBox or PSP and enriching a young imagination as it explores the treasure trove(s) from which the writer has conjured teasing glimpses and succulently baited hooks. Amerindian demigods; deities from every age and corner of the globe; named natural powers of wind and sea and fire; all play their parts in an extraordinary embroidery of tale and myth. As a child, I would have tracked them all down in their original settings and then reread Luka's adventure with deep satisfaction and pleasure.

For an adult reader the tale is perhaps a trifle overwrought. I could not help but wonder at the amazingly comprehensive cast of characters. Still, I found the narration, which is quite in keeping with the world of the twelve year-old auditor, a bit too wide-eyed and breathless for an adult listener, and the cavalcade of mythical beings became a little wearisome by the end. This even while under the influence of Rushdie's superb prose style.

I suspect, however, that I will find myself reading this book to a grandchild in bedtime installments sometime in the future. So three stars boosted to four in anticipation of that greater pleasure yet to come.

Magical & Haunting

The reading was so interactive and enthusiastic that I found myself wanting to continue listening far into the night, even after I found myself being dragged into exhausted sleep. Well done, all!

a beautiful escape.

a very charming story, not nearly as deep as Midnights Children or The Satanic Versus but beautiful and whimsical in true Rushdie fashion.

Happily surprised

Fun world of magic and living through an adventurous video game fighting for his father.

Perfectly delightful

Rushdie outdoes himself! As ways, his theme of parallel universes/realities is well fleshed out, well populated, and just quirky enough. I want more.

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Title: Palo Alto

Subtitle: Stories

Author: James Franco

Narrator: James Franco, Stacey Miller

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 12 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-02-10

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 124 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

A fiercely vivid collection of stories about troubled California teenagers and misfits - violent and harrowing, from the astonishingly talented actor and artist James Franco.

Palo Alto is the debut of a surprising and powerful new literary voice. Written with an immediate sense of place - claustrophobic and ominous - James Franco's collection traces the lives of an extended group of teenagers as they experiment with vices of all kinds, struggle with their families and one another, and succumb to self-destructive, often heartless nihilism.

In "Lockheed" a young woman's summer - spent working a dull internship - is suddenly upended by a spectacular incident of violence at a house party. In "American History" a high-school freshman attempts to impress a girl during a classroom skit with a realistic portrayal of a slave owner, only to have his feigned bigotry avenged. In "I Could Kill Someone" a lonely teenager buys a gun with the aim of killing his high-school tormentor, but begins to wonder about his bully's own inner life.

These linked stories, stark, vivid, and disturbing, are a compelling portrait of lives on the rough fringes of youth.

Critic Reviews:

"It's the harsh humor that surprises in these stories - that and the observations that show James Franco to be an original and simpatico voice finely tuned to the territory. These quotable, unsettling stories stay with you; they seem to change the ions in a room." (Amy Hempel)

"Franco's talent is unmistakable, his ambition profound. He has taken the twin subjects of suburban Palo Alto and American adolescence and made them as scary and true as they must be. This is a book to be inhaled more than once, with delight and admiration, with unease and pure enjoyment. As a writer, he's here to stay." (Gary Shteyngart, author of Absurdistan and Super Sad True Love Story)

Members Reviews:

Hit Home

Would you listen to Palo Alto again? Why?

Maybe. It was compelling to me because I grew up in the SF Bay Area it brought me back to how difficult and confusing it was at that age. It is a very raw look at like in suburbia where parents are too busy, too weak or too much in denial to have an in-depth relationship with their children and how lost and hopeless kids can become with no direction and then thrown in the shark tank that is American High School.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The characters were confusing and depressed for the most part. I feel sorry for all of them and to some extent feel sorry for who I was at that age. So my favorite character is me...

Which scene was your favorite?

The realization that the meek don't inherit the earth.

Who was the most memorable character of Palo Alto and why?

April because of the way she was just persuaded into the molestation of her coach. That sort of thing is so much more common than anyone can imagine. Its horrifying.

Any additional comments?

I am at the same time depressed and refreshed for having been reminded of those years and then having an opportunity to share those things in the company of others

through his book. Franco wanted to connect an older generation with a newer one and he did it perfectly.

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Title: The Lonely Polygamist

Author: Brady Udall

Narrator: David Aaron Baker

Format: Unabridged

Length: 23 hrs and 10 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-19-10

Publisher: Recorded Books

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 460 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

Brady Udall is the acclaimed author of the internationally best-selling The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint. In The Lonely Polygamist, Udall pens a tragicomic tale starring Golden Richards - who, despite having four wives and 28 children, hasnt quite found fulfillment in life.

Like other men in the midst of a mid-life crisis, Golden feels as though hes drowning. His wives squabble amongst themselves, and he hardly has time for all his children - least of all the 11-year-old whos taken a keen interest in explosives. And now his construction business is struggling. Yet even after Golden falls in love again and takes a mistress to alleviate his pain, life continues to fall short of expectations.

Udalls skillfully observed tale is as comic as it is sublimely catastrophic. (Publishers Weekly).

Critic Reviews:

One of the best novels Ive read in a while . . . Golden Richards, middle-aged, 6-foot-6 polygamist with an overbite, is one of the most appealing, original, and brilliantly tragicomic protagonists to appear in American fiction in some time. (Newsday)

A wry, sympathetic portrait of a spectacularly dysfunctional family. (The New Yorker)

A thick, transporting, critically hailed novel from which you emerge, blinking but sated, into the real world. (Miami Herald)

Members Reviews:

Believe the Hype

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I was reticent to read this book after all the media hype & reviews, but delighted I did. Many layers of personality conflict, background, beliefs fit together well to keep you thinking over the seemingly simple events long after you have pressed pause. This author had several plotlines seamlessly weaving together to an explosive, fulfilling ending. It is subtly witty and gives cause for contemplation. The title actually sums up the story. Enjoyed this author's style immensely.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I enjoyed the main character, the Dad because I could feel his uneasiness to please and desire to want a few minutes alone. He was so patient, kind, and wanted to do the right thing. I admired him. Also liked the son's storyline. I also connected with his isolation and sadness at the hands of bullying. His desire for his "other mother" was sweet and sad and entertaining.

Which scene was your favorite?

I liked the part where the main character found the chewing gum...if you listen, you'll know what I mean. It was so simple and funny, but the underlying meaning was fantastic.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The end of the story was fantastic. The plotlines tied together smoothly reaching conclusion. This author knows how to write a superb ending.

Any additional comments?

BUY IT!!!

Book Proves That Authors Can Think Sideways

I bought this book on the recommendation of Audible and I'm glad I did. I have rarely read a book that made me wonder how an author could come up with that idea; that phrase; that description - all of which combined thrust me into the world of Golden Richards, one of the most confused people I have ever met. Udall takes us through his life and trials from Golden's childhood up until middle age all the while wondering, "Am I supposed to like him or not." And that's part of the point. No one in the book can really decide that either. The writing is brilliant, stunning and absolutely unique. There are moments of such humor that I laughed out loud even while alone.

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Title: Zora and Me

Author: Victoria Bond, T. R. Simon

Narrator: Channie Waites

Format: Unabridged

Length: 3 hrs and 40 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-12-10

Publisher: Brilliance Audio

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

When a young mans body is found by the railroad tracks, the murder and its mysterious circumstances threaten the peace and security of a small Florida town. Zora believes she knows who killed Ivory, and she isnt afraid to tell anyone wholl listen.

Whether Zora is telling the truth or stretching it, shes a riveting storyteller. Her latest tale is especially mesmerizing because it is so chillingly believable: a murderous shape-shifting gator-man - half man, half gator - prowls the marshes nearby, aching to satisfy his hunger for souls and beautiful voices. And Ivorys voice? When Ivory sang, his voice was as warm as honey and twice as sweet.

Zora enlists her best friends, Carrie and Teddy, to help prove her theory. In their search for the truth, they stumble unwittingly into an ugly web of envy and lies, deceit and betrayal. Just as unexpectedly, the three friends become the key that unlocks the mystery and the unlikely saviors of Eatonville itself.

Best friend Carrie narrates this coming-of-age story set in the hometown of American author Zora Neale Hurston (18911960). Drawing on Hurstons stories, novels, and life, debut novelists Victoria Bond and T. R. Simon create an utterly convincing echo of a literary giant in this, the only project ever to be endorsed by the Zora Neale Hurston Trust that was not written by Hurston herself.

Members Reviews:

Spirited, Creative Zora

This book is delightful. The voice of the narrator will draw the audience into the world of the small, all black, community of Eatonville, Florida and Zora Neale Hurston's friends and family. We get a glimpse of how Zora's creative imagination keeps everyone trying to figure out if her stories are truth, lies, or just the way she makes sense of the world. We do learn that early on, Zora is confident of her ability to tell stories and entertain others with them.

This book was written to be read aloud, in true folklore/tall-tale fashion. It has great instructional possibility. The language is rich, the historical facts are compelling, and the dialogue creates humor and suspense. The female leads are strong, and well developed for the books 180 pages. Zora's curiosity, and imagination are central to the movement of the story. The book also contains a biography of Zora Neale Hurston, and a timeline of her life.

The book does have a few sobering moments, as it opens with man being killed by an alligator. Subsequently, we learn that the main characters father left town to find work, and never returned, a traveling man the children meet and befriend is found murdered with his head missing, and then a strange, quiet man who is the subject of Zora's tall-tales dies in his sleep. All of this misfortune concerning the men of Eatonville however, lends itself to many discussion and instruction possibilities, not the least of which is Zora's "coming of age" and learning the truth about life. These truths, include one characters decision to "pass" for white which is the source of both confusion and tragedy. Zora wades through it all within her circle of family, friends and support and does so with audacious determination and curiosity.

Much to Admire

There is so much to admire in Zora and Me by Bond and Simon. The authors have created a believable and heartfelt story...up to a point.