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Half-Blood Blues Audiobook by Esi Edugyan
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Title: Half-Blood Blues
Subtitle: A Novel
Author: Esi Edugyan
Narrator: Kyle Riley
Format: Unabridged
Length: 11 hrs and 12 mins
Language: English
Release date: 02-28-12
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 75 votes
Genres: Fiction, Historical
Publisher's Summary:
The Hot Time Swingers, a popular jazz band, has been forbidden to play by the Nazis. Their young trumpet-player, Hieronymus Falk, declared a musical genius by none other than Louis Armstrong, is arrested in a Paris café. He is never heard from again. He was 20 years old, a German citizen. And he was black.
Berlin, 1952. Falk is a jazz legend. Hot Time Swingers band members Sid Griffiths and Chip Jones, both African Americans from Baltimore, have appeared in a documentary about Falk. When they are invited to attend the films premier, Sids role in Falks fate will be questioned and the two old musicians set off on a surprising and strange journey.
From the smoky bars of pre-war Berlin to the salons of Paris, Sid leads the listener through a fascinating, little-known world as he describes the friendships, love affairs, and treacheries that led to Falks incarceration in Sachsenhausen.
Half-Blood Blues is a story about music and race, love and loyalty, and the sacrifices we ask of ourselves, and demand of others, in the name of art.
Critic Reviews:
"Unforgettable Brilliantly conceived, gorgeously executed. Its a work that promises to lead black literature in a whole new direction." (
The Globe and Mail, Toronto)
"A superbly atmospheric prologue kick-starts a thrilling story about truth and betrayal. [A] brilliantly fast-moving novel." (
The Times, London)
"Shines with knowledge, emotional insight, and historical revisionismTruly extraordinary in its evocation of time and place, its shimmering jazz vernacular, its pitch-perfect male banter and its period slang." (
The Independent, London)
Members Reviews:
Sleeper: great book!
I loved this book. The only part that I thought fell a little flat was the ending. Throughout the rest of the book, I was hooked. The language and writing were fantastic. I listened to this as an audiobook, and I liked the narrator and the way that added to the experience. It was a little hard to pick up on the dialogue in the beginning, but I caught on to it. The banter between the musicians and the dialect they used had a really authentic feel to it. Also, the author's descriptions were fantastic. I especially liked the way she could describe music. Usually indefinite nouns like music or love or peace are so hard for an author to describe. But she does it really well. For example, the first time Sid and Chip play with Hieronymus Falk:
"The kid nodded. He begun to tease air through the brass. At first we all just stood there with our axes at the ready, staring at him. Nothing happened. I glanced at Chip, shook my head. But then I begun to hear, like a pinprick on the air--it was that subtle--the voice of a hummingbird singing at a pitch and speed almost beyond hearing. Wasn't like nothing I ever heard before. The kid come in at a strange angle, made the notes glitter like crystal. Pausing, he took a huge breath, started playing a ear-splitting scale that drawn out the invisible phrase he'd just played."
Sid is interesting because he says he hates Falk's playing. But he is partly motivated by jealousy for Falk, so the statement is suspicious. I think Sid is a fantastic and interesting character. As the narrator of the story, one has to wonder how what he tells us is colored through his narration. But it surely seems like he has been "shafted" by his friend Chip many times in his life.
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Title: Half-Blood Blues
Subtitle: A Novel
Author: Esi Edugyan
Narrator: Kyle Riley
Format: Unabridged
Length: 11 hrs and 12 mins
Language: English
Release date: 02-28-12
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 75 votes
Genres: Fiction, Historical
Publisher's Summary:
The Hot Time Swingers, a popular jazz band, has been forbidden to play by the Nazis. Their young trumpet-player, Hieronymus Falk, declared a musical genius by none other than Louis Armstrong, is arrested in a Paris café. He is never heard from again. He was 20 years old, a German citizen. And he was black.
Berlin, 1952. Falk is a jazz legend. Hot Time Swingers band members Sid Griffiths and Chip Jones, both African Americans from Baltimore, have appeared in a documentary about Falk. When they are invited to attend the films premier, Sids role in Falks fate will be questioned and the two old musicians set off on a surprising and strange journey.
From the smoky bars of pre-war Berlin to the salons of Paris, Sid leads the listener through a fascinating, little-known world as he describes the friendships, love affairs, and treacheries that led to Falks incarceration in Sachsenhausen.
Half-Blood Blues is a story about music and race, love and loyalty, and the sacrifices we ask of ourselves, and demand of others, in the name of art.
Critic Reviews:
"Unforgettable Brilliantly conceived, gorgeously executed. Its a work that promises to lead black literature in a whole new direction." (
The Globe and Mail, Toronto)
"A superbly atmospheric prologue kick-starts a thrilling story about truth and betrayal. [A] brilliantly fast-moving novel." (
The Times, London)
"Shines with knowledge, emotional insight, and historical revisionismTruly extraordinary in its evocation of time and place, its shimmering jazz vernacular, its pitch-perfect male banter and its period slang." (
The Independent, London)
Members Reviews:
Sleeper: great book!
I loved this book. The only part that I thought fell a little flat was the ending. Throughout the rest of the book, I was hooked. The language and writing were fantastic. I listened to this as an audiobook, and I liked the narrator and the way that added to the experience. It was a little hard to pick up on the dialogue in the beginning, but I caught on to it. The banter between the musicians and the dialect they used had a really authentic feel to it. Also, the author's descriptions were fantastic. I especially liked the way she could describe music. Usually indefinite nouns like music or love or peace are so hard for an author to describe. But she does it really well. For example, the first time Sid and Chip play with Hieronymus Falk:
"The kid nodded. He begun to tease air through the brass. At first we all just stood there with our axes at the ready, staring at him. Nothing happened. I glanced at Chip, shook my head. But then I begun to hear, like a pinprick on the air--it was that subtle--the voice of a hummingbird singing at a pitch and speed almost beyond hearing. Wasn't like nothing I ever heard before. The kid come in at a strange angle, made the notes glitter like crystal. Pausing, he took a huge breath, started playing a ear-splitting scale that drawn out the invisible phrase he'd just played."
Sid is interesting because he says he hates Falk's playing. But he is partly motivated by jealousy for Falk, so the statement is suspicious. I think Sid is a fantastic and interesting character. As the narrator of the story, one has to wonder how what he tells us is colored through his narration. But it surely seems like he has been "shafted" by his friend Chip many times in his life.