Nancy

Toolbox for Transformation

Revisado: 06-17-24

For anyone who wants to "be the change you want to see in the world" -- Here is a book for you!

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Redemptive ending

Revisado: 05-19-24

From the perspective of the end, the novel had a satisfying shape and the protagonist seemed as if she might develop some depth and complexity. Until then, she was hard to like: shallow, guarded, lacking self-awareness and cultural sensitivity. In interactions with her previously unknown African family members, the narrator, who was raised by her white mother, is bratty, disrespectful, and entitled. The first hint of potential development comes in a conversation w her white husband who asks what she has been learning. She replies, “I’m learning that I’m white.”

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Beautiful writing; sometimes went on too long

Revisado: 05-09-24

This book is elegantly structured, beautifully written and read. Very tender, poignant portrayal of a child puzzling her way through the loss of her mother. Vivid, compelling descriptions of places. In my view the book could have benefited from further editing. There were two or three chapters that did little to deepen the story or move it along. I began to lose empathy with the narrator as she aged and did not seem to mature.

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Intricate, intimate, exquisitely written and read

Revisado: 04-24-24

I gasped when I realized that I had just heard the last sentence of this audio book — and will certainly go back and listen to it al again one day. Each character is vividly known as a private person and in a web of relations, forward and backward in time. Each scene is carefully set, with just enough detail to bring the reader fully present. There is horror, beauty, longing, love, hatred, greed, and transcendence woven into everyday life. I wanted this book to go on forever. Which it’s implications will.

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Exceptional reader! Difficult read.

Revisado: 02-29-24

Readers facility in moving between voices, accents, languages, and modes of story-telling was exceptional.
Story was gripping, compelling, and remains with me long after I finished listening — even though there were long passages that made me wince, with the main character’s convoluted introspection (“is this just my ego?”). Same with dialogues between characters who havejust experienced life-changing revelations or losses, which move almost immediately into abstract reflections and literary references.
Though I almost stopped listening after about 2 hours, I feel richly rewarded in the end.

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Extraordinary reader! Lovingly written tales.

Revisado: 02-08-24

Very vividly described characters, each voice perfectly rendered. I will never forget Nana. So much life in a small community where everyone know everyone and they never stop surprising each other with the twists and turns of their lives

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Beautifully written and read

Revisado: 01-28-24

The reader is exceptional in his ability to move from narration to quoted dialogue, among many nuanced hierarchies of class and race and place. Author’s detailed observations of setting, character, and historical undercurrent from one scene to the next kept me riveted.

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Unfortunate choice of narrator

Revisado: 01-12-24

This novel is beautifully written; characters and scenes lovingly imagined and described. The writing is unfortunately not well served by the reader, whose style is theatrical and calls attention to itself.

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Devastating

Revisado: 01-09-24

This is a story of unrelenting cruelty, suffering, and endurance. Even the gods are unfaithful. I did not dare to hope for any respite in the end, but it finally came. A protagonist of unbending courage, strength, and belief in herself, in a world set on crushing her.

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Exquisitely written and read

Revisado: 01-03-24

The reader of this novel is exceptional in every way. He has the greatest range I’ve ever heard with accents, and his cadence and tone carried the narrative beautifully.
The writing itself is exquisite: lovingly observed characters, relationships, scenes. The plot strained credulity in places, particularly in tying everything together toward the end. Still: this author is a master at epic and intimate story-telling.

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