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Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
- Narrated by: Jeff Woodman, Barbara Caruso, Richard Ferrone
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
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Publisher's Summary
Nine-year-old Oskar Schell is a precocious Francophile who idolizes Stephen Hawking and plays the tambourine extremely well. He's also a boy struggling to come to terms with his father's death in the World Trade Center attacks. As he searches New York City for the lock that fits a mysterious key his father left behind, Oskar discovers much more than he could have imagined.
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is a masterfully imagined novel from an author Time hails as "a certified wunderkind".
Critic Reviews
- 2005 Audie Award Nominee, Multi-Voiced Performance
"Piercing and so funny." (The Bookseller)
"[Oskar's] first-person narration of his journey is arrestingly beautiful, and readers won't soon forget him." (Booklist)
"Jonathan Safran Foer's second novel is everything one hoped it would be: ambitious, pyrotechnic, riddling, and above all...extremely moving. An exceptional achievement." (Salman Rushdie)
"Brilliant....Unafraid to show his traumatized characters' constant groping for emotional catharsis, Foer demonstrates once again that he is one of the few contemporary writers willing to risk sentimentalism in order to address great questions of truth, love, and beauty." (Publishers Weekly)
Featured Article: 15 Essential Jewish Authors to Hear in Audio
The Jewish diaspora is vast, diverse, and full of stories. In recent years, Jewish authors have published books about everything from love, identity, and history to crime, romance, and what it means to come of age in the modern world. While this list is by no means complete, these 15 Jewish authors have written some of the most fascinating Jewish literature, and they represent a deep catalog of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry in a range of genres.
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What listeners say about Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Performance
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- Elizabeth
- 11-01-13
Absolutely Amazing Book
Read this book. Listen to this book. It is that good. I saw the movie when it came out and though I enjoyed the movie - they do not compare. The book is a whole new story. You get to hear the thoughts of young Oskar and his grandparents. There is no way a movie can convey those thoughts. This author is brilliant. Truly brilliant. He ties so many things together - the parallels between the beginning of World War II and the World Trade Center disaster. I don't want to start a new book because I don't want to forget this one.
32 people found this helpful
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- Bonny
- 01-31-12
Far, far better than the print version
The people at the post office, grocery store, and library probably think I'm crazy because as I approached the last hour of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, I simply couldn't stop listening, but I also couldn't stop crying. Not sobbing hysterically, just tears running down my face continually because of the bare truths made evident in this novel:
~Love
~Truth
~It's always necessary.
Oskar Schell is a nine-year old whose father has been lost in the World Trade Center on 9/11. Oskar is curious, inquisitive, and truthful, characteristics which make his life interesting, difficult, humorous, and painful. ELIC is the story of Oskar's quest to find the lock to match the key he believes his father has left for him. Both his grandfather and grandmother tell their stories in chapters entitled "Why I'm Not Where You Are" and "My Feelings" respectively. As soon as Oskar asked, "Why didn’t he say goodbye?" and "Why didn’t he say I love you?" I knew I had to finish the book. I have had those same questions, and felt like a nine-year old when trying to answer them. I don't know if answers are forthcoming, but the search for answers is worthwhile and necessary.
I approached this book with a bit of trepidation because I tried to read the print version several years ago and couldn't get past the formatting. This time I listened to it; I don't think I lost anything by not having access to the blank pages, pictures, and words on top of each other in the print version, and gained quite a bit of understanding by simply hearing the book read. This is not a book that I thought would translate well to audio, but for me it was a huge improvement.
37 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Jbug
- 12-27-09
Hard book to review
I'm torn about this book. Audio books have 3 ingredients--the story, the writing, and the narration. The story in this book is so, so. I'd give it a 3. The narration is by three people, the narration of the boy is a 5 and the other 2 are 3s. The real reason to listen to this book is the writing which is a 5. The writing is unique and thought provoking. If you want a book to listen to while you do something else or to be entertained--this is not the book. This is one of those books that requires a little work on your part to really enjoy it.
84 people found this helpful
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Overall
- NPR Guy
- 09-12-05
Suffused my being...
By far the best audio book I've experienced thus far. I have not read the print version and so, perhaps, am not prone to the sense of "something missing" in the verbalization of what, I assume, are visual representations in the book. I found the book to be more like a play in that the narrators are more like fantastic "radio" actors. They perfectly evoke their characters without over-emoting.
As for the content of the book, it's breathtaking. My favorite character is the child, Oskar. Here's an example of the warped mirror of dry irony created when a child views the world with intelligent eyes. Oskar's so very active and acute mind is unsullied by adult resignation. That's why he breaks your heart with his unrelenting and purely innocent attempts to understand his unbearable loss. I found myself rooting furiously for success in Oskar's mission, knowing all the while that it was, of course, futile.
The other characters are also very compelling, involved as they are in their own crushing losses, confusions and disappointments. Their tales unfold more subtlely than Oskar's. At their first introductions, I found myself somewhat at sea, not certain as to what was "going on". Have faith, dear listener, because the mosaic becomes a clear picture as time goes by and all the characters become enmeshed in a greater story.
There is much sadness in this book, but it is elevated to a kind of ecstatic melancholy by the objective simplicity of the writing. I found my emotions fully engaged but never manipulated or exploited. I was not depressed by the experience, but exhillerated. And there's a fair amount of redemption at the end of the book.
This book is positively magic, made all the more so by the exquisite performances of the narrators. Can't recommend it highly enough!
Best,
69 people found this helpful
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- David
- 02-27-14
Franz Kafka, Neil Gaiman, Isaac Bashevis Singer
Half an hour into the book I thought I was in for a tedious slog. Oskar, the more than precocious little boy who is the main character, wore me out fairly quickly with his wide-eyed naivete and remarkable imagination. This seemed like a writer who was trying way too hard. Gradually it became clear that it was Oskar who was trying way too hard, and the pain and confusion which were driving him were brought artfully into focus by some really brilliant writing. Still, Oskar's story by itself would not have sustained the book and, for me, the growing beauty of the narrative began to blossom with the entrance of his grandfather and grandmother, each relating his/her own journey in a continuous, Rashomon-like shift of perspectives. As things progress, these three points of view begin to construct a kind of hall of mirrors which finally can only be resolved by accepting all of them as true.
For me the book finally became poetry, not of word, though the use of language is often exquisite, but of narrative detail. Some readers have had problems with the far fetched elements of the story--a man who loses spoken language one word at a time until the only word he has left is "I" and then loses that as well. A man who, each day after the death of his wife, drives a new nail into the bed he built for her and shared with her, until the thing weighs so much that he must construct a column to support the floor beneath it--and cannot say why he does it. These are brilliant and profound poetic images which accumulate through the course of the book and resist a one for one interpretation of "meaning." They mean what they do-to-you as you encounter them and let them under your skin. They are improbable and entirely true.
Most reviewers seem most taken by Oskar but, perhaps because I am older than the average, I was most deeply affected by the grandmother and grandfather. I found their narratives deeply moving and evocative of the struggle we so often have with intimacy and being known by those closest to us. I recommend the book most enthusiastically to those who have loved or almost loved for many years and are still struggling to get it right.
Incidentally, the book actually has very little to do with 9/11 but a great deal to do with loss, healing and our amazing capacity to rediscover things we think we have lost forever. It lifted my spirits and made my heart swell.
22 people found this helpful
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- Suzn F
- 06-27-12
Funny Heartbreaking Wonderful Book
OMG, okay..... I really loved this book. The main character Oskar is part Eloise meets Edgar Mint meets Oscar Wao meets Owen Meaney. I laughed, I cried, I didn't want it to end. What more can one ask of a book?
I haven't seen the movie so I cannot compare, but listen to this wonderfully narrated book, you will be so very glad you did!
32 people found this helpful
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- FanB14
- 02-09-13
Quirky Quest
Young Oscar plays the tambourine, wears all white, makes jewelrey and has a googleplex level of intelligence. His father perished on 9/11 and left a key our young hero believes opens the box to a secret message. In the past, Oscar's father set up scavenger hunts around Central Park and told complex tales of wonder. The story isn't so much about the horrific events of that day, as it is about the current quest for meaning on which Oscar embarks. His Grandmother and Grandfather lament on their past with odd, unorthodox, symbolic stories.
The novel is amusing, heartwarming, and quite quirky. The main ideas and characters eventually merge together and the ending was satisfying. I like books such as this one, where the ending isn't as expected yet you felt the journey was worth it. There were many moments where I paused and processed the hidden meanings. Enjoyed this immensely and told my children I loved them.
29 people found this helpful
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- Nan S
- 06-13-05
Like one hundred dollars
This book is told in 3 voices - a boy and his grandmother and grandfather. It describes horrific events, revealing them bit by bit, from different points of view. The horror is interspersed with hilarious moments. It is the first fiction I have been able to read that deals with the aftermath of September 11th in a realistic way. It jumps around in time and viewpoint, but that is part of the magic. Towards the end, I couldn't tear myself away.
27 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Christopher
- 05-16-05
Life from the eyes of a child
Jonathan Safron Foer excels at the audiobook format. The way he writes is meant to be interpreted by a reader like a dramatic script since very often he plays with how the words appear on the page-- repetition, quotations, lists, and more actually work better in the audible format.
Here is a story of a precocious young boy travelling who is on a quest to find the owner of a key he found in his deceased father's closet. His only clue is the word "Black", so he sets out to ask every person surnamed Black in NYC if they know anything about the key. Don't be fooled by the lighthearted plot-- this story is heartwrenching, and it deals with wounds that may not have healed since it is in the aftermath of 9/11. As usual, Foer creates numerous side characters that are as unique as they are loveable, and this alone makes the book worth it.
Nevertheless, I would recommend starting with Foer's other book, Everything is Illuminated, first. This one deals with another heavy subject-- Nazi terror-- but is more hopeful, sweeping, and moving overall.
32 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Laurie Van Horn
- 04-27-05
The best performance ever!
The characters in this story are wonderful. Oscar's observations and storytelling are precious. Did not want this book to end!
22 people found this helpful
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Story
In 1985, Yale Tishman, the development director for an art gallery in Chicago, is about to pull off an amazing coup, bringing in an extraordinary collection of 1920s paintings as a gift to the gallery. Yet as his career begins to flourish, the carnage of the AIDS epidemic grows around him. One by one, his friends are dying and after his friend Nico's funeral, the virus circles closer and closer to Yale himself. Soon the only person he has left is Fiona, Nico's little sister.
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A story for all time
- By Amazon Customer on 08-06-18
By: Rebecca Makkai
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The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
- By: Ann Brashares
- Narrated by: Angela Goethals
- Length: 6 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Carmen got the jeans at a thrift shop. They didn't look all that great; they were worn, dirty, and speckled with bleach. On the night before she and her friends part for the summer, Carmen decides to toss them. But Tibby says they're great. She'd love to have them. Lena and Bridget also think they're fabulous. Lena decides they should all try them on. Whoever they fit best will get them. Nobody knows why, but the pants fit everyone perfectly.
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Fabulous book
- By Amy on 06-16-04
By: Ann Brashares
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Here I Am
- A Novel
- By: Jonathan Safran Foer
- Narrated by: Ari Fliakos
- Length: 16 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In the book of Genesis, when God calls out, "Abraham!" before ordering him to sacrifice his son, Isaac, Abraham responds, "Here I am." Later, when Isaac calls out, "My father!" before asking him why there is no animal to slaughter, Abraham responds, "Here I am." How do we fulfill our conflicting duties as father, husband, and son; wife and mother; child and adult? Jew and American? How can we claim our own identities when our lives are linked so closely to others'?
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Wonderful novel marred by imperfect narration
- By Sara23 on 09-30-16
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Tell the Wolves I’m Home
- A Novel
- By: Carol Rifka Brunt
- Narrated by: Amy Rubinate
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
1987. There’s only one person who has ever truly understood fourteen-year-old June Elbus, and that’s her uncle, the renowned painter Finn Weiss. Shy at school and distant from her older sister, June can only be herself in Finn’s company; he is her godfather, confidant, and best friend. So when he dies, far too young, of a mysterious illness her mother can barely speak about, June’s world is turned upside down. But Finn’s death brings a surprise acquaintance into June’s life - someone who will help her to heal....
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worst protagonist ever
- By Danica on 12-19-14
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Girl Who Fell from the Sky
- By: Heidi Durrow
- Narrated by: Karen Murray, Emily Bauer, Kathleen McInerney
- Length: 6 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The daughter of a Danish immigrant and a black G.I., Rachel survives a family tragedy only to face new challenges. Sent to live with her strict African-American grandmother in a racially divided Northwest city, she must suppress her grief and reinvent herself in a mostly black community. A beauty with light brown skin and blue eyes, she attracts much attention in her new home. The world wants to see her as either black or white, but that's not how she sees herself.
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Prompts You to Examine Cultural Stereotypes
- By Julie on 04-01-11
By: Heidi Durrow
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The History of Love
- By: Nicole Krauss
- Narrated by: George Guidall, Barbara Caruso, Julia Gibson, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Nicole Krauss' first novel, Man Walks Into a Room, was shortlisted for the Los Angeles Times Book Award and her short fiction has been collected in Best American Short Stories. Now The History of Love proves Krauss is among our finest and freshest literary voices.
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George Guidall awesome, rest pale
- By MMinSouthernCA on 12-05-15
By: Nicole Krauss
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The Great Believers
- By: Rebecca Makkai
- Narrated by: Michael Crouch
- Length: 18 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
In 1985, Yale Tishman, the development director for an art gallery in Chicago, is about to pull off an amazing coup, bringing in an extraordinary collection of 1920s paintings as a gift to the gallery. Yet as his career begins to flourish, the carnage of the AIDS epidemic grows around him. One by one, his friends are dying and after his friend Nico's funeral, the virus circles closer and closer to Yale himself. Soon the only person he has left is Fiona, Nico's little sister.
-
-
A story for all time
- By Amazon Customer on 08-06-18
By: Rebecca Makkai
-
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
- By: Ann Brashares
- Narrated by: Angela Goethals
- Length: 6 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Carmen got the jeans at a thrift shop. They didn't look all that great; they were worn, dirty, and speckled with bleach. On the night before she and her friends part for the summer, Carmen decides to toss them. But Tibby says they're great. She'd love to have them. Lena and Bridget also think they're fabulous. Lena decides they should all try them on. Whoever they fit best will get them. Nobody knows why, but the pants fit everyone perfectly.
-
-
Fabulous book
- By Amy on 06-16-04
By: Ann Brashares
-
Here I Am
- A Novel
- By: Jonathan Safran Foer
- Narrated by: Ari Fliakos
- Length: 16 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the book of Genesis, when God calls out, "Abraham!" before ordering him to sacrifice his son, Isaac, Abraham responds, "Here I am." Later, when Isaac calls out, "My father!" before asking him why there is no animal to slaughter, Abraham responds, "Here I am." How do we fulfill our conflicting duties as father, husband, and son; wife and mother; child and adult? Jew and American? How can we claim our own identities when our lives are linked so closely to others'?
-
-
Wonderful novel marred by imperfect narration
- By Sara23 on 09-30-16
-
Tell the Wolves I’m Home
- A Novel
- By: Carol Rifka Brunt
- Narrated by: Amy Rubinate
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
1987. There’s only one person who has ever truly understood fourteen-year-old June Elbus, and that’s her uncle, the renowned painter Finn Weiss. Shy at school and distant from her older sister, June can only be herself in Finn’s company; he is her godfather, confidant, and best friend. So when he dies, far too young, of a mysterious illness her mother can barely speak about, June’s world is turned upside down. But Finn’s death brings a surprise acquaintance into June’s life - someone who will help her to heal....
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worst protagonist ever
- By Danica on 12-19-14
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Girl Who Fell from the Sky
- By: Heidi Durrow
- Narrated by: Karen Murray, Emily Bauer, Kathleen McInerney
- Length: 6 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The daughter of a Danish immigrant and a black G.I., Rachel survives a family tragedy only to face new challenges. Sent to live with her strict African-American grandmother in a racially divided Northwest city, she must suppress her grief and reinvent herself in a mostly black community. A beauty with light brown skin and blue eyes, she attracts much attention in her new home. The world wants to see her as either black or white, but that's not how she sees herself.
-
-
Prompts You to Examine Cultural Stereotypes
- By Julie on 04-01-11
By: Heidi Durrow
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The Magician's Assistant
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Karen Ziemba
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
When a gay Los Angeles magician named Parsifal dies suddenly, he leaves behind his heartbroken assistant, Sabine, and a secret past that leads her to Nebraska and a father she never knew he had.
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Stellar writing and narration-Pachett is a winner
- By Brian PDX on 06-18-12
By: Ann Patchett
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The Good Liar
- By: Catherine McKenzie
- Narrated by: Teri Clark Linden, Kate Rudd, Whitney Dykhouse, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
When an explosion rips apart a Chicago building, the lives of three women are forever altered. A year later, Cecily is in mourning. She was supposed to be in the building that day. Instead, she stood on the street and witnessed it going down, with her husband and best friend inside. Kate, now living thousands of miles away, fled the disaster and is hoping that her past won’t catch up with her. And Franny, a young woman in search of her birth mother, watched the horror unfold on the morning news, knowing that the woman she was so desperate to reconnect with was in the building.
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The Truth About "The Good Liar"....
- By MA Reviewer on 04-15-18
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Summer Hours at the Robbers Library
- A Novel
- By: Sue Halpern
- Narrated by: Josh Bloomberg, Dara Rosenberg, Allyson Ryan
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
People are drawn to libraries for all kinds of reasons. Most come for the books themselves, of course; some come to borrow companionship. For head librarian Kit, the public library in Riverton, New Hampshire, offers what she craves most: peace. Here, no one expects Kit to talk about the calamitous events that catapulted her out of what she thought was a settled, suburban life. She can simply submerge herself in her beloved books and try to forget her problems. But that changes when 15-year-old, home-schooled Sunny gets arrested for shoplifting a dictionary.
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Great Story. Well Read.
- By Catherine Singer on 07-12-18
By: Sue Halpern
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The Sun Is Also a Star
- By: Nicola Yoon
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin, Raymond Lee, Dominic Hoffman
- Length: 8 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Natasha: I’m a girl who believes in science and facts. Not fate. Not destiny. Or dreams that will never come true. I’m definitely not the kind of girl who meets a cute boy on a crowded New York City street and falls in love with him. Not when my family is 12 hours away from being deported to Jamaica. Falling in love with him won’t be my story. Daniel: I’ve always been the good son, the good student, living up to my parents’ high expectations. Never the poet. Or the dreamer. But when I see her, I forget about all that.
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Beautifully written love story
- By BookLuvr73 on 12-16-16
By: Nicola Yoon
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Chasing Windmills
- By: Catherine Ryan Ryan Hyde
- Narrated by: Jesse Bernstein, Amber Sealey
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Sebastian, a lonely 17-year-old, is suffocating under his dominant father's control. In the 10 years since his mother passed away, his father has kept him "safe" by barely allowing him out of their apartment. Sebastian's secret late-night subway rides are rare acts of rebellion.
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Corny ending, but a good story up until then.
- By C. Davis on 10-11-15
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Walter's Purple Heart
- By: Catherine Ryan Hyde
- Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne
- Length: 7 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Michael Steeb is an aimless 21-year-old pot farmer in Central California in the 1980s. He has no real plans or interests...until the day he connects with memories of a life that seems to belong to someone else. That "spirit" is Walter, a young American soldier killed in World War II. Michael's task is the near-impossible: to lead Walter's family to closure and peace, to deliver the real truth behind Walter's Purple Heart, and to somehow achieve the forgiveness absent for so many years so Walter can move on.
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Out of the Box
- By Stephen Hayes on 08-17-22