-
Too Close to the Falls
- A Memoir
- Narrated by: Allyson Johnson
- Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Biographies & Memoirs, Women
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $16.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Coming Ashore
- A Memoir
- By: Catherine Gildiner
- Narrated by: Nathalie Toriel
- Length: 11 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Picking up her story in the late '60s at age 21, Cathy whisks through seven years and three countries. Whether reciting verse in the classrooms of the University of Oxford, arranging a date with Jimi Hendrix, teaching inner-city kids literature, rooming with a major drug dealer, falling in love, or working in a psychiatric hospital, Cathy determinedly blazes her own trail through all the passion and uncertainty that comes with the cusp of adulthood.
-
American Daughter
- A Memoir
- By: Stephanie Thornton Plymale, Elissa Wald
- Narrated by: Mozhan Marno
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The sharp and surprising true story of a woman who finally sets out to understand her past, and the mother she had one day hoped to forget. Full of unexpected twists and unbelievable revelations, American Daughter is an immersive memoir that will have you on the edge of your seat to the very last minute.
-
-
Powerful Memoir
- By J. v. Kirchbach on 03-30-21
By: Stephanie Thornton Plymale, and others
-
Finding Fish
- A Memoir
- By: Antwone Q. Fisher
- Narrated by: Thomas Penny
- Length: 12 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Baby Boy Fisher was raised in institutions from the moment of his birth in prison to a single mother. He ultimately came to live with a foster family, where he endured near-constant verbal and physical abuse. In his midteens he escaped and enlisted in the navy, where he became a man of the world, raised by the family he created for himself. Finding Fish shows how, out of this unlikely mix of deprivation and hope, an artist was born.
-
-
This book will not disappoint you.
- By Joseph on 10-16-16
-
Good Morning, Monster
- A Therapist Shares Five Heroic Stories of Emotional Recovery
- By: Catherine Gildiner
- Narrated by: Deborah Burgess
- Length: 13 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this fascinating narrative, therapist Catherine Gildiner presents five of what she calls her most heroic and memorable patients. Among them: A successful, first-generation Chinese immigrant musician suffering sexual dysfunction; a young woman whose father abandoned her at age nine with her younger siblings in an isolated cottage in the depth of winter; and a glamorous workaholic whose narcissistic, negligent mother greeted her each morning of her childhood with "Good morning, Monster". Each patient presents a mystery, one that will only be unpacked over years.
-
-
Wow!
- By Trinity H. on 03-27-21
-
What Happened to You?
- Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing
- By: Oprah Winfrey, Bruce D. Perry
- Narrated by: Bruce D. Perry, Oprah Winfrey
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Have you ever wondered "Why did I do that?" or "Why can't I just control my behavior?" Others may judge our reactions and think, "What's wrong with that person?" When questioning our emotions, it's easy to place the blame on ourselves; holding ourselves and those around us to an impossible standard. It's time we started asking a different question. Through deeply personal conversations, Oprah Winfrey and renowned brain and trauma expert Dr. Bruce Perry offer a groundbreaking and profound shift from asking “What’s wrong with you?” to “What happened to you?”
-
-
I waited more than 30 years for this book.
- By Gary S. on 04-28-21
By: Oprah Winfrey, and others
-
Son of a Critch
- A Childish Newfoundland Memoir
- By: Mark Critch
- Narrated by: Mark Critch
- Length: 10 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What could be better than growing up in the 1980s? How about growing up in 1980s Newfoundland, which - as Mark Critch will tell you - was more like the 1960s. Take a trip to where it all began in this funny and warm look back on his formative years. Here we find a young Mark trick-or-treating at a used car lot, getting locked out of school on a fourth-floor window ledge, faking an asthma attack to avoid being arrested by military police, trying to buy beer from an untrustworthy cab driver, shocking his parents by appearing naked onstage - and much more.
-
-
Disappointing
- By Kathleen Meier on 01-22-22
By: Mark Critch
-
Coming Ashore
- A Memoir
- By: Catherine Gildiner
- Narrated by: Nathalie Toriel
- Length: 11 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Picking up her story in the late '60s at age 21, Cathy whisks through seven years and three countries. Whether reciting verse in the classrooms of the University of Oxford, arranging a date with Jimi Hendrix, teaching inner-city kids literature, rooming with a major drug dealer, falling in love, or working in a psychiatric hospital, Cathy determinedly blazes her own trail through all the passion and uncertainty that comes with the cusp of adulthood.
-
American Daughter
- A Memoir
- By: Stephanie Thornton Plymale, Elissa Wald
- Narrated by: Mozhan Marno
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The sharp and surprising true story of a woman who finally sets out to understand her past, and the mother she had one day hoped to forget. Full of unexpected twists and unbelievable revelations, American Daughter is an immersive memoir that will have you on the edge of your seat to the very last minute.
-
-
Powerful Memoir
- By J. v. Kirchbach on 03-30-21
By: Stephanie Thornton Plymale, and others
-
Finding Fish
- A Memoir
- By: Antwone Q. Fisher
- Narrated by: Thomas Penny
- Length: 12 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Baby Boy Fisher was raised in institutions from the moment of his birth in prison to a single mother. He ultimately came to live with a foster family, where he endured near-constant verbal and physical abuse. In his midteens he escaped and enlisted in the navy, where he became a man of the world, raised by the family he created for himself. Finding Fish shows how, out of this unlikely mix of deprivation and hope, an artist was born.
-
-
This book will not disappoint you.
- By Joseph on 10-16-16
-
Good Morning, Monster
- A Therapist Shares Five Heroic Stories of Emotional Recovery
- By: Catherine Gildiner
- Narrated by: Deborah Burgess
- Length: 13 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this fascinating narrative, therapist Catherine Gildiner presents five of what she calls her most heroic and memorable patients. Among them: A successful, first-generation Chinese immigrant musician suffering sexual dysfunction; a young woman whose father abandoned her at age nine with her younger siblings in an isolated cottage in the depth of winter; and a glamorous workaholic whose narcissistic, negligent mother greeted her each morning of her childhood with "Good morning, Monster". Each patient presents a mystery, one that will only be unpacked over years.
-
-
Wow!
- By Trinity H. on 03-27-21
-
What Happened to You?
- Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing
- By: Oprah Winfrey, Bruce D. Perry
- Narrated by: Bruce D. Perry, Oprah Winfrey
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Have you ever wondered "Why did I do that?" or "Why can't I just control my behavior?" Others may judge our reactions and think, "What's wrong with that person?" When questioning our emotions, it's easy to place the blame on ourselves; holding ourselves and those around us to an impossible standard. It's time we started asking a different question. Through deeply personal conversations, Oprah Winfrey and renowned brain and trauma expert Dr. Bruce Perry offer a groundbreaking and profound shift from asking “What’s wrong with you?” to “What happened to you?”
-
-
I waited more than 30 years for this book.
- By Gary S. on 04-28-21
By: Oprah Winfrey, and others
-
Son of a Critch
- A Childish Newfoundland Memoir
- By: Mark Critch
- Narrated by: Mark Critch
- Length: 10 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What could be better than growing up in the 1980s? How about growing up in 1980s Newfoundland, which - as Mark Critch will tell you - was more like the 1960s. Take a trip to where it all began in this funny and warm look back on his formative years. Here we find a young Mark trick-or-treating at a used car lot, getting locked out of school on a fourth-floor window ledge, faking an asthma attack to avoid being arrested by military police, trying to buy beer from an untrustworthy cab driver, shocking his parents by appearing naked onstage - and much more.
-
-
Disappointing
- By Kathleen Meier on 01-22-22
By: Mark Critch
-
Everything Is Fine
- A Memoir
- By: Vince Granata
- Narrated by: Sean Patrick Hopkins
- Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Vince Granata remembers standing in front of his suburban home in Connecticut the day his mother and father returned from the hospital with his three new siblings in tow. He had just finished scrawling their names in orange chalk on the driveway: Christopher, Timothy, and Elizabeth. Twenty-three years later, Vince was a thousand miles away when he received the news that would change his life - his younger brother, Tim, propelled by unchecked schizophrenia, had killed their mother in their childhood home.
-
-
One of the best books I have ever read
- By hencyn57 on 05-09-21
By: Vince Granata
-
Slow Motion
- A Memoir of a Life Rescued by Tragedy
- By: Dani Shapiro
- Narrated by: Dani Shapiro
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dani Shapiro was a young girl from a deeply religious home who became the girlfriend of a famous and flamboyant married attorney - her best friend's stepfather. The moment Lenny Klein entered her life, everything changed: She dropped out of college, began to drink heavily, and became estranged from her family and friends. But then the phone call came. There had been an accident on a snowy road near her family's home in New Jersey, and both her parents lay hospitalized in critical condition.
-
-
Even in the most mundane moments, this sings
- By Ashley R Parsons on 01-31-21
By: Dani Shapiro
-
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone
- A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed
- By: Lori Gottlieb
- Narrated by: Brittany Pressley
- Length: 14 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One day, Lori Gottlieb is a therapist who helps patients in her Los Angeles practice. The next, a crisis causes her world to come crashing down. Enter Wendell, the quirky but seasoned therapist in whose office she suddenly lands. With his balding head, cardigan, and khakis, he seems to have come straight from Therapist Central Casting. Yet he will turn out to be anything but.
-
-
It was like a hallmark movie being waterboarded into my ears for 15 hours
- By Amazon Customer on 10-01-19
By: Lori Gottlieb
-
The Ugly Cry
- A Memoir
- By: Danielle Henderson
- Narrated by: Danielle Henderson
- Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Abandoned at 10 years old by a mother who chose her drug-addicted, abusive boyfriend, Danielle was raised by grandparents who thought their child-rearing days had ended in the 1960s. She grew up Black, weird, and overwhelmingly uncool in a mostly white neighborhood in upstate New York, which created its own identity crises.
-
-
Both Funny & Heart Wrenching in the Perfect Ratio.
- By Lauren Fisher on 06-30-21
-
Group
- How One Therapist and a Circle of Strangers Saved My Life
- By: Christie Tate
- Narrated by: Christie Tate
- Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The refreshingly original and “startlingly hopeful” (Lisa Taddeo) debut memoir of an over-achieving young lawyer who reluctantly agrees to group therapy and gets psychologically and emotionally naked in a room of six complete strangers - and finds human connection, and herself.
-
-
Unrealistic and Unethical
- By Kayla Okarski on 10-29-20
By: Christie Tate
-
Apples Never Fall
- By: Liane Moriarty
- Narrated by: Caroline Lee
- Length: 18 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Delaneys are fixtures in their community. The parents, Stan and Joy, are the envy of all of their friends. They’re killers on the tennis court, and off it their chemistry is palpable. But after 50 years of marriage, they’ve finally sold their famed tennis academy and are ready to start what should be the golden years of their lives. So why are Stan and Joy so miserable?
-
-
I wanted to love this BUT.....
- By Mary on 09-27-21
By: Liane Moriarty
-
The Less People Know About Us
- A Mystery of Betrayal, Family Secrets, and Stolen Identity
- By: Axton Betz-Hamilton
- Narrated by: Laurie Winkel
- Length: 7 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this powerful true crime memoir, an award-winning identity theft expert tells the shocking story of the duplicity and betrayal that inspired her career and nearly destroyed her family. Axton Betz-Hamilton grew up in small-town Indiana in the early '90s. When she was 11 years old, her parents both had their identities stolen. Their credit ratings were ruined, and they were constantly fighting over money. This was before the age of the Internet, when identity theft became more commonplace, so authorities and banks were clueless and reluctant to help Axton's parents.
-
-
Holy Shit
- By Jason Wiking on 02-19-20
-
Between Two Kingdoms
- A Memoir of a Life Interrupted
- By: Suleika Jaouad
- Narrated by: Suleika Jaouad
- Length: 13 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the summer after graduating from college, Suleika Jaouad was preparing, as they say in commencement speeches, to enter “the real world”. She had fallen in love and moved to Paris to pursue her dream of becoming a war correspondent. The real world she found, however, would take her into a very different kind of conflict zone. It started with an itch - first on her feet, then up her legs, like a thousand invisible mosquito bites. Then a trip to the doctor and, a few weeks shy of her 23rd birthday, a diagnosis: leukemia, with a 35 percent chance of survival.
-
-
Just ok--maybe not the audience for this...
- By NMwritergal on 02-21-21
By: Suleika Jaouad
-
Everybody's Best Friend
- The True Story of a Marriage That Ended in Murder
- By: Ken Englade
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 9 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Inside a beautiful house in Philadelphia's ritzy Main Line section lay the body of a young mother - dead of an apparent drowning in her bathtub. With no sign of a break-in, no history of marital problems, and the naïve belief that these things sometimes just happen, Stefanie Rabinowitz's family prepared to bury the 29-year-old wife and mother. But at the 11th hour, because Stefanie was so young, and because there were no witnesses to her death, an autopsy was ordered. And what it revealed was unthinkable: Stefanie had been murdered.
-
-
I remember this case.
- By Amazon Customer on 09-03-21
By: Ken Englade
-
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
- By: Maya Angelou
- Narrated by: Maya Angelou
- Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sent by their mother to live with their devout, self-sufficient grandmother in a small Southern town, Maya and her brother, Bailey, endure the ache of abandonment and the prejudice of the local “powhitetrash.” At eight years old, Maya is attacked by a man many times her age - and has to live with the consequences for a lifetime. But years later, she learns about love for herself and the kindness of others, her own strong spirit, and the ideas of great authors.
-
-
So good.
- By KG on 07-28-14
By: Maya Angelou
-
Notes on a Silencing
- A Memoir
- By: Lacy Crawford
- Narrated by: Lacy Crawford
- Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Notes on a Silencing hit bookstores in the summer of 2020, even amidst a global pandemic, it sent shockwaves through the country. Not only did this intimate investigative memoir usher in a media storm of coverage, but it also prompted the elite St. Paul's School to issue a formal apology to the author, Lacy Crawford, for its handling of her report of sexual assault by two fellow students nearly 30 years ago.
-
-
Everything about this book is magnificent
- By swimmergal on 08-15-20
By: Lacy Crawford
-
Tell Me Everything
- The Story of a Private Investigation
- By: Erika Krouse
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Erika Krouse has one of those faces. “I don’t know why I’m telling you this,” people say, spilling confessions. In fall 2002, Erika accepts a new contract job investigating lawsuits as a private investigator. The role seems perfect for her, but she quickly realizes she has no idea what she’s doing.
-
-
Love this author
- By Jessica on 04-08-22
By: Erika Krouse
Publisher's Summary
A poignant memoir about one intrepid, unforgettable girl and her extraordinary childhood in 1950s small-town America
Welcome to the childhood of Catherine McClure Gildiner. It is the middle of the 1950s in Lewiston, New York, a small and sleepy American town very near Niagara Falls. No one is divorced. Mothers wear high heels to the beauty salon and children pop Pez candy and swing from vines over a local gorge. But at the tender age of four, it becomes clear to her Cathy's parents that their rambunctious daughter is no ordinary child and they soon put her "to work" at her father's pharmacy. Already able to read road maps, she accompanies Roy the deliveryman on his routes. In memories that are by turns hilarious and deeply moving, she shares some of her more fantastic deliveries-sleeping pills to Marilyn Monroe (in town filming Niagara), sedatives to Mad Bear, a violent Tuscarora chief, and fungus cream to Warty, the gentle, and painfully lonely operator of the town dump.
Shortlisted for Canada's prestigious Trillium Award, Too Close to the Falls is sure to delight fans of smart, honest, and poignant childhood memoirs such as Tobias Wolff's This Boy's Life and Mary Karr's The Liars' Club. It is a beautiful portrait of a life so full it is bursting, written through the innocent, yet incredibly worldly eyes of a child.
More from the same
What listeners say about Too Close to the Falls
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kindle Customer
- 11-07-19
Brilliant and funny and touching.
This book hit all the right notes and the narration was spot on. Honestly, could not have been better.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Leah
- 03-12-18
What a tough little cookie
This little girl was raised by the village of people she lived and worked with. Exposed to such a wide variety of unwitting mentors who either taught her something positive, or showed her in one way or another-which way not to go.
With parents who loved and doted on her in their own unique ways,her independent spirit was somehow nurtured, or at least encouraged. Or perhaps it was a mix of independence and survival.
Either way, it was amazing to hear about how resilient this child was no matter what she could not unsee or hear-and choose to be a successful and hopefully whole and happy adult.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kelly Matczak
- 10-14-16
Love this book!
What did you love best about Too Close to the Falls?
The characters are great and the perspective is as well! I grew up not too far away from Niagara Falls so am familiar with the landscape and culture. Fun, witty book that was well worded!
Who was your favorite character and why?
Katherine, I loved to hear how she thought and how she embraced being herself. Fearless, fun character!
Which character – as performed by Allyson Johnson – was your favorite?
I also enjoyed Roy and Sister Agnes. The narration was fun!
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
I wanted to! I had to listen in spurts because of my schedule, but I was so excited every time I got to press play.
Any additional comments?
The author did a great job telling her story. The characters are very well written!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 06-30-15
one of my all-,time favorite books
the author is a wonderful story teller, and has unusual and fascinating material to work with in this memoir. being from western NY and knowing Lewiston well just adds to the charm. she captures characters vividly. this needs to be a movie, and Morgan Freeman needs to play Roy!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Tina Hayes ~ 🎧 ~
- 05-03-22
Interesting story, narration was acceptable
However I just can't believe that this is nonfiction. Good story and fair character development but very hard to imagine some of the fantastic scenarios. For example, how does an individual remember back and forth dialogue from when they were 4 years of age? It was good reading but not in the 'wow that really happened to someone memoir genre way' because much of it seemed imagined. If you take it with a grain of salt, you may enjoy the 'stories', the author's writing style is good and I especially enjoyed the character of Roy.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Anonymous User
- 06-17-21
The girl has spirit !
This memoir will transport you into 1950s small town America. Catherine has a remarkable memory and she’s delightfully candid and honest. I would love to know how life turned out for her. There are many parallels with “The Road from Coorain” by Jill Ker Conway. Highly recommended.