Mary Benton

Powerful and timeless

Reviewed: 12-01-24

The story of James digs deep into the horrors of slavery, but it goes beyond that period of history. It makes the reader revisit racism and all the other -isms that enable people to degrade one another to the point of depriving them of essential rights and protections. The performance was also seamless, delivered in just the way it needed to be.

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Bruce, you missed your calling...

Reviewed: 10-22-24

I confess I haven't finished the book yet but I am already recommending it to others. Personally, I don't listen to Bruce Springsteen's music. I found a list of his top 10 songs and I'd only heard of one of them. Just not into rock, I guess. But this book is fantastic. His performance of the book is fantastic. Here's why...

He tells his life story with a poetic choice of words and a rhythm that is utterly captivating. His voice has the sound of street tough guy from Jersey which he is - but isn't. He regularly makes a bow to his Italian-Irish Catholic heritage, but doesn't shy away from confessing his sins with a raw honesty. And there is an energy that runs through the book like a freight train, bringing to life his passion for music.

Bruce Springsteen is making me laugh out loud while at times I feel for him in his deep desire to make it in the music world, "the only thing I'm good at". No, Bruce. You are, of course, by now a success in that game. But what you are really good at is writing. If you ever get tired of screaming into microphones, write again and again the story of what it is like to live and fall and get back up again, always pushing back against the limits of a harsh beginning. You are a master at this.

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It is more than good

Reviewed: 06-16-24

I think this is perhaps the best book I have ever read (or listened to, in this case). The performance was superb, with both English and Spanish rolling smoothly off the narrator’s tongue. But this is just the beginning, because what he is performing is a life, a pouring out of Osvaldo Amador’s life, in all its sorrows, love and beauty.

This life story is poetic in its prose, deeply spiritual in its struggle, artistic in its triumphs. At the same time it is a recap of our nation’s history of prejudice, tensions with Cuba and its refugees, and the tragedy of the AIDS epidemic. It is also a story of a gay man creating a warm and nurturing family from a gathering of little fur balls he calls his children. Throughout the tale, the author’s artistic brilliance shines through. But, in the end, the book is not so much about him as it is about love.

Read this book. It is life-changing.

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The end was disappointing...(no spoilers)

Reviewed: 04-25-24

I loved this book at a 5 star level until the end. The ending virtually ruined it for me but I decided to give the book 4 stars because I enjoyed the rest of it so much.

I very much enjoyed Torey Hayden's nonfiction memoirs so I decided to give one of her novels a try. I was delighted at how skillfully she wrote, both her overall prose as well as her ability to mix genres in a way that was most captivating. With the main character being a child psychiatrist, James, she was writing about a topic she knew and her character seemed to have a believable and interesting approach to treating a troubled family.

I enjoyed her blending of multiple layers, as different family members talked to James and an entire "sub-novel", with its own characters and plot, emerged through one of the character's interactions with him. I have never read anything quite like it and it was skillfully done. I was hooked.

I won't spoil the ending for readers, as I think the book is a worthy read. I will just say that Torey, with her familiarity with mental health work, should have known better than to write it the way she did.

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Well-researched

Reviewed: 04-21-24

I was admittedly an established believer before I listened to this audio book, but I appreciated that the author wasn't. His research was quite in depth and covered areas that I think many people may not have been exposed to unless they set out to discover it. Of course, it proves nothing, in the sense that whether a person believes that Jesus is the Christ (and whether that matters to them) is a personal discernment that no one can do for another. However, it is a good listen for anyone who is curious or on the edge when considering the significance of Christianity and Jesus Himself.

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Good story, bad therapy

Reviewed: 01-26-24

I found the story to be quite captivating and I could not help but wonder if this true story had been embellished. But of course we do notcwan

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A life-changing book

Reviewed: 12-17-23

This was at least my third or fourth time through, either reading or listening to this book. I think I will always come back to it, when I need a spiritual lift, or comfort, or a reminder of what it truly means to be a Christian. I loved that the translator and her son took turns “performing” the narrative, though I think it’s a bit harder to keep track of the many Russian names in the audio book. I cannot really explain what makes this book so exceptional. Read or listen and you will understand.

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Potentially good story, could have been better

Reviewed: 01-30-20

The author is a good story teller but I still found this audible book rather disappointing on two counts. First, though one doesn't read fiction in order to learn facts, good fiction will get the facts right. As already pointed out, the book gives the impression that ocular albinism is primarily a cosmetic issue and grossly underplays its impact on vision and career choice. Also, given that Catholicism was a running theme throughout the book, inaccuracies rankle, i.e. describing the profession of faith in the Mass as coming before the Scripture readings. Even more bothersome, the outright statement that Catholic characters were praying to statues is simply wrong and perpetuates inaccurate stereotypes about Catholic practice. The author also had an ER doctor who suspected child abuse not reporting it because she couldn't prove it, ignoring the fact that mandatory reporting laws were in place at that time and only suspicion is required. Did the author not bother to research these things or did he ignore them to increase dramatic effect?

This question relates to my other primary disappointment. IMO, truly good fiction retains a sense of realism (unless it supposed to be fantasy, of course) and this story lost it from the beginning. The main characters were more caricatures than believable characters, detracting from a story that could have been more sensitive and less sensational. It seems unlikely and insensitive to suggest that the mere startling color of Sam's eyes triggered more intense persecution than Ernie received as the only African American in the school. Sam is portrayed as such a likeable character that it is hard to fathom that all of his classmates, except his fellow "misfits", would despise him throughout his educational career. The good characters were a little too good and the bad characters a little too bad. This may contribute to the book being a page-turner but it sacrifices a depth that could have done justice to the questions the story raised about faith and prejudice.

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1 person found this helpful

I did not like it as much as I thought I would...

Reviewed: 01-13-20

The concept of Jesus as Bridegroom is one that is meaningful to me so I expected this Audible book to touch me more deeply than it did. I am not certain whether it was the narration or the writing that left me a bit disappointed but I suspect the former. Certainly the author cited a wealth of information drawn from Scripture and other sources that supported this image of Jesus so I cannot fault his scholarship. The narrator, while having a good enough voice, seemed to me to be trying too hard to create a sense of wonder and excitement about the material presented - like, "Wow, isn't this amazing?! Jesus loves you SO much!" (Not an actual quote, just the flavor of it.) I generally prefer a more sober presentation of spiritual matters that allows me to uncover my own reaction at my own pace. I obviously cannot know if I would have connected more deeply with the book had I read it rather than listened. However, I have not experienced this discomfort with all spiritual audio books that I have encountered.

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Too long...

Reviewed: 01-05-20

I was pleased to find this title as I enjoy memoirs, am drawn to Orthodoxy and am inspired by stories of religious conversion. However, there were a number of things that disappointed me about audio book. Perhaps my primary complaint is that it was too long. While this made it seem like a good buy - I was getting a lot for my 1 Audible credit - I feel it would have been more effective either as one concise book or as two separate books. While described as a memoir, a large part of the book is not so much memoir as it is the author's theological reasons for choosing Orthodoxy, including many Scripture quotes and citations of Church Fathers.

Please understand that I am someone who loves Scripture and Orthodoxy but I wasn't expecting to hear a lengthy argument for the beliefs of the Orthodox, even ones I agreed with, in a memoir. This is where I think additional editing would have been helpful. If the author had wanted to write a defense of Orthodoxy or a discussion of comparative beliefs among Christian denominations, he could have done this better in a separate book with that focus. His memoir could have contained a brief overview of why he chose Orthodoxy and, at the end of his more concise memoir, he could then have referred the reader to the second book.

I'm also not sure it was such a good idea for the author to have narrated his own book. While I initially enjoyed his gravelly voice, slow articulation and Queens accent, 16 hours of it was too much for me. I stopped the book several times, feeling like I couldn't finish it. I eventually went back to it and finally completed it tonight. I felt more relief than satisfaction upon reaching the end. I wouldn't say I regret having listened to the book but I cannot highly recommend it either.

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4 people found this helpful