T. Bakken
- 3
- reviews
- 4
- helpful votes
- 6
- ratings
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After Francesco
- By: Brian Malloy
- Narrated by: Michael Crouch
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 36
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 33
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 32
Two years after his partner, Francesco, died, 28-year-old Kevin Doyle is dusting off his one good suit jacket for yet another funeral, yet another loss in their close-knit group. They had all been young, beautiful, and living the best days of their lives, though they didn't know it. That was before New York City began to feel like a war zone, its horrors somehow invisible, and ignored by the rest of the world. Some people might insist that Francesco is in a better place now, but Kevin definitely isn't.
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5 out of 5 stars
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I resist superlatives
- By Alceste on 08-16-21
- After Francesco
- By: Brian Malloy
- Narrated by: Michael Crouch
More than a footnote
Reviewed: 07-10-21
This story brings the shame of how my generation responded to AIDS into sharp, personal focus. Brian’s storytelling and Michael’s narration bring to life for you authentic, realistic heroes and heroines who fought violence and indifference… who fought a disease that was ignored… a disease who’s victims were vilified. As parallels are drawn between pandemics - this novel demonstrates how different the response to suffering can be - and makes the case that those who were lost to AIDS deserve so much more than a footnote.
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3 people found this helpful
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When the Apricots Bloom
- By: Gina Wilkinson
- Narrated by: Raghad Chaar
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 289
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 252
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Story4 out of 5 stars 253
At night, in Huda's fragrant garden, a breeze sweeps in from the desert encircling Baghdad, rustling the leaves of her apricot trees and carrying warning of visitors at her gate. Huda, a secretary at the Australian embassy, lives in fear of the Mukhabarat - the secret police who watch and listen for any scrap of information that can be used against America and its allies. They have ordered her to befriend Ally Wilson, the deputy ambassador's wife. Huda has no wish to be an informant, but fears for her teenage son, who may be forced to join a deadly militia.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great Historical Fiction
- By Patricia on 04-12-21
- When the Apricots Bloom
- By: Gina Wilkinson
- Narrated by: Raghad Chaar
A visual experience
Reviewed: 06-28-21
Gina Wilkinson writes details with evocative poetic flourish - describing peeling paint as fish scales - it gives the story an old fable feel. It also makes the larger topics of truth and family loyalty, fear and friendship feel universal and intimately relatable.
Rahhad Chaar performs the story with a calm intensity, a perfectly paced urgency. Her care for the characters is palpable. Her delivery of Wilkinson’s storytelling is a visual experience.
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1 person found this helpful
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The Dictionary of Lost Words
- A Novel
- By: Pip Williams
- Narrated by: Pippa Bennett-Warner
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 4,801
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 4,221
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4,194
Esme is born into a world of words. Motherless and irrepressibly curious, she spends her childhood in the Scriptorium, an Oxford garden shed in which her father and a team of dedicated lexicographers are collecting words for the very first Oxford English Dictionary. Young Esme’s place is beneath the sorting table, unseen and unheard. One day a slip of paper containing the word bondmaid flutters beneath the table. She rescues the slip and, learning that the word means “slave girl,” begins to collect other words discarded or neglected by the dictionary men.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Enchanted
- By Lulu Can on 04-07-21
- The Dictionary of Lost Words
- A Novel
- By: Pip Williams
- Narrated by: Pippa Bennett-Warner
Incredible storytelling and narration
Reviewed: 06-21-21
I am at a loss for words… everything I start to type seems inadequate… except to say you must listen! Pip Williams has lovingly crafted a story exploring the power of words - her timeline’s historic accuracy - give the story depth and thought provoking life. Pippa Bennett-Warner’s performance moved me to tears. I was lost in it. I will listen again - I’m not ready to say goodbye.
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