Bootstrapper
From Broke to Badass on a Northern Michigan Farm
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Narrated by:
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Karen White
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By:
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Mardi Jo Link
About this listen
Poignant, irreverent, and hilarious: a memoir about survival and self-discovery, by an indomitable woman who never loses sight of what matters most.
It’s the summer of 2005, and Mardi Jo Link’s dream of living the simple life has unraveled into debt, heartbreak, and perpetually ragged cuticles. She and her husband of nineteen years have just called it quits, leaving her with serious cash-flow problems and a looming divorce. More broke than ever, Link makes a seemingly impossible resolution: to hang on to her century-old farmhouse in northern Michigan and continue to raise her three boys on well water and wood chopping and dirt. Armed with an unfailing sense of humor and three resolute accomplices, Link confronts blizzards and foxes, learns about Zen divorce and the best way to butcher a hog, dominates a zucchini-growing contest and wins a year’s supply of local bread, masters the art of bargain cooking, wrangles rampaging poultry, and withstands any blow to her pride in order to preserve the life she wants.
With an infectious optimism that would put Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm to shame and a deep appreciation of the natural world, Link tells the story of how, over the course of one long year, she holds on to her sons, saves the farm from foreclosure, and finds her way back to a life of richness and meaning on the land she loves.
©2013 Mardi Jo Link (P)2013 Random HouseListeners also enjoyed...
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When Haven Kimmel was born in 1965, Mooreland, Indiana, was a sleepy little hamlet of 300 people. Nicknamed "Zippy" for the way she would bolt around the house, this small girl was possessed of big eyes and even bigger ears. In this witty and lovingly told memoir, Kimmel takes readers back to a time when small-town America was caught in the amber of the innocent postwar period - people helped their neighbors, went to church on Sunday, and kept barnyard animals in their backyards.
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Beautifully written, beautifully read.
- By shopgirl on 03-06-08
By: Haven Kimmel
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Close Range
- Wyoming Stories (Selected Unabridged Stories)
- By: Annie Proulx
- Narrated by: Frances Fisher, Bruce Greenwood, Campbell Scott
- Length: 5 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Annie Proulx's masterful language and fierce love of Wyoming are evident in this collection of stories about loneliness, quick violence, and wrong kinds of love. In "The Mud Below", a rodeo rider's obsession marks the deepening fissures between his family life and self-imposed isolation. In "The Half-Skinned Steer", an elderly fool drives west to the ranch he grew up on for his brother's funeral, and dies a mile from home.
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A Wonderfully Ironic and Surprising Read
- By Susan L. Stewart on 04-21-12
By: Annie Proulx
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I'll Be There
- By: Holly Goldberg Sloan
- Narrated by: Laura Jennings
- Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Emily Bell believes in destiny. To her, being forced to sing a solo in the church choir - despite her average voice - is fate: because it's while she's singing that she first sees Sam. At first sight they are connected. Sam Border wishes he could escape, but there's nowhere for him to run. He and his little brother, Riddle, have spent their entire lives constantly uprooted by their unstable father. As Sam and Riddle are welcomed into the Bells' lives, they witness the warmth and protection of a family for the first time.
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Needs to be a film!
- By TreasureHunter on 06-25-16
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Hannah's Dream
- By: Diane Hammond
- Narrated by: Laura Flanagan
- Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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For 41 years, Samson Brown has been caring for Hannah, the lone elephant at the down-at-the-heels Max L. Biedelman Zoo. Having vowed not to retire until an equally loving and devoted caretaker is found to replace him, Sam rejoices when smart, compassionate Neva Wilson is hired as the new elephant keeper. But Neva quickly discovers what Sam already knows: that despite their loving care, Hannah is isolated from other elephants and her feet are nearly ruined from standing on hard concrete all day.
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excellent narration, enjoyable story
- By Elizabeth on 05-11-13
By: Diane Hammond
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Here on Earth
- By: Alice Hoffman
- Narrated by: Susan Ericksen
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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March Murray, along with her 15-year-old daughter, Gwen, returns to the small Massachusetts town where she grew up to attend the funeral of Judith Dale, the beloved housekeeper who raised her. After nearly 20 years of living in California, March is thrust into the world of her past.
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The magical realm of Alice Hoffman
- By Brendolynne on 07-09-12
By: Alice Hoffman
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Christmas with Tucker
- By: Greg Kincaid
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 5 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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In this heartwarming novel, Greg Kincaid, the best-selling author of A Dog Named Christmas, revisits the early life of one of that book’s protagonists and brings us a holiday tale of redemption, hope, and forgiveness. It’s 1962, and as Christmas approaches so does one of the worst snow and ice storms in Kansas history. Without utilities and emergency services, it is a dangerous time for the residents of Cherokee County. For the McCray family, it is even worse.
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Snow Days on the Farm
- By Debbie on 12-02-14
By: Greg Kincaid
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The Midwife of Hope River
- A Novel of an American Midwife
- By: Patricia Harman
- Narrated by: Anne Wittman
- Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Midwife Patience Murphy has a gift: a talent for escorting mothers through the challenges of bringing children into the world. Working in the hardscrabble conditions of Appalachia during the Depression, Patience takes the jobs that no one else wants, helping those most in need - and least likely to pay. She knows a successful midwifery practice must be built on a foundation of openness and trust - but the secrets Patience is keeping are far too intimate and fragile for her to ever let anyone in.
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Coal Mines, The Depression, and Lots of Babies
- By Debbie on 03-06-19
By: Patricia Harman
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Once Upon a River
- By: Bonnie Jo Campbell
- Narrated by: Susan Bennett
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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A finalist for the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award, Bonnie Jo Campbell is a rising star in contemporary fiction. Hailed by Booklist as a female Huckleberry Finn, Campbell’s heroine is 16yearold Margo Crane. Complicit in her father’s death, Margo flees home for the Stark River. And as she follows the current, she learns the ways of the world from the eccentric characters she meets.
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Great Narrator - Horrific story
- By J. Kromrie on 11-04-20
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Like Family
- Growing Up in Other People's Houses, a Memoir
- By: Paula McLain
- Narrated by: Wendy Tremont King
- Length: 9 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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This powerful and haunting memoir details the years Paula McLain and her two sisters spent as foster children after being abandoned by both parents in California in the early 1970s. As wards of the State, the sisters spent the next 14 years moving from foster home to foster home. The dislocations, confusions, and odd pleasures of an unrooted life form the basis of one of the most compelling memoirs in recent years - a book in the tradition of Jo Ann Beard's The Boys of My Youth and Mary Karr's The Liars' Club.
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A famous writer describes her life growing up in foster care
- By Nancy C. on 12-21-18
By: Paula McLain
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Garden Spells
- By: Sarah Addison Allen
- Narrated by: Susan Ericksen
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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The Waverleys have always been a curious family, endowed with peculiar gifts that make them outsiders even in their hometown of Bascom, North Carolina. Even their garden has a reputation, famous for its feisty apple tree that bears prophetic fruit, and its edible flowers, imbued with special powers.
Generations of Waverleys tended this garden. Their history was in the soil. But so were their futures.
Together again in the house they grew up in, the Waverley sisters realize they must deal with their common legacy - if they are ever to feel at home in Bascom - or with each other.
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I so want to give it 5 stars...!!!!
- By Joihelene on 10-09-10
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The Portable Veblen
- By: Elizabeth Mckenzie
- Narrated by: Julia Gibson
- Length: 12 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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An exuberant, one-of-a-kind novel about love and family, war and nature, new money and old values by a brilliant New Yorker contributor. The Portable Veblen is a dazzlingly original novel that's as big-hearted as it is laugh-out-loud funny. Set in and around Palo Alto amid the culture clash of new money and old (antiestablishment) values, and with the specter of our current wars looming across its words, The Portable Veblen is an unforgettable look at the way we live now.
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Not what it was cracked up to be
- By Linda on 02-03-16
What listeners say about Bootstrapper
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Gregory
- 01-02-15
so so
entertaining at times but best way to describe it is "eh" . Takes place in a place I know well so wanted to like it. oh well.
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- WF2022
- 05-28-15
Bootstrapper
What made the experience of listening to Bootstrapper the most enjoyable?
I just enjoyed how she turned a horrible time into an amazing one, she kept her head held high and did the best she could do.
What was one of the most memorable moments of Bootstrapper?
The thing that annoyed me the most was that she bought meat chickens and didn't butcher them she just gave them away. She is on a farm there is always going to be death as well as life. I get 50+ meat birds (turkeys and meat chickens) every year and dispatch them myself because i do it humanly not send them off to some dirty slaughter house.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
I liked when she finally got together with Peter
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- Sueq326
- 07-06-18
Thought provoking and humorous
This was my first audible book. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I will probably listen to another of Mardi Jo's books.
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- Debbie
- 06-24-13
Delightful Memoir!
Would you listen to Bootstrapper again? Why?
A delightful memoir! Both heartwarming and funny, her story had you rooting for her and her wonderful boys from the very beginning. I knew I loved her when she said the only things that scared her were big hairy spiders and chainsaws…so true. I hope the author receives all the success and happiness she so richly deserves.
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- CHRIS
- 08-18-13
great story about a mom who will fight for her fam
Would you consider the audio edition of Bootstrapper to be better than the print version?
didnt read book
What was one of the most memorable moments of Bootstrapper?
the zucchini contest
What about Karen White’s performance did you like?
loved her voice
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
yes
Any additional comments?
more women like this and America would be back on track
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1 person found this helpful
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- Denise Morton
- 10-26-14
Hilarious yet a serious reality check also.
If you could sum up Bootstrapper in three words, what would they be?
Hilarious and Serious.
Who was your favorite character and why?
Mardi. Seeing the humor during a most difficult season of her life.
Which character – as performed by Karen White – was your favorite?
Mardi. Made me smile, grin and giggle.
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- Laurie M
- 08-29-19
This book was one I couldn't put down!!
Someone recommended this to me. I'm so glad that they did!! Awesome! The narrator was easy to listen to. This woman is truly a Badass!!
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- Empress Karen
- 04-24-14
Pitbull Chickens!
Would you consider the audio edition of Bootstrapper to be better than the print version?
Yes, as Karen White knows how to read a good book & give the right tempo and inflection to words= funny as the author meant it to be.
What was one of the most memorable moments of Bootstrapper?
The whole story had so many. I Loved the three boys, their attitude and style. They steal the book.
"I want meat".
The pillow case for the zucchini. I purchased this book as I wanted a book that had humor and included how to survive, use different thinking and overcome one's surroundings. This is the author's memoirs of her wants and desires retold with humor. I got exactly what I was looking for. Yes, this has heartache and more trials than most could or would endure. But when a story is retold with humor, it is uplifting.
Have you listened to any of Karen White’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
I love Karen White when humor is in the description of the book. Humor is what she knows how to read so very well. see Julie James series. Ms White has the best man voice along with Natalie Ross and Gabra Zackman. The late great Anna Fields remains the best.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
yes, as you want to know the ending. The valor the 3 sons have in standing by their mother is so wonderful...you could just eat them up. The view point on each new adventure/hardship is so different from each son. Karen White voice for them just brings them so very much alive. I did tear up when the zucchini contest was described. It was just so cute!
Any additional comments?
I am looking for other reviewers who like humor and the books they have chosen.
Way too many FSOG type material, which I too have down loaded, but they do not lift your spirits up.
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- Alicia
- 06-30-18
Awful
Don’t waste your money. This book has a terrible story. All the author does is whine about her life. The narrator for the audio book is hard to listen to
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- Nicole
- 09-27-13
The memoir of a whining twit.
What would have made Bootstrapper better?
A bonfire on which the original manuscript was placed? The book was terrible. It's rare that a book get's under my skin this way- but two months after listening to it, I'm still annoyed.
Has Bootstrapper turned you off from other books in this genre?
Not at all. But it has turned me off to reading anything by Mardi- Jo Link, or listening to anything narrated by Karen White.
What didn’t you like about Karen White’s performance?
I think it is possible I would have disliked Mardi Jo less if the portrayal of her had been different. Less tentative and resigned. Less self-congrautlaing and stoic.
You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?
Nope. Not one. I am rarely this hard on a production of any kind- but this was a waste of time.
Any additional comments?
First off- Physics 101 will tell you that because every force has an equal and opposite force, pulling yourself up "by your bootstraps" is a physical impossibility.
Second- there are people out there who defy the laws of gravity and do this everyday- pushing forward against real odds, with humility and grace. This book is an insult to those people. This woman is a educated, landed, employed, human whose pride got in the way of her best judgement, and her ability to keep her children warm and fed. I found myself thinking again and again, "What an idiot!"
The real kicker- the happy ending- is that a man comes along to save her. How 19th century..... So much for her own bootstraps. What a joke!
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6 people found this helpful