Etta and Otto and Russell and James
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Robert G. Slade
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By:
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Emma Hooper
About this listen
A gorgeous literary debut about an elderly woman's last great adventure walking across Canada. A beautiful novel of pilgrimage, of fulfilling lifelong promises, of a talking coyote called James, of unlikely heroes and hundreds of papier-mâché animals...
Eighty-two-year-old Etta has never seen the ocean. So early one morning she takes a rifle, some chocolate, and her best boots, and begins walking the 3,232 kilometers from rural Canada eastward to the coast.
Her husband Otto wakes to a note left on the kitchen table. "I will try to remember to come back," Etta writes to him. Otto has seen the ocean, having crossed the Atlantic years ago to fight in a far-away war. He understands. But with Etta gone, the memories come crowding in and Otto struggles to keep them at bay.
Russell has spent his whole life trying to keep up with Otto and loving Etta from afar. Russell insists on finding Etta, wherever she's gone. Leaving his own farm will be the first act of defiance in his life.
As Etta walks further toward the ocean, accompanied by a coyote named James, the lines among memory, illusion, and reality blur.
Rocking back and forth with the pull of the waves, Etta and Otto and Russell and James moves from the hot and dry present of a quiet Canadian farm to a dusty burnt past of hunger, war, passion, and hope; from trying to remember to trying to forget; and inspires each of its characters to visit the sites they've longed to see and say the things they've longed to say. This is dazzling literary fiction about the rediscovery and care of the soul, and the idea it's never too late for a great adventure.
©2015 Emma Hooper, Ltd. All rights reserved. (P)2015 Simon and SchusterListeners 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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The Story of Arthur Truluv
- A Novel
- By: Elizabeth Berg
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Berg
- Length: 6 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Three people find their way back from loss and loneliness to a different kind of belonging in this deeply moving novel. Arthur, an old widower struggling to overcome his grief, meets Maddy, a troubled teenage girl who avoids school by hiding out where Arthur goes every day for lunch. The two strike up a friendship that draws them out of isolation.
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Sickly Sweet
- By Amazon Customer on 01-19-18
By: Elizabeth Berg
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The Star Side of Bird Hill
- By: Naomi Jackson
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 7 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Two sisters, ages 10 and 16, are exiled from Brooklyn to Bird Hill in Barbados, after their mother can no longer care for them. The young Phaedra and her older sister, Dionne, live, for the summer of 1989, with their grandmother, Hyacinth, a midwife and practitioner of the local spiritual practice of obeah. Dionne spends the summer in search of love, testing her grandmother's limits, and wanting to go home. Phaedra explores Bird Hill, where her family has lived for generations.
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My absolute favorite book of all time
- By Eme on 07-16-15
By: Naomi Jackson
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The Center of Everything
- By: Laura Moriarty
- Narrated by: Julie Dretzin
- Length: 13 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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The Center of Everything is the fictional story of 10-year-old math prodigy Evelyn Bucknow. Living in Kansas with her single mother and deeply religious grandmother, Evelyn believes she is destined to marry Travis, the boy next door. But as she grows up, she experiences the heartbreak of a love not meant to be. Author Laura Moriarty was a recipient of the George Bennet Fellowship for Creative Writing at Phillips Exeter Academy.
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not religious fiction
- By Theresa Jameson on 04-28-14
By: Laura Moriarty
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White Dog Fell from the Sky
- By: Eleanor Morse
- Narrated by: Carla Mercer-Meyer
- Length: 14 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Botswana, 1976: Isaac Muthethe thinks he is dead. Smuggled across the border from South Africa in a hearse, he awakens covered in dust, staring at blue sky and the face of White Dog. Far from dead, he is, for the first time, in a country without apartheid. A medical student in South Africa, he was forced to flee after witnessing a friend murdered by white members of the South African Defense Force.
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Unexpectedly Stunning Work!
- By Kathi on 03-15-13
By: Eleanor Morse
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A Long, Long Time Ago and Essentially True
- By: Brigid Pasulka
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 14 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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The novel opens on the eve of World War II. In the mountain village of Half-Village, a young man nicknamed the Pigeon, under the approving eyes of the entire village, courts the beautiful Anielica Hetmanska. But the war's arrival wreaks havoc in all their lives and delays their marriage for six long years.
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The Old & New Worlds Converge & Transcend Time
- By Sara on 11-22-16
By: Brigid Pasulka
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Orphan Train Girl
- The Young Readers' Edition of Orphan Train
- By: Sarah Thompson, Christina Baker Kline
- Narrated by: Jessica Almasy
- Length: 4 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Molly Ayer has been in foster care since she was eight years old. Most of the time, Molly knows it's her attitude that's the problem, but after being shipped from one family to another, she's had her fair share of adults treating her like an inconvenience. So when Molly's forced to help an elderly woman clean out her attic for community service, Molly is wary. Just another adult to treat her like a troublemaker.
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Awesome book!
- By DebDeb on 08-06-18
By: Sarah Thompson, and others
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Habibi
- By: Naomi Shihab Nye
- Narrated by: Christina Moore
- Length: 5 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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For 14-year-old Liyana Abboud, life in St. Louis, Missouri is perfect. She loves shopping in the nearby stores and walking down streets where she knows everyone. Even better, she has just had her first kiss. But her father is moving the family to Jerusalem - the land where he was born. Suddenly Liyana finds herself a stranger in a threatening world.
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Very good Performance
- By Muhammad on 04-07-15
By: Naomi Shihab Nye
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Homecoming
- By: Cynthia Voigt
- Narrated by: Barbara Caruso
- Length: 13 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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On Saturday morning, 13-year-old Dicey Tillerman sits in the car at the shopping mall with her younger sister and two brothers. Momma had said, "You be good." Then she walked away. They wait for a day and a night, but Momma never comes back. Finally, Dicey decides the children should go to Bridgeport, Connecticut where Aunt Cilla lives. Maybe Momma is waiting for them there. But they don't have enough money to take the bus. Determined to keep the family together, Dicey sets off on foot with her siblings.
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The BEST audible book!
- By KP on 04-20-17
By: Cynthia Voigt
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All the Winters After
- A Novel
- By: Seré Prince Halverson
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Kachemak Winkel never intended to come back to his hometown of Caboose, Alaska, where his family died in a plane crash 20 years earlier. When he finally musters the courage to return and face his painful memories, he's surprised to find a mysterious young woman living in his abandoned house.
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The Old Old Story
- By Bruce on 06-16-16
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The Plague of Doves
- By: Louise Erdrich
- Narrated by: Peter Francis James, Kathleen McInerney
- Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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The unsolved murder of a farm family haunts the small, white, off-reservation town of Pluto, North Dakota. The vengeance exacted for this crime and the subsequent distortions of truth transform the lives of Ojibwe living on the nearby reservation and shape the passions of both communities for the next generation.
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Avoid this Plague
- By Andre on 05-16-08
By: Louise Erdrich
What listeners say about Etta and Otto and Russell and James
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Laurie Kreitzer
- 04-30-17
It's not a book for everyone
I loved the narrator and I loved the story too. As the jacket mentions, the characters are in their 80's and that's why I say it's not for everyone. It is not a fast-paced story but it is a very dear one. I know nothing about the farm life described and lived yet could picture all of it and all of the people in it. Some reviews relate it to the Harold Fry book but that comparison never struck me at all. I'm hard pressed to pick a favorite character so I'll name both James and Otto. As soon as I finished, I had questions so I started to listen again but I decided after a few chapters to take a break instead.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Laurine Dabbs
- 07-19-16
Reads like poetry
Lovely story and intriguing characters! I felt a little sad but so good to read. I wanted it to go on for another chapter at least, maybe two!
The characters are so warm and interesting that it would be nice to sit and have a cup of coffee and cinnamon roll with them, ask them questions about their lives. Looking forward to another book by this author!
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2 people found this helpful
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- Barbara Oehlke
- 10-31-19
What is life? Really
I really enjoyed the story. I looked forward to what would happen next. Not sure the story ended like I had hoped.
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- Phyllis Unterschuetz
- 08-07-21
I wanted it never to end
I loved everything about this book - the story, the writing, the narrator - everything. I rarely listen to an audiobook more than once but this will definitely be an exception
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- Sara
- 07-16-18
Richly Evocative Storytelling
This book was a time and space bending jaunt through Canada and introduced the reader to a wonderful collection of completely engaging characters. I thought Slade's narration was terrific. He captured so many different voices and textures in the writing that it really helped propel the story forward.
I agree with other reviewers that there was a strong feeling of the magical woven into the book. It reminded me in some ways of The House of the Spirits in the way it added the "out of body" tone to the writing. Definitely this was at times strange and even occasionally confusing but in the end a powerful story of love, connection, community and family.
I was simply stunned by the ending and I am still pondering the multiple messages in the writing. I plan on waiting a bit and then listening to the whole thing a second time. Original and fascinating.
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19 people found this helpful
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- Linda C. Bergstrom
- 08-19-16
This one keeps staying with me, in the best way
Any additional comments?
I'm in the middle of my third time through this audiobook. I first bought it on impulse and started listening to it for lack of anything more compelling at the time, but it immediately caught me up and carried me along. The writing style is a beautiful, quiet delight and the narration by Canadian actor Robert G Slade is among the best I've ever heard.
Weeks and weeks after finishing the book, I was still thinking about it, still carrying the story and the characters with me. So I went back and listened again, and it was an even richer experience the second time. And once again, it stayed with me long afterward.
Now it's six months later and I'm sharing it with my book club, and once again I'm finding even richer joy in it than in my first two reads.
This is a gem -- characters, story, writing, performance. It doesn't sparkle; it quietly glows.
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- aliceg
- 09-11-16
Disappointing ending
There were many times I wondered what the point of the book was, but I thought the ending would wrap it up to make sense. It didn't. I wish I could have liked it better.
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- jbb
- 08-06-18
Five Stars
This was a wonderful quirky book that will take your mind off your hum drum life and get into Etta's life. Loved it!!
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- RueRue
- 06-22-15
An odd little story
A strange little story. I almost gave up on it several times, but the characters kept pulling me back. My favorite " character " ? James the (maybe) coyote. Loved the voice the narrator used for James. Not a mainstream book, but one for readers who like something a bit different..
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11 people found this helpful
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- Teri
- 09-03-15
Cute
Great book. Cute characters. Am going to have to think about it for awhile to try to understand it more
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2 people found this helpful