
Only the Strong
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed

Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $25.00
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
J. D. Jackson
-
By:
-
Jabari Asim
About this listen
Moved by the death of Martin Luther King, Jr., Lorenzo "Guts" Tolliver decides to abandon his career as a professional leg breaker and pursue a life of quiet moments and generous helpings of banana pudding in the company of his new, sensuous lover. His erstwhile boss, local kingpin Ananias Goode, is also thinking about slowing down - but his tempestuous affair with Dr. Artinces Noel, a prominent pediatrician, complicates his retirement plan. Meanwhile Charlotte Divine, the doctor's headstrong protégée, struggles with trials of her own.
With prose that's sharp, humorous, and poetic, Jabari Asim skillfully renders a compelling portrait of urban life in the wake of the last major civil-rights bill. Massive change is afoot in America, and these characters have front-row seats.
©2015 Jabari Asim (P)2015 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
-
Flight to Canada
- By: Ishmael Reed
- Narrated by: Vince Bailey
- Length: 5 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Brilliantly portrayed by a novelist with "a talent for hyperbole and downright yarning unequaled since Mark Twain", (Saturday Review), this slave's-eye view of the Civil War exposes America's racial foibles of the past and present with uninhibited humor and panache. Mixing history, fantasy, political reality, and comedy, Ishmael Reed spins the tale of three runaway slaves and the master determined to catch them.
-
-
Next Level.
- By A. SAID on 10-25-19
By: Ishmael Reed
-
Perish
- A Novel
- By: LaToya Watkins
- Narrated by: Jeremy Michael Durm, Keyonni James, Chanté McCormick, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bear it or perish yourself. Those are the words Helen Jean hears that fateful night in her cousin’s outhouse that change the trajectory of her life. Spanning decades, Perish tracks the choices Helen Jean—the matriarch of the Turner family—makes and the way those choices have rippled across generations, from her children to her grandchildren and beyond. This family’s “reunion” unearths long-kept secrets and forces each member to ask themselves important questions about who is deserving of forgiveness and who bears the cross of blame.
-
-
listened twice...great performance
- By Carol on 09-20-22
By: LaToya Watkins
-
The Awkward Black Man
- Stories
- By: Walter Mosley
- Narrated by: Mirron Willis
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mosley presents distinct characters as they struggle to move through the world in each of these stories - heroes who are awkward, nerdy, self-defeating, self-involved, and, on the whole, odd. He overturns the stereotypes that corral black male characters and paints a subtle, powerful portrait of each of these unique individuals.
-
-
Don't just listen, think.
- By Alonzo on 04-13-21
By: Walter Mosley
-
Black Sunday
- A Novel
- By: Tola Rotimi Abraham
- Narrated by: Liz Femi, Dele Ogundiran, Miebaka Yohannes, and others
- Length: 7 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Twin sisters Bibike and Ariyike are enjoying a relatively comfortable life in Lagos in 1996. Then their mother loses her job due to political strife, and the family, facing poverty, is drawn into the New Church, an institution led by a charismatic pastor who is not shy about worshipping earthly wealth. Soon Bibike and Ariyike's father wagers the family home on a sure bet that evaporates like smoke.
-
-
Good Story - Awful accents
- By Tamara C-J on 02-15-21
-
Milk Blood Heat
- Stories
- By: Dantiel W. Moniz
- Narrated by: Machelle Williams
- Length: 5 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A livewire debut from Dantiel W. Moniz, one of the most exciting discoveries in today's literary landscape, Milk Blood Heat depicts the sultry lives of Floridians in intergenerational tales that contemplate human connection, race, womanhood, inheritance, and the elemental darkness in us all. Set among the cities and suburbs of Florida, each story delves into the ordinary worlds of young girls, women, and men who find themselves confronted by extraordinary moments of violent personal reckoning.
-
-
Wonderful
- By Anonymous User on 05-28-21
By: Dantiel W. Moniz
-
Rootless
- A Novel
- By: Krystle Zara Appiah
- Narrated by: Clifford Samuel, Diana Yekinni
- Length: 13 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On a Spring afternoon in London, Sam hops the stairs of his flat two at a time. There’s £1,300 missing from his and his wife, Efe’s, shared bank account and his calls are going straight to voicemail. When he finally reaches someone, he learns Efe is nearly 5,000 miles away as their toddler looks around and asks, “Where’s Mummy?”
-
-
The ending was traumatic & unnecessary
- By Kayzee on 04-27-25
-
Flight to Canada
- By: Ishmael Reed
- Narrated by: Vince Bailey
- Length: 5 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Brilliantly portrayed by a novelist with "a talent for hyperbole and downright yarning unequaled since Mark Twain", (Saturday Review), this slave's-eye view of the Civil War exposes America's racial foibles of the past and present with uninhibited humor and panache. Mixing history, fantasy, political reality, and comedy, Ishmael Reed spins the tale of three runaway slaves and the master determined to catch them.
-
-
Next Level.
- By A. SAID on 10-25-19
By: Ishmael Reed
-
Perish
- A Novel
- By: LaToya Watkins
- Narrated by: Jeremy Michael Durm, Keyonni James, Chanté McCormick, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bear it or perish yourself. Those are the words Helen Jean hears that fateful night in her cousin’s outhouse that change the trajectory of her life. Spanning decades, Perish tracks the choices Helen Jean—the matriarch of the Turner family—makes and the way those choices have rippled across generations, from her children to her grandchildren and beyond. This family’s “reunion” unearths long-kept secrets and forces each member to ask themselves important questions about who is deserving of forgiveness and who bears the cross of blame.
-
-
listened twice...great performance
- By Carol on 09-20-22
By: LaToya Watkins
-
The Awkward Black Man
- Stories
- By: Walter Mosley
- Narrated by: Mirron Willis
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mosley presents distinct characters as they struggle to move through the world in each of these stories - heroes who are awkward, nerdy, self-defeating, self-involved, and, on the whole, odd. He overturns the stereotypes that corral black male characters and paints a subtle, powerful portrait of each of these unique individuals.
-
-
Don't just listen, think.
- By Alonzo on 04-13-21
By: Walter Mosley
-
Black Sunday
- A Novel
- By: Tola Rotimi Abraham
- Narrated by: Liz Femi, Dele Ogundiran, Miebaka Yohannes, and others
- Length: 7 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Twin sisters Bibike and Ariyike are enjoying a relatively comfortable life in Lagos in 1996. Then their mother loses her job due to political strife, and the family, facing poverty, is drawn into the New Church, an institution led by a charismatic pastor who is not shy about worshipping earthly wealth. Soon Bibike and Ariyike's father wagers the family home on a sure bet that evaporates like smoke.
-
-
Good Story - Awful accents
- By Tamara C-J on 02-15-21
-
Milk Blood Heat
- Stories
- By: Dantiel W. Moniz
- Narrated by: Machelle Williams
- Length: 5 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A livewire debut from Dantiel W. Moniz, one of the most exciting discoveries in today's literary landscape, Milk Blood Heat depicts the sultry lives of Floridians in intergenerational tales that contemplate human connection, race, womanhood, inheritance, and the elemental darkness in us all. Set among the cities and suburbs of Florida, each story delves into the ordinary worlds of young girls, women, and men who find themselves confronted by extraordinary moments of violent personal reckoning.
-
-
Wonderful
- By Anonymous User on 05-28-21
By: Dantiel W. Moniz
-
Rootless
- A Novel
- By: Krystle Zara Appiah
- Narrated by: Clifford Samuel, Diana Yekinni
- Length: 13 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On a Spring afternoon in London, Sam hops the stairs of his flat two at a time. There’s £1,300 missing from his and his wife, Efe’s, shared bank account and his calls are going straight to voicemail. When he finally reaches someone, he learns Efe is nearly 5,000 miles away as their toddler looks around and asks, “Where’s Mummy?”
-
-
The ending was traumatic & unnecessary
- By Kayzee on 04-27-25
-
Hippie
- By: Paulo Coelho, Eric M. B. Becker - translator
- Narrated by: Graham Halstead
- Length: 7 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Hippie, he tells the story of Paulo, a young, skinny Brazilian man with a goatee and long, flowing hair, who dreams of becoming a writer, and Karla, a Dutch woman in her twenties who has been waiting to find a companion to accompany her on the fabled hippie trail to Nepal.
-
-
Touchingly beautiful
- By Albert Bates on 12-02-18
By: Paulo Coelho, and others
-
11-22-63
- A Novel
- By: Stephen King
- Narrated by: Craig Wasson
- Length: 30 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On November 22, 1963, three shots rang out in Dallas, President Kennedy died, and the world changed. What if you could change it back? In this brilliantly conceived tour de force, Stephen King - who has absorbed the social, political, and popular culture of his generation more imaginatively and thoroughly than any other writer - takes listeners on an incredible journey into the past and the possibility of altering it.
-
-
I Owe Stephen King An Apology
- By Kelly - Write Well Academy on 04-16-12
By: Stephen King
-
I Am Ayah
- The Way Home
- By: Donna Hill
- Narrated by: Bianca Drew
- Length: 12 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alessandra Fleming has spent most of her life running from her past. Her budding photography career, her life in Manhattan, all serve to distract from the secrets and guilt she's never been able to face. Then the call. Her estranged father is in the hospital . . . and Alessandra must return home to Sag Harbor, crumbling the first wall between her past and her present. For some, coming home is a relief. For Alessandra, it's a reminder of the family she's lost, of the time she'll never regain. But the answers—the secrets—of her family are hidden in the house, waiting for her.
-
-
A presentation. Of marvelous appeal
- By Jackie on 06-07-23
By: Donna Hill
-
There Is Confusion (AmazonClassics Edition)
- By: Jessie Redmon Fauset
- Narrated by: Tovah Ott
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In New York City, Joanna Marshall is an aspiring singer obsessed with success, determined to overcome the racism and sexism that stand in her way. Her childhood friends Maggie Ellersley and Peter Bye confront similar barriers but with different goals in mind: Maggie is focused on finding love; Peter, on becoming a surgeon. But as their interests overlap and their ambitions collide, the course of Joanna and Maggie’s lives seems destined to change forever. Written in response to the dominant stereotypes of the time, There Is Confusion paints a revelatory portrait....
-
-
Great historical fiction
- By Yolanda R. on 04-24-25
-
Devil in a Blue Dress
- An Easy Rawlins Mystery
- By: Walter Mosley
- Narrated by: Michael Boatman
- Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Los Angeles, 1948: Easy Rawlins is a black war veteran just fired from his job at a defense plant. Easy is drinking in a friend's bar, wondering how he'll meet his mortgage, when a white man in a linen suit walks in, offering good money if Easy will simply locate Miss Daphne Money, a blonde beauty known to frequent black jazz clubs.
-
-
Beware of Mysterious Sexy Women with Big Suitcases
- By Jefferson on 02-13-11
By: Walter Mosley
-
More to Life
- By: ReShonda Tate Billingsley
- Narrated by: Janina Edwards
- Length: 7 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Freshly 45, Aja James knows that her life is good, complete with a loving, wealthy husband, well-adjusted children, and a beautiful home. Yet the truth is, she feels painfully unfulfilled, stuck in the present, haunted by a painful past. When a friend suggests a girls' trip to a tropical paradise, Aja hopes a change of scene will also change her perspective. On vacation, filled with fun and freedom, Aja is relieved to find her spirits lifting. But her good time also shines a light on what's troubling her: She's spent nearly her whole life taking care of everyone - except herself.
-
-
Main character very indecisive!
- By Kontina Zeigler on 10-23-20
-
The Two Lives of Sara
- By: Catherine Adel West
- Narrated by: Adenrele Ojo
- Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sara King has nothing, save for her secrets and the baby in her belly, as she boards the bus to Memphis, hoping to outrun her past in Chicago. She is welcomed with open arms by Mama Sugar, a kindly matriarch and owner of the popular boardinghouse The Scarlet Poplar. Like many cities in early 1960s America, Memphis is still segregated, but change is in the air. News spreads of the Freedom Riders. Across the country, people like Martin Luther King Jr. are leading the fight for equal rights.
-
-
Review
- By Marti Perronie on 09-20-22
-
The Boyfriend Project
- By: Farrah Rochon
- Narrated by: Je Nie Fleming
- Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Samiah Brooks never thought she would be "that" girl. But a live tweet of a horrific date just revealed the painful truth: She's been catfished by a three-timing jerk of a boyfriend. Suddenly, Samiah - along with his two other "girlfriends", London and Taylor - have gone viral online. Now, the three new besties are making a pact to spend the next six months investing in themselves. No men and no dating. For once, Samiah is putting herself first, and that includes finally developing the app she's always dreamed of creating. Which is the exact moment she meets Daniel Collins.
-
-
I wanted to like this, really I did!
- By Mum on 06-29-20
By: Farrah Rochon
-
The Supremes at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat
- By: Edward Kelsey Moore
- Narrated by: Pamella D'Pella, Adenrele Ojo
- Length: 12 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat is home away from home for this inseparable Plainview, Indiana, trio. Dubbed "The Supremes" by high school pals in the tumultuous 1960s, they weather life’s storms together for the next four decades. Now, during their most challenging year yet, dutiful, proud, and talented Clarice must struggle to keep up appearances as she deals with her husband’s humiliating infidelities. Beautiful, fragile Barbara Jean is rocked by the tragic reverberations of a youthful love affair. And fearless Odette engages in the most terrifying battle of her life....
-
-
An AMAZING audible book...
- By Margaret on 03-16-13
-
Divine Evil
- By: Nora Roberts
- Narrated by: Kimberly Farr
- Length: 17 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Famed sculptor Clare Kimball has commanded the attention of the New York art world, but troubling memories from childhood have drawn her home to Maryland, to the town where she grew up and where her father died so long ago in circumstances never really explained. Nothing much has changed in Emmitsboro—except Cameron Rafferty, the onetime high school bad boy turned town sheriff. The only hint of Cam’s wild nature is the light in his eyes when he looks at Clare. In Cam’s strong arms Clare is seduced into falling in love—and believing that her small-town world is safe.
-
-
This is one of my favorite books!
- By Anne on 08-13-04
By: Nora Roberts
-
The Socrates Express
- In Search of Life Lessons from Dead Philosophers
- By: Eric Weiner
- Narrated by: Eric Weiner
- Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Eric Weiner combines his twin passions for philosophy and travel in a globe-trotting pilgrimage that uncovers surprising life lessons from great thinkers around the world, from Rousseau to Nietzsche, Confucius to Simone Weil. Traveling by train (the most thoughtful mode of transport), he journeys thousands of miles, making stops in Athens, Delhi, Wyoming, Coney Island, Frankfurt, and points in between to reconnect with philosophy’s original purpose: teaching us how to lead wiser, more meaningful lives.
-
-
Wisdom, Wit and Warmth
- By NotTheDuchess on 08-28-20
By: Eric Weiner
-
Ms. Etta's Fast House
- By: Victor McGlothin
- Narrated by: Ezra Knight
- Length: 13 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1947 St. Louis, Ms. Etta's is the place where a sinner can get all the boozy action he craves - that is until ladies' man Baltimore Floyd rolls into town and falls in the sack with the wrong woman.
-
-
Fantastic!!!
- By Shay on 03-29-18
By: Victor McGlothin
Critic reviews
What listeners say about Only the Strong
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- C. Melcher
- 01-24-16
Great Insight into Black Life in Mid-Century
Set at the opening in 1970s Gateway City (St. Louis), this book seemed like it would be a gritty gangster story about Guts Tolliver and his perhaps thwarted efforts to go straight after working as an enforcer/hit man for Ananias Goode. Instead it unfolded into so much more, rolling back in flash backs to events around the Great Migration of African Americans from the South, offering measured portraits of African American characters we often do not see, and giving ultimately a portrait of African American life in the Midwest in the middle of the last century.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!