Ordinary Girls
A Memoir
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Narrated by:
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Almarie Guerra
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By:
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Jaquira Diaz
About this listen
A fierce, beautiful, and unflinching memoir from a wildly talented debut author
While growing up in housing projects in Puerto Rico and Miami Beach, Jaquira Diaz found herself caught between extremes: as her family split apart and her mother battled schizophrenia, she was surrounded by the love of her friends; as she longed for a family and home, she found instead a life upended by violence. From her own struggles with depression and sexual assault to Puerto Rico's history of colonialism, Ordinary Girls vibrates with music and lyricism. Diaz triumphantly maps a way out of despair toward love and hope to become her version of the girl she always wanted to be.
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A timely novel about the radicalization of a Muslim teen in California - about where identity truly lies, and how we find it. Laguna Beach, California, 2010. Reza Courdee, a 14-year-old straight-A student and chemistry whiz, takes his first hit of pot. In as long as it takes to inhale and exhale, he is transformed from the high-achieving son of Iranian immigrants into a happy-go-lucky stoner.
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A very important contribution
- By Mia on 05-29-17
By: Laleh Khadivi
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The Night Always Comes
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- By: Willy Vlautin
- Narrated by: Christine Lakin
- Length: 6 hrs and 5 mins
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Barely 30, Lynette is exhausted. Saddled with bad credit and juggling multiple jobs, some illegally, she’s been diligently working to buy the house she lives in with her mother and developmentally disabled brother Kenny. Portland’s housing prices have nearly quadrupled in 15 years, and the owner is giving them a good deal. Lynette knows it’s their last best chance to own their own home - and obtain the security they’ve never had. While she has enough for the down payment, she needs her mother to cover the rest of the asking price.
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Willy knows tragedy
- By Phil Bailey on 08-03-21
By: Willy Vlautin
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Scars and Stilettos - 2nd Edition
- By: Harmony Dust
- Narrated by: Harmony Dust
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
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Scars and Stilettos: At 13, after being abandoned by her mother one summer and left to take care of her younger brother, Harmony becomes susceptible to a relationship that turns out to be toxic, abusive, and ultimately exploitative. She eventually finds herself working in a strip club at the age of 19, and her boyfriend becomes her pimp, controlling her every move and taking all of her money. Ultimately, she discovers a path to freedom and a whole new life.
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A religious book
- By Amazonbuyer on 10-12-21
By: Harmony Dust
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Chelsea Girls
- A Novel
- By: Eileen Myles
- Narrated by: Eileen Myles
- Length: 6 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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In this breathtakingly inventive autobiographical novel, Eileen Myles transforms life into a work of art. Told in her audacious voice, made vivid and immediate in her lyrical language, Chelsea Girls cobbles together memories of Myles's 1960s Catholic upbringing with an alcoholic father, her volatile adolescence, her unabashed "lesbianity," and her riotous pursuit of survival as a poet in 1970s New York.
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fascinatingly skanky
- By Megon J. Walker on 07-15-16
By: Eileen Myles
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When a Stranger Comes to Town
- By: Michael Koryta
- Narrated by: Cindy Kay, Janina Edwards, Fajer Al-Kaisi, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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It's been said that all great literature boils down to one of two stories—a man takes a journey, or a stranger comes to town. While mystery writers have been successfully using both approaches for generations, there's something undeniably alluring in the nature of a stranger: the uninvited guest, the unacquainted neighbor, the fish out of water. In the newest collection of stories by the Mystery Writers of America, each author weaves a fresh tale surrounding the eerie feeling that comes when a stranger enters our midst, featuring stories by prolific mystery writers.
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The narrators are outstanding here.
- By Jennifer Baratta She/Her on 05-16-21
By: Michael Koryta
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Harley Loco
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- By: Rayya Elias
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When she was 7, Rayya Elias and her family fled the political conflict in their native Syria, settling in Detroit. Bullied in school and caught between the world of her traditional family and her tough American classmates, she rebelled early. Elias moved to New York City to become a musician and kept herself afloat with an uncommon talent for cutting hair. At the height of the punk movement, life on the Lower East Side was full of adventure, creative inspiration, and temptation.
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What an amazing woman.
- By Canaan Voss on 06-12-24
By: Rayya Elias
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Chanel Bonfire
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- Length: 6 hrs and 20 mins
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By the time Wendy Lawless turned 17, she'd known for quite some time that she didn't have a normal mother. But that didn't stop her from wanting one.... Georgann Rea didn't bake cookies or go to PTA meetings; she wore a mink coat and always had a lit Dunhill plugged into her cigarette holder. She went through men like Kleenex, and didn't like dogs or children. Georgann had the ice queen beauty of a Hitchcock heroine and the cold heart to match.
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Not an Engaging Listen
- By Sobriquet on 03-13-13
By: Wendy Lawless
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Growing Things and Other Stories
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A chilling collection of psychological suspense and literary horror from the multiple award-winning author of the national best seller The Cabin at the End of the World and A Head Full of Ghosts. A masterful anthology featuring 19 pieces of short fiction, Growing Things and Other Stories is an exciting glimpse into Paul Tremblay’s fantastically fertile imagination.
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Paul Tremblay is totally nuts.
- By Gary & Jay on 07-07-19
By: Paul Tremblay
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All Souls
- A Family Story from Southie
- By: Michael Patrick MacDonald
- Narrated by: Michael Patrick MacDonald
- Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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The anti-busing riots of 1974 forever changed Southie, Boston's working-class Irish community, branding it as a violent, racist enclave. Michael Patrick MacDonald grew up in Southie's Old Colony housing project. He describes the way this world within a world felt to the troubled yet keenly gifted observer he was even as a child. But the threats - poverty, drugs, a shadowy gangster world - were real. All Souls is heartbreaking testimony to lives lost too early, and the story of how a place so filled with pain could still be "the best place in the world".
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this book broke me in the best way
- By anon on 02-14-23
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He Came in with It
- A Portrait of Motherhood and Madness
- By: Miriam Feldman
- Narrated by: Ann Richardson
- Length: 11 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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In an idyllic Los Angeles neighborhood, where generations enjoy deep roots in old homes, the O’Rourke family fits right in. Miriam and Craig are both artists and their four children carry on the legacy. When their teenage son, Nick, is diagnosed with schizophrenia, a tumultuous decade ensues in which the family careens off the conventional course. Like the 10 Biblical plagues, they are hit by one catastrophe after another: violence, evictions, arrests, a suicide attempt, a near-drowning - even cancer and a brain tumor - play against the backdrop of a wild teenage bacchanal.
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So Beautifully Written
- By Michael on 08-01-22
By: Miriam Feldman
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The Secrets They Left Behind
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- By: Lissa Marie Redmond
- Narrated by: Laura Jennings
- Length: 9 hrs and 1 min
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Three college freshmen go missing from their rural hometown of Kelly's Falls while on Christmas break. Their cell phones, coats, and purses are left behind, but the girls have disappeared without a trace. As the days turn into weeks and the investigation grows cold, 23-year-old Buffalo police officer Shea O'Connor is called on to dig up leads undercover.
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Secrets and truths
- By Keenan on 09-28-20
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The McAvoy Sisters Book of Secrets
- A Novel
- By: Molly Fader
- Narrated by: Nancy Peterson
- Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins
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It’s been 17 years since the tragic summer the McAvoy sisters fell apart. Lindy, the wild one, left home, carved out a new life in the city, and never looked back. Delia, the sister who stayed, became a mother herself, raising her daughters and running the family shop in their small Ohio hometown on the shores of Lake Erie. But now, with their mother’s ailing health and a rebellious teenager to rein in, Delia has no choice but to welcome Lindy home.
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Great story
- By Nessa on 09-25-23
By: Molly Fader
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What listeners say about Ordinary Girls
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- La Julia
- 07-26-20
Hard book to hear ...
There is a lot of sadness in this book. A lot of hard lessons as well. I had to stop several times ... perhaps because memories I had long stored away came back to the surface. Perhaps also because I wondered how she made it through.
Glad I finished it and didn’t leave myself wondering.
A heartfelt book and stories Im glad she shared.
We are all Ordinary Girls.
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13 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 09-28-20
Such resilience
The author definitely had a traumatic life. it's surprising when someone can go through all of those things and still become a productive successful person. I wish her continued success in her life. Thank you for sharing.
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- Rebecca A. Rosales
- 08-01-20
unexpected
I really loved this book. the author bounces back and forth through different places and times, but brings it together perfectly.
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8 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 11-30-21
Courage
"For all the girls that never thought to see themselves in books" Jaquira Diaz" A courages and honest story of living and growing up under extreme, yet all too common circumstances. I love the way the story weaves in and out almost like thoughts that pop up while telling a story. It is so real and so raw. The reader does a wonderful job.
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- w.l.
- 02-27-23
A chaotic life story
I listened to ORDINARY GIRLS by Jaquira Diazvob Audible
I don't read a lot of biography or autobiography, so when I noticed that 2 of the 3 books I was working on were memoirs, I was surprised. I also made a huge error in my choice of books. All 3 books involved, to some extent, violence, abuse, and rape. All three books involved race. Hence, I had to remind myself what I was reading because I got a bit confused at times. Fortunately, I usually listen on a long car ride or while spending an afternoon knitting, so it does not take me long to remember the storyline.
Ordinary Girls begins in Puerto Rico with the larger part taking place in Miami. Jaquira's father is Black, her mother, White. The family struggles with food, housing, drugs, and alcohol. Both her mother and her maternal grandmother are addicts, and her mother has mental health issues. Her father favors women, drinking, and sometimes criminal activity. It's a lot to listen to, and it often makes me cringe with discomfort.
I learned a bit about the US treatment of Puerto Rico, and once again, I am ashamed of our country.
I recommend this book because of its gritty telling of the effects of poverty on a family. I give no one any pass for their behavior. It is worth your time.
Now, my biggest problem with the book is the chaotic storyline. Jaquira's life was chaotic, of course, but her storytelling was so chaotic I sometimes wondered whether the author had gone back to a previous event or moved ahead in time. It was very hard to tell.
Her obsession with a particular criminal was oddly placed in the book, and often, the history of Puerto Rico unnecessary; although I did not mind it at all.
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- Shae S.
- 08-17-24
An extraordinarily remarkable narrative of tragedy, trauma, and triumph
Ordinary Girls is a teleological masterpiece, providing insight to the daily life stressors and struggles of the main character from childhood, through adolescence, and into adulthood. This heart wrenching story offers hope and encourages perseverance for a generation of young women often suffering in painful silence.
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- OwlLover
- 02-03-21
Lots packed into what seems like fiction
There is so much packed into what can seem like a simple story. It sounds a lot like fiction and it takes some effort to remember it is memoir. It can seem a bit disjointed as it changes timelines without mich warning or indication and I'm not sure that added much. This is the story of a youth that is challenging even with its bright spots. It is hard to see how she will get out and move up, but her friends seems to become more important, especially as more is revealed about what they go through together. The inclusion of political issues and the situation in Puerto Rico serve as a reminder of how young the author is and how recent her experience are. It is an interesting read and easy to get through in a short amount of time.
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- CSat.
- 02-11-22
Amazing
Loved it, so raw and so real. Couldn't put it down, finished in 4 days!
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- Natalie L.
- 07-11-22
Wish this existed when I was a teenager….
Diaz is exactly the kind of writer I wish I’d had access to as a teenager, when we weee reading the canon. I’m so grateful to be living on a planet where she is creating and sharing her art. My eye welled up at the end. Bravo, Jaquira.
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- M J Russell
- 09-01-20
Not Bad
This book bounces around a little. I felt sometimes it was hard to tell who when and where you were. A truly sad story with a some what happy ending. I feel she can be a force to reckoned with in the future.
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