
Spoken
A Novel
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3 months free
Buy for $14.95
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Narrated by:
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Mike Peters
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By:
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Melanie Weiss
Winner of a Readers' Favorite International Book Award for Young Adult-Social Issues.
“While a story of self-discovery, Spoken lends itself to a different curricular option for teachers, a world of possibilities to young readers, and a special inspiration to biological parents. I really enjoyed Spoken.”(Readers’ Favorite Review)
High school freshman High school freshman Roman Santi has everything - good looks, great friends, a mansion with an infinity swimming pool - except the one thing he really wants. A relationship with his father. When Roman’s life gets turned upside down, (thanks, Mom!?), he is forced to leave his pampered Hollywood lifestyle and move into his grandparents’ Midwestern home.
Sleeping on a lumpy pullout sofa and starting at a new high school is the worst, but Roman’s life starts to look up when his pink-haired friend, Zuzu, and his crush, a classmate named Claire, introduce him to performance poetry through the high school's Spoken Word Club. While his mom is flying back and forth to LA, trying to return them to the life they had, Roman becomes part of a diverse group of characters who challenge his rather privileged view of the world. Through Spoken Word, Roman recognizes the hole in his own life he needs to fill and discovers his voice. Spoken Word leads Roman on a journey of new friendships, first love, and finding the dad he never knew.
Spoken is an uplifting, funny, and heartfelt coming-of-age story that captures how the honesty of performance poetry binds together students from all different walks of life and forever changes Roman’s life.
©2019 Melanie Weiss (P)2022 Melanie Weiss/Rosehip PublishingListeners also enjoyed...




















Listener received this title free
The title of Spoken refers to "Spoken Word", which is a performance based poetry club in which the high school kids are encouraged to dig down deep and write about their feelings. For Roman, it is a way into acceptance at a new school after his mom messes up her relationship with a rich producer in LA and uproots him back to live in a small town with his grandparents, where he has to sleep on their fold out sofa. He thinks he's lost everything, but is surprised when he discovers that he just may have found everything that he didn't even know his life was lacking.
I thought the choice of Mike Peters was interesting. His voice is kind of rough, but it definitely worked for a teenage boy. I enjoyed both the story and the narration.
I was given a complimentary copy of this audiobook. All thoughts are my own.
Fantastic YA novel!
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Listener received this title free
The narration was good. I like Mike Peters for this story. I would listen to other books narrated by him
I received this free book at my request and am voluntarily leaving this review.
A very good story.
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Listener received this title free
Great coming of age story!!
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Listener received this title free
While Roman's mom is traveling back and forth to L.A. to try and return them to their old life, Roman is discovering himself through performance poetry. When Roman gets the chance to meet the father he's never met, Roman has some big decisions to make.
I liked the basic components of this story - a young teen learning about himself through poetry, challenging the assumptions he's had about his life so far, and trying to decide whether or not he should meet the father he's never met - but they never seemed to come together for me. The story fell flat.
I think a lot of that has to do with the narrator of the audiobook, though. Mike Peters' performance was technically correct, in that he read the correct words. But there was little to no emotion conveyed in his voice. While it wasn't necessarily monotone, it was very close. Even when reading the scenes when Roman and the other kids are performing their poetry, the tone of his voice doesn't change. I would hope that reading the book, as opposed to listening to it, would allow for more of a connection with the characters. Unfortunately, I am not at all inclined toward reading it to see.
Good story; flat narration
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