The Crazyladies of Pearl Street
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Lee Leoncavallo
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By:
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Trevanian
About this listen
The place is Albany, New York. The year is 1936. Six-year-old Jean-Luc LaPointe, his little sister, and their spirited but vulnerable young mother have been abandoned, again, by his father, a charmer and a con artist. With no money and no family willing to take them in, the LaPointes manage to create a fragile nest at 238 North Pearl Street. For the next eight years, through the Great Depression and Second World War, they live in the heart of the Irish slum, with its ward heelers, unemployment, and grinding poverty. As Jean-Luc discovers, it's a neighborhood of "crazyladies": Miss Cox, the feared and ridiculed teacher who ignites his imagination; Mrs. Kane, who runs a beauty parlor/fortune-telling salon in the back of her husband's grocery store; Mrs. Meehan, the desperate, harried matriarch of a thuggish family across the street; lonely Mrs. McGivney, who spends every day tending to her catatonic husband, a veteran of the Great War; and Jean-Luc's own unconventional, vivacious mother.
Jean-Luc is a voracious reader who never stops dreaming of a way out of the slum. He gradually takes on responsibility for the family's survival with a mix of bravery and resentment while his mom turns from spells of illness and depression to eager planning for the day when "our ship will come in." It's a heartfelt and unforgettable look back at one child's life in the 1930s and '40s, a story that will be remembered long after it ends.
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An ok way to kill some time
- By R.Reader on 11-07-12
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Paradise
- By: Toni Morrison
- Narrated by: Toni Morrison
- Length: 15 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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In Paradise - her first novel since she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature - Toni Morrison gives us a bravura performance. As the book begins deep in Oklahoma early one morning in 1976, nine men from Ruby (pop. 360), in defense of "the one all-black town worth the pain", assault the nearby Convent and the women in it. From the town's ancestral origins in 1890 to the fateful day of the assault, Paradise tells the story of a people ever mindful of the relationship between their spectacular history and a void.
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MORRISON AT HER MOST COMPLEX
- By Kennedi Hill on 11-07-19
By: Toni Morrison
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Too Close to the Falls
- A Memoir
- By: Catherine Gildiner
- Narrated by: Allyson Johnson
- Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Welcome to the childhood of Catherine McClure Gildiner. It is the middle of the 1950s in Lewiston, New York, a small and sleepy American town very near Niagara Falls. No one is divorced. Mothers wear high heels to the beauty salon and children pop Pez candy and swing from vines over a local gorge. But at the tender age of four, it becomes clear to her Cathy's parents that their rambunctious daughter is no ordinary child and they soon put her "to work" at her father's pharmacy.
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Brilliant and funny and touching.
- By Kindle Customer on 11-07-19
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This Side of the Sky
- By: Elyse Singleton
- Narrated by: Myra Taylor, Sharon Washington, Richard Ferrone
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Award-winning journalist Elyse Singleton delivers what Essence calls “a gem - the perfect book to curl up with.”
Best friends Lilian and Myraleen, two African American women from rural Mississippi, travel to Europe during World War II to act as members of the Women’s Army Corps. During this time of segregation and destruction, both women discover love and heartbreak, triumph and defeat.
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A Breath of Fresh Air
- By Adina Andreu on 07-19-12
By: Elyse Singleton
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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
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The Walking People
- By: Mary Beth Keane
- Narrated by: Sile Bermingham
- Length: 16 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Greta Cahill never believed she would leave her village in the west of Ireland until she found herself on a ship bound for New York, along with her sister Johanna and a boy named Michael Ward. Labeled a "softheaded goose" by her family, Greta discovers that in America she can fall in love, raise her own family, and earn a living.
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Irish immigratn story
- By Chrissie on 09-10-13
By: Mary Beth Keane
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The One-in-a-Million Boy
- By: Monica Wood
- Narrated by: Chris Ciulla
- Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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For years, guitarist Quinn Porter has been on the road, chasing gig after gig, largely absent to his twice-ex-wife Belle and their odd, Guinness records-obsessed son. When the boy dies suddenly, Quinn seeks forgiveness for his paternal shortcomings by completing the requirements for one of his son's unfinished Boy Scout badges. For seven Saturdays Quinn does yard work for Ona Vitkus, the spry 104-year-old Lithuanian immigrant the boy had visited weekly.
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Loved it
- By Justin on 10-20-16
By: Monica Wood
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The Blind Assassin
- By: Margaret Atwood
- Narrated by: Margot Dionne
- Length: 18 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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For the past twenty-five years, Margaret Atwood has written works of striking originality and imagination. In The Blind Assassin, she stretches the limits of her accomplishments as never before, creating a novel that is entertaining and profoundly serious. The novel opens with these simple, resonant words: "Ten days after the war ended, my sister drove a car off the bridge." They are spoken by Iris, whose terse account of her sister Laura's death in 1945 is followed by an inquest report proclaiming the death accidental.
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Good book, TERRIBLE audio!
- By Whitney on 04-27-09
By: Margaret Atwood
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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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Honor
- By: Elif Shafak
- Narrated by: Mozhan Marno, Piter Marik
- Length: 12 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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An honor killing shatters and transforms the lives of Turkish immigrants in 1970s London. Internationally best-selling Turkish author Elif Shafak’s new novel is a dramatic tale of families, love, and misunderstandings that follows the destinies of twin sisters born in a Kurdish village. While Jamila stays to become a midwife, Pembe follows her Turkish husband, Adem, to London, where they hope to make new lives for themselves and their children. In London, they face a choice: stay loyal to the old traditions or try their best to fit in.
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Complex but Compelling
- By Cariola on 04-14-13
By: Elif Shafak
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Beyond the Pale
- By: Elana Dykewomon
- Narrated by: Elana Dykewomon
- Length: 15 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Beyond the Pale - winner of the Lambda Literary Award - tells the stories of two Jewish women living through times of darkness and inhumanity in the early 20th century, capturing their undaunted love and courage in luminous and moving prose. The richly textured novel details Gutke Gurvich's odyssey from her apprenticeship as a midwife in a Russian shtetl to her work in the suffrage movement in New York.
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great historical fiction with a lesbian twist
- By Kelly on 11-25-13
By: Elana Dykewomon
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The Fortunate Pilgrim
- By: Mario Puzo
- Narrated by: John Kenneth
- Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Lucia Santa has traveled 3,000 miles of dark ocean, from the mountain farms of Italy to the streets of New York, hoping for a better life. Instead, she finds herself in Hell's Kitchen, in a bad marriage, raising six children on her own. As Lucia struggles to hold her family together, her daughter confronts the adult world of work and romance while her eldest son is drawn into the Mafia. Meanwhile, her youngest son aspires to American pursuits she cannot understand.
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Puzo's Best
- By Amazon Customer on 02-19-13
By: Mario Puzo
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Shibumi
- By: Trevanian
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 16 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Nicholai Hel, born in the ravages of World War I China to an aristocratic Russian mother and a mysterious German father, raised in the spiritual gardens of a Japanese Go Master, survives the destruction of Hiroshima to emerge as the world's most artful lover and its most accomplished and highly paid assassin. Genius, mystic, master of language and culture, Hel's secret is his determination to attain a rare kind of personal excellence, a state of effortless perfection: shibumi.
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Only a Russian could be this shibumi
- By David on 07-15-12
By: Trevanian
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The Eiger Sanction
- By: Trevanian
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 11 hrs
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In a renovated Gothic church on Long Island lives Jonathan Hemlock, an art professor and a world-renowned mountain climber who finances his black-market art collection by working as a freelance assassin. Now, Hemlock is being tricked into a hazardous assignment that involves an attempt to scale one of the most treacherous mountain peaks in the Swiss Alps: the Eiger. His target is one of his three fellow climbers. The problem is that the CII can't tell him which one.
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Great story, great narration
- By Andrew on 05-14-09
By: Trevanian
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Satori
- By: Don Winslow
- Narrated by: Holter Graham
- Length: 12 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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It is the fall of 1951 and the Korean War is raging. Nicholai Hel has spent the last three years in solitary confinement at the hands of the Americans. Hel is a master of hoda korosu or "naked kill," fluent in seven languages, and has honed extraordinary "proximity sense" - an extra awareness of the presence of danger. He has the skills to be the world's most fearsome assassin and now the CIA needs him. The Americans offer Hel freedom, money, and a neutral passport in exchange for one small service: go to Beijing and kill the Soviet Union's Commissioner to China.
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LOVED IT!
- By John E on 09-20-11
By: Don Winslow
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The Silver Ladies of Penny Lane
- By: Dee MacDonald
- Narrated by: Judy Sweeny
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Tess and Orla have been best friends throughout most of their adult lives. So when life gave them lemons and their loved ones let them down, they pooled their resources and bought a dressmakers shop on the corner of Penny Lane. And they’ve been doing just fine ever since. But one day, while studying her tired eyes and shapeless figure in the mirror, 62-year-old Tess realised that she doesn’t want her life to be just fine anymore. She wants it to be extraordinary.
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If only she hasn’t gone there
- By Kristyn Rose on 03-01-23
By: Dee MacDonald
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When Cicadas Cry
- By: Caroline Cleveland
- Narrated by: Adam Barr
- Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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A white woman has been bludgeoned to death with an altar cross in a rural church on Cicada Road in Walterboro, South Carolina. Sam Jenkins, a Black man, is found covered in blood, kneeling over the body. In a state already roiling with racial tension, this is not just a murder case: it's a powder keg. Two young women are murdered on quiet Edisto Beach, an hour southeast of Walterboro, and the killer disappears without a trace. Thirty-four years later, the mystery remains unsolved. Could there be a connection to Stander's case?
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Loved this!
- By Shannah on 09-02-24
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The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store
- A Novel
- By: James McBride
- Narrated by: Dominic Hoffman
- Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Story
In 1972, when workers in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, were digging the foundations for a new development, the last thing they expected to find was a skeleton at the bottom of a well. Who the skeleton was and how it got there were two of the long-held secrets kept by the residents of Chicken Hill, the dilapidated neighborhood where immigrant Jews and African Americans lived side by side and shared ambitions and sorrows. Chicken Hill was where Moshe and Chona Ludlow lived when Moshe integrated his theater and where Chona ran the Heaven & Earth Grocery Store.
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Multiple Stories Obfuscate Narrative
- By Stephnsea on 08-12-23
By: James McBride
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Shibumi
- By: Trevanian
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 16 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Nicholai Hel, born in the ravages of World War I China to an aristocratic Russian mother and a mysterious German father, raised in the spiritual gardens of a Japanese Go Master, survives the destruction of Hiroshima to emerge as the world's most artful lover and its most accomplished and highly paid assassin. Genius, mystic, master of language and culture, Hel's secret is his determination to attain a rare kind of personal excellence, a state of effortless perfection: shibumi.
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Only a Russian could be this shibumi
- By David on 07-15-12
By: Trevanian
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The Eiger Sanction
- By: Trevanian
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 11 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In a renovated Gothic church on Long Island lives Jonathan Hemlock, an art professor and a world-renowned mountain climber who finances his black-market art collection by working as a freelance assassin. Now, Hemlock is being tricked into a hazardous assignment that involves an attempt to scale one of the most treacherous mountain peaks in the Swiss Alps: the Eiger. His target is one of his three fellow climbers. The problem is that the CII can't tell him which one.
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Great story, great narration
- By Andrew on 05-14-09
By: Trevanian
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Satori
- By: Don Winslow
- Narrated by: Holter Graham
- Length: 12 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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It is the fall of 1951 and the Korean War is raging. Nicholai Hel has spent the last three years in solitary confinement at the hands of the Americans. Hel is a master of hoda korosu or "naked kill," fluent in seven languages, and has honed extraordinary "proximity sense" - an extra awareness of the presence of danger. He has the skills to be the world's most fearsome assassin and now the CIA needs him. The Americans offer Hel freedom, money, and a neutral passport in exchange for one small service: go to Beijing and kill the Soviet Union's Commissioner to China.
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LOVED IT!
- By John E on 09-20-11
By: Don Winslow
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The Silver Ladies of Penny Lane
- By: Dee MacDonald
- Narrated by: Judy Sweeny
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Tess and Orla have been best friends throughout most of their adult lives. So when life gave them lemons and their loved ones let them down, they pooled their resources and bought a dressmakers shop on the corner of Penny Lane. And they’ve been doing just fine ever since. But one day, while studying her tired eyes and shapeless figure in the mirror, 62-year-old Tess realised that she doesn’t want her life to be just fine anymore. She wants it to be extraordinary.
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-
If only she hasn’t gone there
- By Kristyn Rose on 03-01-23
By: Dee MacDonald
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When Cicadas Cry
- By: Caroline Cleveland
- Narrated by: Adam Barr
- Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
A white woman has been bludgeoned to death with an altar cross in a rural church on Cicada Road in Walterboro, South Carolina. Sam Jenkins, a Black man, is found covered in blood, kneeling over the body. In a state already roiling with racial tension, this is not just a murder case: it's a powder keg. Two young women are murdered on quiet Edisto Beach, an hour southeast of Walterboro, and the killer disappears without a trace. Thirty-four years later, the mystery remains unsolved. Could there be a connection to Stander's case?
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Loved this!
- By Shannah on 09-02-24
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The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store
- A Novel
- By: James McBride
- Narrated by: Dominic Hoffman
- Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In 1972, when workers in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, were digging the foundations for a new development, the last thing they expected to find was a skeleton at the bottom of a well. Who the skeleton was and how it got there were two of the long-held secrets kept by the residents of Chicken Hill, the dilapidated neighborhood where immigrant Jews and African Americans lived side by side and shared ambitions and sorrows. Chicken Hill was where Moshe and Chona Ludlow lived when Moshe integrated his theater and where Chona ran the Heaven & Earth Grocery Store.
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Multiple Stories Obfuscate Narrative
- By Stephnsea on 08-12-23
By: James McBride
What listeners say about The Crazyladies of Pearl Street
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- spamelia
- 02-26-23
Fabulous walk down history!
The reader was fantastic!!! Since I have lived in the albany area since 1986, this book was a lovely walk through Albany’s history, people and architecture. Highly recommend!
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- Shirley A. Iverson
- 09-02-24
Fetching Title but Repetitive
The book is a 10 in parts and a 1 in other parts. This seems like a delightful short story stretched into a novel.
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Overall
- kimingham
- 07-06-05
A walk down memory lane
I have never read anything else by this author so I was skeptical about this book but it was delightful. It is rich in "signs of the time" and the reality of a child's imagination that is trying to cope with pressures and guilt, most of it self-imposed out of a sense of responsibility. Trevanian has captured the essence of growing up in poverty in a small city. I found so many things that related to my own childhood that at times I could still feel the burden and I think the only escape was to develop a rich imagination. I hated the story to end. A lot of books written about this time frame are written from a rural setting and we see how hard it is to run the farm or make a living from the land - this gives an urban view from the eyes of an intelligent ambitious young boy.
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18 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Jody R. Nathan
- 10-14-05
Enjoyable coming of age story
I have not read any of Trevanian's other novels. Apparently, this one is not his usual stuff. Despite the disclaimer, it seems quite autobiographical. Luke's mother is abandoned by her husband, shortly after they are married. He returns once to father Luke's sister, and then sends a note to have them meet him in Albany. They arrive at Pearl Street, (an Irish Catholic slum) and he has disappeared again. The story details the lives on Pearl Street, during the depression and through WWII. Luke manages to care for his mother and sister, despite crushing poverty, in part by making up story games and living in his head. His descriptions of the "characters" who also live on Pearl Street are well done and for the most part, gentle and insightful.
At times, the story got a bit long winded, but I kept going back to catch the parts I missed. The narrator was quite good; I enjoyed the tenor of his voice.
I found it a good read, and could not put it down.
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10 people found this helpful
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- William C. Bigler
- 05-27-22
Man….really good and shows T’s depth and breadth
This is worth reading no matter what you like. Nothing at all like the zany spy novels (which I wish there were ten of).
It is idealism muddled up by pragmatism and circumstance (and human folly) to use a version of Trevanian’s description of his own fans.
The way this book is written and how it weaves back and forth in time while remaining in the present is pretty remarkable too.
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- Anne
- 08-26-16
Trevanian delivers
Exquisitely written. This book really puts you in the heart of the Great Depression. His characters are very detailed and you feel as if you intimately know each one particularly Jean Lucas.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Suzanne D. Macdowell
- 11-01-24
A novel? I don't think so.
What a lovely walk down memory lane! An Honest Lullaby indeed. and how delightful to learn, after the fact, that it was more memoir than novel.
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- Cathryn Harjung
- 09-19-23
Superb autobiography
This book was recommended to me. I was hooked right away. Excellent story. Made me want more!
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- Alfie
- 06-27-18
language
l couldn't finish this book. Story seems ok but the language is too bad. l don't enjoy hearing swearing .
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- bailey
- 03-03-23
Left me wanting more
I wasn’t sure about this book at first. It was chosen for my book club and as soon as I realized it was non-fiction I was sold! It’s an interesting take on an autobiography. Just the real life of a kid growing up who’s family lives off of $7 and some change / week. Loved this book so much I even seeked out the excluded passages on the writer’s website.
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