
The Gimmicks
A Novel
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 $24.29
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Will Watt
-
Mike Ortego
-
Mary Jane Wells
-
By:
-
Chris McCormick
About this listen
“The Gimmicks is a gorgeous epic that astounds with its scope and beauty. With empathy and humor, McCormick unravels the ties between brotherhood and betrayal, love and abandonment, and the fictions we create to live with the pain of the past. This novel will blow you away.” (Brit Bennett, New York Times best-selling author of The Mothers)
Set in the waning years of the Cold War, a stunning debut novel about a trio of young Armenians that moves from the Soviet Union, across Europe, to Southern California, and at its center, one of the most tragic cataclysms in 20th-century history - the Armenian Genocide - whose traumatic reverberations will have unexpected consequences on all three lives.
This exuberant, wholly original novel begins in Kirovakan, Armenia, in 1971. Ruben Petrosian is a serious, solitary young man who cares about two things: mastering the game of backgammon to beat his archrival, Mina, and studying the history of his ancestors. Ruben grieves the victims of the 1915 Armenian Genocide, a crime still denied by the descendants of its perpetrators, and dreams of vengeance.
When his orphaned cousin, Avo, comes to live with his family, Ruben’s life is transformed. Gregarious and physically enormous, with a distinct unibrow that becomes his signature, Avo is instantly beloved. He is everything Ruben is not, yet the two form a bond they swear never to break.
But their paths diverge when Ruben vanishes - drafted into an extremist group that will stop at nothing to make Turkey acknowledge the genocide. Unmoored by Ruben’s disappearance, Avo and Mina grow close in his absence. But fate brings the cousins together once more, when Ruben secretly contacts Avo, convincing him to leave Mina and join the extremists - a choice that will dramatically alter the course of their lives.
Left to unravel the threads of this story is Terry “Angel Hair” Krill, a veteran of both the US Navy and the funhouse world of professional wrestling, whose life intersects with Avo, Ruben, and Mina’s in surprising and devastating ways.
Told through alternating perspectives, The Gimmicks is a masterpiece of storytelling. Chris McCormick brilliantly illuminates the impact of history and injustice on ordinary lives and challenges us to confront the spectacle of violence and the specter of its aftermath.
©2020 Chris McCormick (P)2020 HarperAudioListeners also enjoyed...
-
No Heaven for Good Boys
- A Novel
- By: Keisha Bush
- Narrated by: Samba Schutte
- Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Six-year-old Ibrahimah loves snatching pastries from his mother’s kitchen, harvesting string beans with his father, and searching for sea glass with his sisters. But when he is approached in his rural village one day by Marabout Ahmed, a seemingly kind stranger and highly regarded teacher, the tides of his life turn forever.
-
-
Captivating
- By Amazon Customer on 02-05-21
By: Keisha Bush
-
The Resisters
- By: Gish Jen
- Narrated by: William DeMeritt
- Length: 8 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The time: not so long from now. The place: AutoAmerica. The land: half under water. The Internet: one part artificial intelligence, one part surveillance technology, and oddly human - even funny. The people: Divided. The angel-fair "Netted" have jobs, and literally occupy the high ground. The "Surplus" live on swampland if they're lucky, on water if they're not. The story: To a Surplus couple - he once a professor, she still a lawyer - is born a Blasian girl with a golden arm. At two, Gwen is hurling her stuffed animals from the crib; by 10, she can hit whatever target she likes. Her teens find her happily playing in an underground baseball league.
-
-
Fantastic. A modern classic.
- By Marco Gorgonzola on 05-29-20
By: Gish Jen
-
The Little Liar
- A Novel
- By: Mitch Albom
- Narrated by: Mitch Albom
- Length: 7 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Eleven-year-old Nico Krispis has never told a lie. When the Nazis invade his home in Salonika, Greece, the trustworthy boy is discovered by a German officer, who offers him a chance to save his family. All Nico has to do is persuade his fellow Jewish residents to board trains heading “north,” where new jobs and safety await. Unaware that this is all a cruel ruse, the innocent boy reassures passengers on the station platform every day.
-
-
Timeliness and timelessness
- By JStan on 02-25-24
By: Mitch Albom
-
The Best of Me
- By: David Sedaris
- Narrated by: David Sedaris
- Length: 13 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For more than 25 years, David Sedaris has been carving out a unique literary space, virtually creating his own genre. A Sedaris story may seem confessional, but is also highly attuned to the world outside. It opens our eyes to what is at absurd and moving about our daily existence. And it is almost impossible to listen without laughing.
-
-
Almost No New Material
- By Lizardectomy on 11-05-20
By: David Sedaris
-
Great Circle
- A Novel
- By: Maggie Shipstead
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell, Alex McKenna
- Length: 25 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After being rescued as infants from a sinking ocean liner in 1914, Marian and Jamie Graves are raised by their dissolute uncle in Missoula, Montana. There—after encountering a pair of barnstorming pilots passing through town in beat-up biplanes—Marian commences her lifelong love affair with flight. At fourteen she drops out of school and finds an unexpected and dangerous patron in a wealthy bootlegger who provides a plane and subsidizes her lessons, an arrangement that will haunt her for the rest of her life, even as it allows her to fulfill her destiny: circumnavigating the globe.
-
-
So glad I was drawn to this book.
- By timbo on 05-23-21
By: Maggie Shipstead
-
Disappearing Earth
- A novel
- By: Julia Phillips
- Narrated by: Ilyana Kadushin
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One August afternoon, on the shoreline of the Kamchatka peninsula at the northeastern edge of Russia, two girls - sisters, eight and 11 - go missing. In the ensuing weeks, then months, the police investigation turns up nothing. Echoes of the disappearance reverberate across a tightly woven community, with the fear and loss felt most deeply among its women. Taking us through a year in Kamchatka, Disappearing Earth enters with astonishing emotional acuity the worlds of a cast of richly drawn characters, all connected by the crime: a witness, a neighbor, a detective, a mother.
-
-
The setting is completely unique!
- By Kelly on 06-25-19
By: Julia Phillips
-
No Heaven for Good Boys
- A Novel
- By: Keisha Bush
- Narrated by: Samba Schutte
- Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Six-year-old Ibrahimah loves snatching pastries from his mother’s kitchen, harvesting string beans with his father, and searching for sea glass with his sisters. But when he is approached in his rural village one day by Marabout Ahmed, a seemingly kind stranger and highly regarded teacher, the tides of his life turn forever.
-
-
Captivating
- By Amazon Customer on 02-05-21
By: Keisha Bush
-
The Resisters
- By: Gish Jen
- Narrated by: William DeMeritt
- Length: 8 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The time: not so long from now. The place: AutoAmerica. The land: half under water. The Internet: one part artificial intelligence, one part surveillance technology, and oddly human - even funny. The people: Divided. The angel-fair "Netted" have jobs, and literally occupy the high ground. The "Surplus" live on swampland if they're lucky, on water if they're not. The story: To a Surplus couple - he once a professor, she still a lawyer - is born a Blasian girl with a golden arm. At two, Gwen is hurling her stuffed animals from the crib; by 10, she can hit whatever target she likes. Her teens find her happily playing in an underground baseball league.
-
-
Fantastic. A modern classic.
- By Marco Gorgonzola on 05-29-20
By: Gish Jen
-
The Little Liar
- A Novel
- By: Mitch Albom
- Narrated by: Mitch Albom
- Length: 7 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Eleven-year-old Nico Krispis has never told a lie. When the Nazis invade his home in Salonika, Greece, the trustworthy boy is discovered by a German officer, who offers him a chance to save his family. All Nico has to do is persuade his fellow Jewish residents to board trains heading “north,” where new jobs and safety await. Unaware that this is all a cruel ruse, the innocent boy reassures passengers on the station platform every day.
-
-
Timeliness and timelessness
- By JStan on 02-25-24
By: Mitch Albom
-
The Best of Me
- By: David Sedaris
- Narrated by: David Sedaris
- Length: 13 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For more than 25 years, David Sedaris has been carving out a unique literary space, virtually creating his own genre. A Sedaris story may seem confessional, but is also highly attuned to the world outside. It opens our eyes to what is at absurd and moving about our daily existence. And it is almost impossible to listen without laughing.
-
-
Almost No New Material
- By Lizardectomy on 11-05-20
By: David Sedaris
-
Great Circle
- A Novel
- By: Maggie Shipstead
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell, Alex McKenna
- Length: 25 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After being rescued as infants from a sinking ocean liner in 1914, Marian and Jamie Graves are raised by their dissolute uncle in Missoula, Montana. There—after encountering a pair of barnstorming pilots passing through town in beat-up biplanes—Marian commences her lifelong love affair with flight. At fourteen she drops out of school and finds an unexpected and dangerous patron in a wealthy bootlegger who provides a plane and subsidizes her lessons, an arrangement that will haunt her for the rest of her life, even as it allows her to fulfill her destiny: circumnavigating the globe.
-
-
So glad I was drawn to this book.
- By timbo on 05-23-21
By: Maggie Shipstead
-
Disappearing Earth
- A novel
- By: Julia Phillips
- Narrated by: Ilyana Kadushin
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One August afternoon, on the shoreline of the Kamchatka peninsula at the northeastern edge of Russia, two girls - sisters, eight and 11 - go missing. In the ensuing weeks, then months, the police investigation turns up nothing. Echoes of the disappearance reverberate across a tightly woven community, with the fear and loss felt most deeply among its women. Taking us through a year in Kamchatka, Disappearing Earth enters with astonishing emotional acuity the worlds of a cast of richly drawn characters, all connected by the crime: a witness, a neighbor, a detective, a mother.
-
-
The setting is completely unique!
- By Kelly on 06-25-19
By: Julia Phillips
-
Anywhere but Home
- A Novel
- By: Daniel Speck, Jaime McGill - translator
- Narrated by: Will Damron, Angela Dawe
- Length: 17 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The English-language debut of the acclaimed international bestseller - Anywhere but Home crosses continents, cultures, and generations to tell a sweeping story of self-discovery, finding your own place in a new world, and the revelatory mysteries of being a family.
-
-
A very complex story of family
- By Evelyn Schumacher on 12-30-21
By: Daniel Speck, and others
-
The Wrong End of the Telescope
- By: Rabih Alameddine
- Narrated by: Lameece Issaq
- Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mina Simpson, a Lebanese doctor, arrives at the infamous Moria refugee camp on Lesbos, Greece, after being urgently summoned for help by her friend who runs an NGO there. Alienated from her family except for her beloved brother, Mina has avoided being so close to her homeland for decades. But with a week off work and apart from her wife of 30 years, Mina hopes to accomplish something meaningful, among the abundance of Western volunteers who pose for selfies with beached dinghies and the camp's children.
-
-
A must read…
- By omid on 07-20-22
By: Rabih Alameddine
-
The Hotel Neversink
- By: Adam O'Fallon Price
- Narrated by: Steven Jay Cohen
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Thirty-one years after workers first broke ground, the magnificent Hotel Neversink in the Catskills finally opens to the public. Then a young boy disappears. This mysterious vanishing - and the ones that follow - will brand the lives of three generations. At the root of it all is Asher Sikorsky, the ambitious and ruthless patriarch whose purchase of the hotel in 1931 set a haunting legacy into motion.
-
-
A Depressing Book, Depressingly Read
- By Bob P. on 05-29-21
-
Leading Men
- A Novel
- By: Christopher Castellani
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 11 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Illuminating one of the great love stories of the 20th century - Tennessee Williams and his longtime partner Frank Merlo - Leading Men is a glittering novel of desire and ambition, set against the glamorous literary circles of 1950s Italy.
-
-
Wonderful book, masterful reading!
- By Helene Atwan on 03-05-19
-
The Travelers
- A Novel
- By: Regina Porter
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin, Dominic Hoffman
- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Meet James Samuel Vincent, an affluent Manhattan attorney who shirks his modest Irish-American background but hews to his father’s meandering ways. James muddles through a topsy-turvy relationship with his son, Rufus, which is further complicated when Rufus marries Claudia Christie. Claudia’s mother - Agnes Miller Christie - is a beautiful African-American woman who survives a chance encounter on a Georgia road that propels her into a new life in the Bronx. Soon after, her husband, Eddie Christie, is called to duty on an air craft carrier in Vietnam.
-
-
Each character is quite a character.
- By Anonymous User on 01-01-22
By: Regina Porter
-
The Magical Language of Others
- A Memoir
- By: E. J. Koh
- Narrated by: E. J. Koh
- Length: 4 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After living in America for over a decade, Eun Ji’s parents return to Korea for work, leaving 15-year-old Eun Ji and her brother behind in the family’s new California home. Overnight, Eun Ji finds herself in a world made strange in her mother’s absence. Her mother writes letters over the years seeking forgiveness and love - letters Eun Ji cannot understand until she finds them years later hidden in a box.
-
-
All over the place
- By Cindy on 06-04-21
By: E. J. Koh
-
The Chinese Groove
- A Novel
- By: Kathryn Ma
- Narrated by: James Chen
- Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Eighteen-year-old Shelley, born into a much-despised branch of the Zheng family in Yunnan Province and living in the shadow of his widowed father’s grief, dreams of bigger things. Buoyed by an exuberant heart and his cousin Deng’s tall tales about the United States, Shelley heads to San Francisco to claim his destiny, confident that any hurdles will be easily overcome by the awesome powers of the “Chinese groove,” a belief in the unspoken bonds between countrymen that transcend time and borders.
-
-
A delightful surprise
- By R. Glynn on 02-01-23
By: Kathryn Ma
-
The Arsonists' City
- By: Hala Alyan
- Narrated by: Leila Buck
- Length: 19 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Nasr family is spread across the globe - Beirut, Brooklyn, Austin, the California desert. A Syrian mother, a Lebanese father, and three American children: all have lived a life of migration. Still, they’ve always had their ancestral home in Beirut - a constant touchstone - and the complicated, messy family love that binds them. But following his father's recent death, Idris, the family's new patriarch, has decided to sell. The decision brings the family to Beirut, where everyone unites against Idris in a fight to save the house.
-
-
amazing
- By Kindle Customer on 05-07-22
By: Hala Alyan
-
To Be a Man
- Stories
- By: Nicole Krauss
- Narrated by: Nicole Krauss
- Length: 7 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In one of her strongest works of fiction yet, Nicole Krauss plunges fearlessly into the struggle to understand what it is to be a man and what it is to be a woman, and the arising tensions that have existed from the very beginning of time. Set in our contemporary moment, and moving across the globe from Switzerland, Japan, and New York City to Tel Aviv, Los Angeles, and South America, the stories in To Be a Man feature male characters as fathers, lovers, friends, children, seducers, and even a lost husband who may never have been a husband at all.
-
-
The joy of great literature
- By Brian Datnow on 01-02-21
By: Nicole Krauss
-
10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World
- By: Elif Shafak
- Narrated by: Alix Dunmore
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A moving novel on the power of friendship in our darkest times, from internationally renowned writer and speaker Elif Shafak. In the pulsating moments after she has been murdered and left in a dumpster outside Istanbul, Tequila Leila enters a state of heightened awareness. Her heart has stopped beating, but her brain is still active - for 10 minutes 38 seconds. While the Turkish sun rises and her friends sleep soundly nearby, she remembers her life - and the lives of others, outcasts like her.
-
-
A word of caution before purchasing or listening
- By Esther V. Skandunas on 06-18-22
By: Elif Shafak
-
Of Women and Salt
- A Novel
- By: Gabriela Garcia
- Narrated by: Frankie Corzo, Gabriela Garcia
- Length: 7 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In present-day Miami, Jeanette is battling addiction. Daughter of Carmen, a Cuban immigrant, she is determined to learn more about her family history from her reticent mother and makes the snap decision to take in the daughter of a neighbor detained by ICE. Carmen, still wrestling with the trauma of displacement, must process her difficult relationship with her own mother while trying to raise a wayward Jeanette. Steadfast in her quest for understanding, Jeanette travels to Cuba to see her grandmother and reckon with secrets from the past destined to erupt.
-
-
Bored
- By Kay on 04-05-21
By: Gabriela Garcia
-
Correspondents
- A Novel
- By: Tim Murphy
- Narrated by: Necar Zadegan, Assaf Cohen
- Length: 15 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The world is Rita Khoury’s oyster. The bright and driven daughter of a Boston-area Irish Arab family that has risen over the generations from poor immigrants to part of the coastal elite, Rita grows up in a 1980s cultural mishmash. Corned beef and cabbage sit on the dinner table alongside stuffed grape leaves and tabouleh, all cooked by Rita’s mother, an Irish nurse who met her Lebanese surgeon husband while working at a hospital together. The unconventional yet close-knit family bonds over summers at the beach, wedding line dances, and a shared obsession with the Red Sox.
-
-
The Arab American Dream
- By Iggie on 08-15-19
By: Tim Murphy
Related to this topic
-
The Ungrateful Refugee
- What Immigrants Never Tell You
- By: Dina Nayeri
- Narrated by: Dina Nayeri
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Aged eight, Dina Nayeri fled Iran along with her mother and brother and lived in the crumbling shell of an Italian hotel-turned-refugee camp. Eventually, she was granted asylum in America. She settled in Oklahoma, then made her way to Princeton University. In this book, Nayeri weaves together her own vivid story with the stories of other refugees and asylum seekers in recent years, bringing us inside their daily lives and taking us through the different stages of their journeys, from escape to asylum to resettlement.
-
-
Amazing story of resilience and compassion
- By PAH on 09-06-19
By: Dina Nayeri
-
What Storm, What Thunder
- By: Myriam J.A. Chancy
- Narrated by: Ella Turenne
- Length: 11 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Earth had buckled, and, in that movement, all that was not in its place fell upon the Earth’s children, upon the blameless as well as the guilty, without discrimination. At the end of a long sweltering day, as markets and businesses begin to close for the evening, an earthquake of 7.0 magnitude shakes the capital of Haiti, Port-au-Prince. Award-winning author Myriam J. A. Chancy masterfully charts the inner lives of the characters affected by the disaster
-
-
We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.
- By AuthorAnnaBella on 03-15-22
-
My Father's Paradise
- A Son's Search For His Family's Past
- By: Ariel Sabar
- Narrated by: Fajer Al-Kaisi
- Length: 12 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a remote corner of the world, forgotten for nearly 3,000 years, lived an enclave of Kurdish Jews so isolated that they still spoke Aramaic, the language of Jesus. Mostly illiterate, they were self-made mystics and gifted storytellers and humble peddlers who dwelt in harmony with their Muslim and Christian neighbors in the mountains of northern Iraq. To these descendants of the Lost Tribes of Israel, Yona Sabar was born.
-
-
Great story, poorly narrated
- By Oren Kessler on 09-10-24
By: Ariel Sabar
-
The Parisian
- By: Isabella Hammad
- Narrated by: Fiona Button
- Length: 20 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A masterful debut novel by Plimpton Prize winner Isabella Hammad, The Parisian illuminates a pivotal period of Palestinian history through the journey and romances of one young man, from his studies in France during World War I to his return to Palestine at the dawn of its battle for independence.
-
-
Overly ambitious
- By Placeholder on 06-16-19
By: Isabella Hammad
-
Summer
- By: Ali Smith
- Narrated by: Juliette Burton
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here is the exciting culmination of Ali Smith's celebrated Seasonal Quartet, a series of stand-alone novels, separate but interconnected (as the seasons are), wide-ranging in timescale and light-footed through histories.
-
-
terrific book, beautifully read.
- By Sasha on 02-07-21
By: Ali Smith
-
Fellowship of Fear
- Gideon Oliver Mysteries Series, Book 1
- By: Aaron Elkins
- Narrated by: Joel Richards
- Length: 7 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When anthropology professor Gideon Oliver is offered a teaching fellowship at US military bases in Germany, Sicily, Spain, and Holland, he wastes no time accepting. On his first night, he is forced to fend off two desperate, black-clad men who have invaded his Heidelberg hotel room with intent to kill. And then there are a few trivial details that the recruiting agency forgot to mention - such as the fact that the two previous holders of the fellowship both met with mysterious ends.
-
-
Painful
- By Christine M. on 07-14-19
By: Aaron Elkins
-
The Ungrateful Refugee
- What Immigrants Never Tell You
- By: Dina Nayeri
- Narrated by: Dina Nayeri
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Aged eight, Dina Nayeri fled Iran along with her mother and brother and lived in the crumbling shell of an Italian hotel-turned-refugee camp. Eventually, she was granted asylum in America. She settled in Oklahoma, then made her way to Princeton University. In this book, Nayeri weaves together her own vivid story with the stories of other refugees and asylum seekers in recent years, bringing us inside their daily lives and taking us through the different stages of their journeys, from escape to asylum to resettlement.
-
-
Amazing story of resilience and compassion
- By PAH on 09-06-19
By: Dina Nayeri
-
What Storm, What Thunder
- By: Myriam J.A. Chancy
- Narrated by: Ella Turenne
- Length: 11 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Earth had buckled, and, in that movement, all that was not in its place fell upon the Earth’s children, upon the blameless as well as the guilty, without discrimination. At the end of a long sweltering day, as markets and businesses begin to close for the evening, an earthquake of 7.0 magnitude shakes the capital of Haiti, Port-au-Prince. Award-winning author Myriam J. A. Chancy masterfully charts the inner lives of the characters affected by the disaster
-
-
We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.
- By AuthorAnnaBella on 03-15-22
-
My Father's Paradise
- A Son's Search For His Family's Past
- By: Ariel Sabar
- Narrated by: Fajer Al-Kaisi
- Length: 12 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a remote corner of the world, forgotten for nearly 3,000 years, lived an enclave of Kurdish Jews so isolated that they still spoke Aramaic, the language of Jesus. Mostly illiterate, they were self-made mystics and gifted storytellers and humble peddlers who dwelt in harmony with their Muslim and Christian neighbors in the mountains of northern Iraq. To these descendants of the Lost Tribes of Israel, Yona Sabar was born.
-
-
Great story, poorly narrated
- By Oren Kessler on 09-10-24
By: Ariel Sabar
-
The Parisian
- By: Isabella Hammad
- Narrated by: Fiona Button
- Length: 20 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A masterful debut novel by Plimpton Prize winner Isabella Hammad, The Parisian illuminates a pivotal period of Palestinian history through the journey and romances of one young man, from his studies in France during World War I to his return to Palestine at the dawn of its battle for independence.
-
-
Overly ambitious
- By Placeholder on 06-16-19
By: Isabella Hammad
-
Summer
- By: Ali Smith
- Narrated by: Juliette Burton
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here is the exciting culmination of Ali Smith's celebrated Seasonal Quartet, a series of stand-alone novels, separate but interconnected (as the seasons are), wide-ranging in timescale and light-footed through histories.
-
-
terrific book, beautifully read.
- By Sasha on 02-07-21
By: Ali Smith
-
Fellowship of Fear
- Gideon Oliver Mysteries Series, Book 1
- By: Aaron Elkins
- Narrated by: Joel Richards
- Length: 7 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When anthropology professor Gideon Oliver is offered a teaching fellowship at US military bases in Germany, Sicily, Spain, and Holland, he wastes no time accepting. On his first night, he is forced to fend off two desperate, black-clad men who have invaded his Heidelberg hotel room with intent to kill. And then there are a few trivial details that the recruiting agency forgot to mention - such as the fact that the two previous holders of the fellowship both met with mysterious ends.
-
-
Painful
- By Christine M. on 07-14-19
By: Aaron Elkins
-
Belle Cora
- A Novel
- By: Phillip Margulies
- Narrated by: Graham Rowat, Elizabeth Wiley
- Length: 25 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the home where Arabella Godwin was raised it is forbidden to speak her name, and her picture is turned to the wall. But in the turbulent America of the 1850s, everyone knows her as "Belle Cora", madam of San Francisco's finest bordello. Judges and senators do her bidding; a vicious newspaper editor plots her downfall; a preacher looks at her from across his pulpit and tries to forget that once she was his wife. Merchant's daughter, farm girl, prostitute, mother - the only thing that never changes is her tireless pursuit of the one man who can see her for who she really is.
-
-
excellent
- By Patricia on 05-15-20
-
The Godmothers
- A Novel
- By: Camille Aubray
- Narrated by: Lisa Flanagan, Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 13 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Meet the Godmothers: Filomena is a clever and resourceful war refugee with a childhood secret, who comes to America to wed Mario, the family's favored son. Amie, a beautiful and dreamy French girl from upstate New York, escapes an abusive husband after falling in love with Johnny, the oldest of the brothers. Lucy, a tough-as-nails Irish nurse, ran away from a strict girls' home and marries Frankie, the sensuous middle son. And the glamorous Petrina, the family's only daughter, graduates with honors from Barnard College despite a past trauma that nearly caused a family scandal.
-
-
Easy Enjoyable Read
- By Bunny on 06-23-21
By: Camille Aubray
-
Saints for All Occasions
- A Novel
- By: J. Courtney Sullivan
- Narrated by: Susan Denaker
- Length: 15 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nora and Theresa Flynn are 21 and 17 when they leave their small village in Ireland and journey to America. Nora is the responsible sister; she's shy and serious and engaged to a man she isn't sure that she loves. Theresa is gregarious; she is thrilled by their new life in Boston and besotted with the fashionable dresses and dance halls on Dudley Street. But when Theresa ends up pregnant, Nora is forced to come up with a plan - a decision with repercussions they are both far too young to understand.
-
-
The narration ruined it
- By Janis Reynolds on 06-12-17
-
What You Have Heard Is True
- A Memoir of Witness and Resistance
- By: Carolyn Forché
- Narrated by: Carolyn Forché
- Length: 12 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What You Have Heard is True is a devastating, lyrical, and visionary memoir about a young woman’s brave choice to engage with horror in order to help others. Written by one of the most gifted poets of her generation, this is the story of a woman’s radical act of empathy, and her fateful encounter with an intriguing man who changes the course of her life.
-
-
Beautiful story
- By Norhilda on 05-09-19
By: Carolyn Forché
-
The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna
- A Novel
- By: Juliet Grames
- Narrated by: Lisa Flanagan
- Length: 16 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For Stella Fortuna, death has always been a part of life. Stella’s childhood is full of strange, life-threatening incidents - moments where ordinary situations like cooking eggplant or feeding the pigs inexplicably take lethal turns. Even Stella’s own mother is convinced that her daughter is cursed or haunted. When the Fortunas emigrate to America on the cusp of World War II, Stella and her sister, Tina, must come of age side by side in a hostile new world with strict expectations for each of them.
-
-
Misogyny at its worst
- By brenda on 01-15-20
By: Juliet Grames
-
The Shadow Lines
- By: Amitav Ghosh
- Narrated by: Raj Varma
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Opening in Calcutta in the 1960s, Ghosh’s radiant second novel follows two families - one English, one Bengali - as their lives intertwine in tragic and comic ways. The narrator, Indian-born and English educated, traces events back and forth in time, through years of Bengali partition and violence, observing the ways in which political events invade private lives.
-
-
Narrator Doesn't Know How to Pronounce
- By Amazon Customer on 08-27-11
By: Amitav Ghosh
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
We, the Drowned
- By: Carsten Jensen
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 25 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We, the Drowned is the story of the port town of Marstal, Denmark, whose inhabitants sailed the world from the mid-nineteenth century to the end of the Second World War. The novel tells of ships wrecked and blown up in wars, of places of terror and violence that continue to lure each generation. The result is a brilliant seafaring novel, a gripping saga encompassing industrial growth, the years of expansion and exploration, the crucible of the first half of the twentieth century, and most of all, the sea.
By: Carsten Jensen
-
The Broke Hearts
- By: Matt Mendez
- Narrated by: Ramón de Ocampo, Lee Osorio, Zac Aleman, and others
- Length: 6 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A year after losing their best friend, JD and Danny are still brokenhearted. JD’s decision to join the Air Force only makes him yearn for “before” more than ever. Danny, who’d rather paint murals than open a book and certainly never thought of himself as college material, makes the equally impulsive choice to do what Juan will never be able to and enrolls in a community college. Danny’s father, The Sarge, is proud of him for the first time ever for living out Sarge’s own dream of being a first-generation college student, but Danny can’t shake the thought that it should be Juan, not him
-
-
Excellent Book!
- By Anonymous User on 12-02-23
By: Matt Mendez
-
The Girl in Green
- By: Derek B. Miller
- Narrated by: Josh Innerst
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One hundred miles from the Kuwaiti border, Thomas Benton meets Arwood Hobbes. Benton is a British journalist who reports from war zones in part to avoid his lackluster marriage and a daughter he loves but cannot connect with; Arwood is an American private who might be an insufferable ignoramus or might be a genuine lunatic with a death wish—it's hard to tell. Desert Storm is over, peace has been declared, but as they argue about whether it makes sense to cross the nearest border in search of an ice cream, they become embroiled in a horrific attack.
By: Derek B. Miller
-
Begin Again
- A Novel
- By: Helly Acton
- Narrated by: Emma Sidi
- Length: 10 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Despite living firmly in her comfort zone, Frankie McKenzie feels unsettled. She can’t help feeling something’s missing. Is it a home to call her own? Travel? A more rewarding job? A relationship? Before she can work it out, she dies in a freak kebab-related accident after what she sees as yet another dud of a first date. But life isn’t over for Frankie. Instead, she is miraculously offered a second chance: Frankie can revisit key moments from her past to see if different choices will lead her to the fulfilling life she’s always dreamt of.
-
-
not a good read. I did not like the book
- By Anonymous User on 12-01-24
By: Helly Acton
-
Arthur and Teddy Are Coming Out
- By: Ryan Love
- Narrated by: Bruce Alexander, Caius Nicholas
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When 79-year-old Arthur Edwards gathers his family together to share some important news, no one is prepared for the bombshell he drops: he's gay, and after a lifetime in the closet, he's finally ready to come out. Arthur's 21-year-old grandson, Teddy, has a secret of his own: he's also gay, and developing serious feelings for his colleague Ben. But Teddy doesn't feel ready to come out yet – especially when Arthur’s announcement causes shockwaves in the family.
-
-
Unique and Lovely Story
- By Kevin Smith on 08-30-24
By: Ryan Love
-
Jimi Hendrix Live in Lviv
- A Novel
- By: Andrey Kurkov
- Narrated by: Andrew Byron
- Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Strange, almost magical, things are afoot in Lviv. Seagulls circle overhead while the passing breeze carries a briny whiff, even though the coast is far away. A ragtag group of aging hippies gather around a mysterious grave in Lychakiv Cemetery. Among them are an ex-KGB officer and the old subversive he once spied upon. Soon, Captain Ryabtsev and Alik Olisevych band together to uncover the source of the city's “anomalies.”
By: Andrey Kurkov
-
We, the Drowned
- By: Carsten Jensen
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 25 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We, the Drowned is the story of the port town of Marstal, Denmark, whose inhabitants sailed the world from the mid-nineteenth century to the end of the Second World War. The novel tells of ships wrecked and blown up in wars, of places of terror and violence that continue to lure each generation. The result is a brilliant seafaring novel, a gripping saga encompassing industrial growth, the years of expansion and exploration, the crucible of the first half of the twentieth century, and most of all, the sea.
By: Carsten Jensen
-
The Broke Hearts
- By: Matt Mendez
- Narrated by: Ramón de Ocampo, Lee Osorio, Zac Aleman, and others
- Length: 6 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A year after losing their best friend, JD and Danny are still brokenhearted. JD’s decision to join the Air Force only makes him yearn for “before” more than ever. Danny, who’d rather paint murals than open a book and certainly never thought of himself as college material, makes the equally impulsive choice to do what Juan will never be able to and enrolls in a community college. Danny’s father, The Sarge, is proud of him for the first time ever for living out Sarge’s own dream of being a first-generation college student, but Danny can’t shake the thought that it should be Juan, not him
-
-
Excellent Book!
- By Anonymous User on 12-02-23
By: Matt Mendez
-
The Girl in Green
- By: Derek B. Miller
- Narrated by: Josh Innerst
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One hundred miles from the Kuwaiti border, Thomas Benton meets Arwood Hobbes. Benton is a British journalist who reports from war zones in part to avoid his lackluster marriage and a daughter he loves but cannot connect with; Arwood is an American private who might be an insufferable ignoramus or might be a genuine lunatic with a death wish—it's hard to tell. Desert Storm is over, peace has been declared, but as they argue about whether it makes sense to cross the nearest border in search of an ice cream, they become embroiled in a horrific attack.
By: Derek B. Miller
-
Begin Again
- A Novel
- By: Helly Acton
- Narrated by: Emma Sidi
- Length: 10 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Despite living firmly in her comfort zone, Frankie McKenzie feels unsettled. She can’t help feeling something’s missing. Is it a home to call her own? Travel? A more rewarding job? A relationship? Before she can work it out, she dies in a freak kebab-related accident after what she sees as yet another dud of a first date. But life isn’t over for Frankie. Instead, she is miraculously offered a second chance: Frankie can revisit key moments from her past to see if different choices will lead her to the fulfilling life she’s always dreamt of.
-
-
not a good read. I did not like the book
- By Anonymous User on 12-01-24
By: Helly Acton
-
Arthur and Teddy Are Coming Out
- By: Ryan Love
- Narrated by: Bruce Alexander, Caius Nicholas
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When 79-year-old Arthur Edwards gathers his family together to share some important news, no one is prepared for the bombshell he drops: he's gay, and after a lifetime in the closet, he's finally ready to come out. Arthur's 21-year-old grandson, Teddy, has a secret of his own: he's also gay, and developing serious feelings for his colleague Ben. But Teddy doesn't feel ready to come out yet – especially when Arthur’s announcement causes shockwaves in the family.
-
-
Unique and Lovely Story
- By Kevin Smith on 08-30-24
By: Ryan Love
-
Jimi Hendrix Live in Lviv
- A Novel
- By: Andrey Kurkov
- Narrated by: Andrew Byron
- Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Strange, almost magical, things are afoot in Lviv. Seagulls circle overhead while the passing breeze carries a briny whiff, even though the coast is far away. A ragtag group of aging hippies gather around a mysterious grave in Lychakiv Cemetery. Among them are an ex-KGB officer and the old subversive he once spied upon. Soon, Captain Ryabtsev and Alik Olisevych band together to uncover the source of the city's “anomalies.”
By: Andrey Kurkov
-
The Retreat
- A Novel
- By: Zara Raheem
- Narrated by: Soneela Nankani
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nadia Abbasi’s marriage is falling apart. It starts with a gifted Roomba, but when she stumbles upon questionable photos in her husband's office, everything makes sense—the late-night texting, the sudden interest in fitness, the new clothes. Aman—the kind, thoughtful man she married—is having an affair. Determined to find out what went wrong, Nadia enlists the help of Zeba, the sister she hasn’t seen or spoken to since their mom’s funeral. As the two sisters fight to reconcile their past, Nadia realizes her relationship with Aman is not the only one that needs mending.
-
-
Get ready for a surprise twist in the plot!
- By Taufa Ahmed on 05-05-23
By: Zara Raheem
-
Good Dogs Don't Make It to the South Pole
- A Novel
- By: Hans-Olav Thyvold
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 7 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tassen has always been a one-man dog. When his human companion, Major Thorkildsen, dies, Tassen and Mrs. Thorkildsen are left alone. Tassen mourns Major by eating too many treats, and Mrs. T by drinking too much. But the two unexpectedly find common ground in researching Roald Amundsen’s expedition to the South Pole led by a pack of intrepid dogs. But the quiet days Tassen and Mrs. T spend together at the library researching the explorer’s arctic adventure are disrupted by the arrival of her son and daughter in-law.
-
-
Entertaining
- By David Hinton on 01-03-21
-
The Patient Assassin
- A True Tale of Massacre, Revenge, and India's Quest for Independence
- By: Anita Anand
- Narrated by: Anita Anand
- Length: 10 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The “compelling [and] vivid” (The New York Times Book Review) true story of a man who claimed to be a survivor of a 1919 British massacre in India, his elaborate 20-year plan for revenge, and the mix of truth and legend that made him a hero to hundreds of millions.
-
-
more interesting history
- By Autodidact on 09-07-19
By: Anita Anand
-
The Cabala
- By: Thornton Wilder
- Narrated by: Tristan Morris
- Length: 5 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A young American student spends a year in the exotic world of post-World War I Rome. While there, he experiences firsthand the waning days of a secret community (a "cabala") of decaying royalty, a great cardinal of the Roman Church, and an assortment of memorable American ex-pats.
-
-
Good Narration
- By anon on 06-19-20
By: Thornton Wilder
-
Bonnie
- A Novel
- By: Christina Schwarz
- Narrated by: Candace Thaxton
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Born in a small town in the desolate reaches of Western Texas and shaped by her girlhood in an industrial wasteland on the outskirts of Dallas, Bonnie Parker was a natural performer and a star student. She dreamed of being a movie star or a singer or a poet. But her dramatic nature, contorted by her limited opportunities and her overwhelming love for Clyde Barrow, pushed her into a course from which there was no escape but death.
-
-
Authentic and beautiful writing
- By Eugenia Luck on 10-07-20
-
The Thirty Names of Night
- A Novel
- By: Zeyn Joukhadar
- Narrated by: Samy Figaredo, Lameece Issaq
- Length: 9 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the award-winning author of The Map of Salt and Stars, a new novel about three generations of Syrian Americans haunted by a mysterious species of bird and the truths they carry close to their hearts - a “vivid exploration of loss, art, queer and trans communities, and the persistence of history. Often tender, always engrossing, The Thirty Names of Night is a feat” (R.O. Kwon, author of The Incendiaries).
-
-
Might be easier to follow in print
- By Kate on 12-30-20
By: Zeyn Joukhadar
-
A Gentleman from Japan
- The Untold Story of an Incredible Journey from Asia to Queen Elizabeth’s Court
- By: Thomas Lockley
- Narrated by: Gary Furlong
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On November 12, 1588, five young Asian men—led by a twenty-one-year-old called Christopher—traveled up the River Thames to meet Queen Elizabeth I. Christopher’s epic sea voyage had spanned from Japan, via the Philippines, New Spain (Mexico), Java and Southern Africa. On the way, he had already become the first recorded Japanese person in North America. Now Christopher was the first ever Japanese visitor to England, and no other would leave such a legacy for centuries to come.
-
-
Wonderful storytelling
- By K J K on 06-11-24
By: Thomas Lockley
-
Homeward
- A Novel
- By: Angela Jackson-Brown
- Narrated by: Joniece Abbott-Pratt
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Georgia, 1962. Rose Perkins Bourdon returns home to Parsons, GA, without her husband and pregnant with another man’s baby. After tragedy strikes her husband in the war overseas, a numb Rose is left with pieces of who she used to be and is forced to figure out what she is going to do with the rest of her life. Her sister introduces her to members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee—young people are taking risks and fighting battles Rose has only seen on television.
-
-
Wow. I wish I could read this again for the first time.
- By Bethany P. on 06-10-24
-
Every Where Alien
- By: Brad Walrond
- Narrated by: Brad Walrond
- Length: 3 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Every Where Alien is Brad Walrond’s dazzling afro-futuristic, afro-surrealist journey through New York City’s underground art movements, including the New Black Arts Movement, Black Rock Coalition, the Underground House Music-Dance community, the HIV/AIDS Black Queer Artivists, and the House Ballroom Scene. Every Where Alien catapults us to New York City mid-1990s, early-2000s to rebroadcast the black queer creative genius of marginalized communities. Walrond questions narrow conceptions of “alien” as outsider, to explore how feelings of alienation also call us toward our shared humanity.
By: Brad Walrond
-
The Nightingale's Castle
- A Novel of Erzsébet Báthory, the Blood Countess
- By: Sonia Velton
- Narrated by: Elinor Coleman
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1573, Countess Erzsébet Báthory gives birth to an illegitimate child. Secretly taken to a peasant family living in the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains, the infant girl is raised as their own. Years later, a young woman called Boróka—ignorant of her true history—is sent to join the Countess’s household. Terrified of the Countess’s murderous reputation and the brutally cruel women who run the castle, Boróka struggles to find her place. Then plague breaches the castle’s walls, and a tentative bond unexpectedly forms between the girl and the Countess.
-
-
Mixed Thoughts - Fantastic Audio Performance
- By Darcia Helle on 08-31-24
By: Sonia Velton
-
Every Time You Go Away
- By: Abigail Johnson
- Narrated by: Ferdelle Capistrano, Graham Halstead
- Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Eight years ago, Ethan and Rebecca met, two troublemaking kids sharing secrets and first kisses in a tree house, until Ethan’s mom returned to take him away. Each and every visit, his only goodbye was a flower on Rebecca’s windowsill. Four years ago, Ethan left for the last time to take care of his mother, who has struggled with addiction his whole life. Two years ago, Rebecca was in a car accident that killed her father. She’s been learning to navigate life as a wheelchair user ever since. Now, they discover if their hardships have torn them apart…or will bring them closer than ever.
-
-
Thoughtful
- By Pink Amy on 02-07-25
By: Abigail Johnson
-
The Memory Keeper
- By: Corin Burnside
- Narrated by: Peta Cornish
- Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Having grown up surrounded by nature, Bella Gardner loves nothing more than getting her hands dirty. When war breaks out, she immediately signs up for the Air Transport Auxiliary, frustrated she can’t play a more active role, yet keen to do something for the war effort. But when her brother is involved in a tragic accident, Bella must make a decision that changes the course of her life forever.
By: Corin Burnside
What listeners say about The Gimmicks
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- William Shepard
- 01-11-20
Great narration brings this story to life...
I read McCormick’s ‘The Desert Boys’, and really enjoyed it, so I was excited to see another title by the same author. I decided to go for the audible version, and was glad I did. The narrators really beautifully brought the story to life, and deftly delivered quite a complex, jumpy narrative.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Bridget C.
- 05-13-20
Fantastically read
This was a hell of a good listen. The primary narrator made this story come alive so well that even the small parts I found frustrating were still enjoyable. If it's possible to be both devastating and funny, I think this book is it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!