The Girls from Ames
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Narrated by:
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Andrea Gallo
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By:
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Jeffrey Zaslow
About this listen
Meet the Ames Girls: eleven childhood friends who formed a special bond growing up in Ames, Iowa. As young women, they moved to eight different states, yet managed to maintain an enduring friendship that would carry them through college and careers, marriage and motherhood, dating and divorce, a child�s illness and the mysterious death of one member of their group. Capturing their remarkable story, The Girls from Ames is a testament to the deep bonds of women as they experience life's joys and challenges - and the power of friendship to triumph over heartbreak and unexpected tragedy.
The girls, now in their 40s, have a lifetime of memories in common, some evocative of their generation and some that will resonate with any woman who has ever had a friend. Recollection by recollection, occasionally with tears and often with great laughter, their sweeping and moving story is shared by Jeffrey Zaslow, Wall Street Journal columnist, as he attempts to define the matchless bonds of female friendship. It demonstrates how close female relationships can shape every aspect of women's lives - their sense of themselves, their choice of men, their need for validation, their relationships with their mothers, their dreams for their daughters - and reveals how such friendships thrive, rewarding those who have committed to them.
The Girls from Ames is the story of a group of ordinary women who built an extraordinary friendship. With both universal insights and deeply personal moments, it is a book that every woman will relate to and be inspired by.
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By: Ayesha Mattu, and others
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If It's Not One Thing, It's Your Mother
- By: Julia Sweeney
- Narrated by: Julia Sweeney
- Length: 6 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Since her time on Saturday Night Live, where she created the infamous androgynous character "Pat", Julia Sweeney has gone on to establish herself as a witty, captivating performer of one-woman shows, like God Said Ha!, In the Family Way, and Letting Go of God. She gave a TED talk sharing how she explained the birds and the bees to her eight-year-old daughter, Mulan, which ignited an incredible response. Now, when it comes to talking about motherhood, people want to hear what Julia has to say.
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I Love Julia Sweeney
- By Lisa on 04-05-13
By: Julia Sweeney
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Mother Daughter Me
- A Memoir
- By: Katie Hafner
- Narrated by: Katie Hafner
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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The complex, deeply binding relationship between mothers and daughters is brought vividly to life in Katie Hafner's remarkable memoir, an exploration of the year she and her mother, Helen, spent working through, and triumphing over, a lifetime of unresolved emotions. Dreaming of a "year in Provence" with her mother, Katie urges Helen to move to San Francisco to live with her and Zoe, Katie's teenage daughter. Katie and Zoe had become a mother-daughter team, strong enough, Katie thought, to absorb the arrival of a 77-year-old woman set in her ways....
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Listen and be swept away!
- By Barbara Quick on 06-02-22
By: Katie Hafner
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Here's the Story
- Surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My True Voice
- By: Maureen McCormick
- Narrated by: Maureen McCormick
- Length: 5 hrs and 58 mins
- Abridged
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Marcia Brady, eldest daughter on television's The Brady Bunch, had it all. But what viewers didn't know about the always sunny, perfect Marcia was that offscreen, her real-life counterpart, Maureen McCormick was living a very different - and not so wonderful - life. Maureen tells the shocking and inspirational true story of the beloved teen and the woman she became.
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Gripping
- By Chris on 08-12-14
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Americanized
- Rebel Without a Green Card
- By: Sara Saedi
- Narrated by: Lameece Issaq
- Length: 5 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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At 13, bright-eyed straight-A student Sara Saedi uncovered a terrible family secret: She was breaking the law simply by living in the United States. Only two years old when her parents fled Iran, she didn't learn of her undocumented status until her older sister wanted to apply for an after-school job but couldn't because she didn't have a Social Security number. Fear of deportation kept Sara up at night, but it didn't keep her from being a teenager.
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Corny Cheesy
- By Mina00 on 09-06-18
By: Sara Saedi
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The Wrong End of the Table
- A Mostly Comic Memoir of a Muslim Arab American Woman Just Trying to Fit In
- By: Ayser Salman, Reza Aslan - foreword
- Narrated by: Ayser Salman, Assaf Cohen
- Length: 7 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Part memoir and part how-not-to guide, The Wrong End of the Table is everything you wanted to know about Arabs but were afraid to ask, with chapters such as “Tattoos and Other National Security Risks,” “You Can’t Blame Everything on Your Period; Sometimes You’re Going to Be a Crazy Bitch: and Other Advice from Mom,” and even an open letter to Trump. This is the story of every American outsider on a path to find themselves in a country of beautiful diversity.
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Not what I was looking for
- By Amazon Customer on 09-01-22
By: Ayser Salman, and others
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Chicken Soup for the Soul - Find Your Happiness
- 101 Inspirational Stories about Finding Your Purpose, Passion, and Joy
- By: Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen
- Narrated by: Cynthia Barrett
- Length: 11 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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What makes you happy? Others share how they found their passion, purpose, and joy in life in these 101 personal and exciting stories that are sure to inspire and encourage listeners to find their own happiness. Chicken Soup for the Soul: Find Your Happiness will encourage listeners to pursue their dreams, find their passion and seek joy in their life with its 101 personal and inspiring stories. This book continues Chicken Soup for the Soul’s focus on inspiration and hope, reminding us that we all can find our own happiness.
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I got even more depressed
- By Tom on 09-08-14
By: Jack Canfield, and others
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Before I Had the Words
- On Being a Transgender Young Adult
- By: Skylar Kergil
- Narrated by: Skylar Kergil
- Length: 7 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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At the beginning of his physical transition from female to male, then-17-year-old Skylar Kergil posted his first video on YouTube. In the months and years that followed, he recorded weekly update videos about the physical and emotional changes he experienced. Skylar’s openness and positivity attracted thousands of viewers, who followed along as his voice deepened and his body changed shape. Through surgeries and recovery, highs and lows, from high school to college to the real world, Skylar welcomed others on his journey.
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So grateful to help me as grandma
- By Lisa Bridges on 11-11-20
By: Skylar Kergil
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One Call Away
- Answering Life's Challenges with Unshakable Faith
- By: Brenda Warner, Jennifer Schuchmann
- Narrated by: Christie King
- Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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What can you do when your well-laid plans fall apart and life takes an unexpected turn? Brenda Warner is best known as the outspoken wife of NFL superstar and Dancing with the Stars alum Kurt Warner. But years earlier, she found herself living through any woman’s nightmare: a healthy baby tragically injured in the bathtub; a sudden end to a career she loved; betrayal and divorce; poverty; public humiliation; a deadly natural disaster that destroyed her foundation and shook her to her core. One shattering phone call at a time, Brenda Warner’s life came to resemble little of her dream.
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Page turner and worth a thousand credits !
- By Marian on 10-27-14
By: Brenda Warner, and others
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Selfish, Shallow, and Self-Absorbed
- Sixteen Writers on the Decision Not to Have Kids
- By: Meghan Daum
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller, Jo Anna Perrin
- Length: 7 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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One of the main topics of cultural conversation during the last decade was the supposed "fertility crisis" and whether modern women could figure out a way to have it all - a successful, demanding career and the required 2.3 children - before their biological clocks stopped ticking. Now, however, conversation has turned to whether it's necessary to have it all (see Anne-Marie Slaughter) or, perhaps more controversial, whether children are really a requirement for a fulfilling life.
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Am I the only sane childfree woman in here?
- By J. Malouin on 09-29-15
By: Meghan Daum
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Happily Ever After
- The Life-Changing Power of a Grateful Heart
- By: Trista Sutter
- Narrated by: Trista Sutter
- Length: 5 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Whether or not you remember Trista (Rehn) Sutter from her heartbreak on the first season of The Bachelor reality show or as the original Bachelorette, you’ve probably seen her on the cover of magazines like People and US Weekly or on shows like Ellen and Dancing with the Stars. She has rarely been out of the public eye since falling in love with Ryan Sutter on The Bachelorette more than ten years ago.
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Not what I was expecting
- By marcie on 01-09-17
By: Trista Sutter
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Between Friends
- By: Debbie Macomber
- Narrated by: Amy Tallmadge
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Jillian Lawton and Lesley Adamski. Two girls from very different backgrounds become best friends in the turbulent '60s, but their circumstances and choices - and their mistakes - take them in opposite directions. Lesley stays in their hometown. She marries young, living a life defined by the demands of small children, never enough money, and an unfaithful husband. Jill lives those years on a college campus shaken by the Vietnam War, and then as an idealistic young lawyer in New York City. But they always remain friends.
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good story crappy format!
- By Denise on 06-12-18
By: Debbie Macomber
What listeners say about The Girls from Ames
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Andrea
- 07-12-09
Wanted to love it but didn't
Too many characters to keep track of and too many story lines to keep straight. Thought it would remind me of the group of girls I grew up in a small town with and at times it did. I listed until the end, but I had many false starts as it was hard to get into.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Martha
- 06-01-09
Clinical and Stale , Not Chic Lit
I liked the description of this book, so I gave it a chance. I wondered how a man could write a book about female friendships. Now I know, that Jeffrey Zaslow did not pull it off. While this book tries to interweave the story of each girl and their friendship, it is very clinical, literally. The author states many different cilnical studies on female friendships, with facts. Also, in this story the girls are in high school in the 80's and the author uses language like a 1950s housewife. For example, Jane's date was a "Sharp" man. Not the lingo I remember from the 80's, no valley girl speak or trendy words. The only references to the 80s were bands or songs mentioned. The gils ask advise fromt their moms and dads like on "Father knows Best" Or "Leave it To Beaver". I really felt like this book was lost in a 50's sitcom. I really wanted to like this book. It is also hard to swallow that 10 of 11 childhood friends could stay in touch. Or that 11 girls could really be that close of friends. I am only speaking to one out of three of my closest high school friends. Maybe someone else out there really loved this book?
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Jan
- 07-26-09
Disappointed
I loved The Last Lecture and my sister said I would like this. She read the book. Might be better that way but the reader certainly did nothing at all to bring the book to life. I think she actually brought the book down several notces. I will get the book from my local library and give it another try.
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1 person found this helpful
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- cola40
- 02-23-16
Just Meh.
An incredibly boring look at an arbitrary group of life long friends that have done nothing of any importance.
Slightly more tolerable if you listen to it at 3x speed.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall
- Barbara
- 06-04-10
Loved the book
I could not stop listening to this book. I loved the back story of each girl. I felt that it was an honest book about friendships. I loved the intermingling of statistic facts on friendships and women within the story. The parts taking place in the 70's and 80's were great reminders of what we were thinking about as young girls.
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1 person found this helpful
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- DF
- 06-29-21
Boring
Not what I expected. Narrator was so detached it made a boring book more boring.
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- Tonya J. Shaw
- 04-24-22
What’s the point?
I wanted to like this book but the women came off as vain and catty. The fact that they shrugged off the “intervention” was quite sad.
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Overall
- Pat
- 06-06-09
The Girls from Ames
It was a good book.
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- morningsmoothie
- 12-19-22
Disappointing
Too much syrupy carrying on about everyday life events. Read like a book report. I had hoped for some level of inspiration or unique development in female connectiveness. Fell flat.
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Overall
- Lori
- 11-18-10
Not what we expected
Our book group choose this book anticipating a heartfelt story of the interwoven lives of the eleven women who are approximately our same age. Instead, we were confronted with a decision: continue the slog through this flat, uninteresting book, or come to book group admitting we didn't finish the book. Over half chose the later.
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1 person found this helpful