The Perfect Nine
The Epic of Gĩkũyũ and Mũmbi
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Narrated by:
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Benjamin A. Onyango
About this listen
Longlisted for the 2021 International Booker Prize
A dazzling, genre-defying novel in verse from the author Delia Owens says “tackles the absurdities, injustices, and corruption of a continent”.
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o's novels and memoirs have received glowing praise from the likes of President Barack Obama, the New Yorker, the New York Times Book Review, The Guardian, and NPR; he has been a finalist for the Man International Booker Prize and is annually tipped to win the Nobel Prize for Literature; and his books have sold tens of thousands of copies around the world.
In his first attempt at the epic form, Ngũgĩ tells the story of the founding of the Gĩkũyũ people of Kenya, from a strongly feminist perspective. A verse narrative, blending folklore, mythology, adventure, and allegory, The Perfect Nine chronicles the efforts the Gĩkũyũ founders make to find partners for their ten beautiful daughters - called “The Perfect Nine” - and the challenges they set for the 99 suitors who seek their hands in marriage. The epic has all the elements of adventure, with suspense, danger, humor, and sacrifice.
Ngũgĩ's epic is a quest for the beautiful as an ideal of living, as the motive force behind migrations of African peoples. He notes, “The epic came to me one night as a revelation of ideals of quest, courage, perseverance, unity, family; and the sense of the divine, in human struggles with nature and nurture.”
©2020, 2018 Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o. (P)2020 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"Onyango uses his rich bass voice to lend a realistic atmosphere to this fantastical tale, which is both contemporary and ancient." --AudioFile magazine
“Essential reading and especially vital for our times.... Emphasizing fundamental cycles of birth, life, love, and death, this tale is centered on the Gĩkũyũ but connected to all of us and our humanity, a story to be told and retold, as it has been in various forms, for generations.” --Booklist (starred review)
“[The Perfect Nine] departs from the sprawl of his past novels into an engaging if slight lyrical epic. Combining Homeric verse with oral storytelling tropes - choruses, chants, songs - he retells the origin myth of the Gĩkũyũ, Kenya's largest tribe.... Thiong'o's fans will appreciate this.” --Publishers Weekly
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The Aztecs believed offerings of human blood and human lives were necessary to the continued running of the universe. Indeed, in Aztec myths, the gods themselves make sacrifices of their own blood and even of their entire bodies in order to create a universe humans can live in and, in one story, to create humans themselves. To the ancient Aztecs, these practices seemed fitting, necessary, and honorable, helping to connect the world of humans to the divine world of the gods, a universe that in Aztec myth took shape in cycles of creation, destruction, and rebirth.
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Great stories, horrible delivery
- By Omar C. on 03-13-19
By: Matt Clayton
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Goddess Power
- 10 Empowering Tales of Legendary Women
- By: Yung In Chae
- Narrated by: Holly Palance
- Length: 2 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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The goddesses of classical mythology ruled the heavens, mingled with mortals, and overcame tremendous odds. Goddess Power: A Kids' Book of Greek and Roman Mythology takes you on an extraordinary journey through the triumphs and tragedies of these remarkable women. From Gaia, Goddess of Earth, to Aphrodite, Goddess of Love and Beauty, these legendary ladies’ stories are paired with stunning artwork that brings the myths to life. How will you be inspired by these tales about Greek mythology for kids?
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it was ok
- By Samantha Combs on 12-16-22
By: Yung In Chae
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Leaves of Grass
- By: Walt Whitman
- Narrated by: Robin Field
- Length: 18 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
One of the great innovators in American letters, Walt Whitman created a daringly new kind of poetry that became a major force in world literature. Leaves of Grass is his masterpiece, written in a pure, uninhibited style, combining sensual and mystical sensibilities. Its bold, joyous voice, its expansive optimism, and its transcendental vision made it uniquely American.
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No chapters! Can't skip to a particular poem :(
- By April Antoniou on 02-08-13
By: Walt Whitman
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Greek Mythology
- Fascinating Myths and Legends of Gods, Goddesses, Heroes, and Monster from the Ancient Greek Mythology
- By: Simon Lopez
- Narrated by: Neil Hamilton
- Length: 11 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Do you know that the Olympians weren’t the original immortals? Or that the Goddess Hera restored her virginity each year? The ancient Greeks wove one of the richest and best-preserved collections of stories of all the early civilizations, from the dawn of creation to the bloody siege at Troy.
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Fabulous! Highly recommended
- By Elizabeth Arndt on 01-31-20
By: Simon Lopez
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Japanese Fairy Tales
- By: Yei Theodora Ozaki - translator
- Narrated by: Leslie Bellair
- Length: 6 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Here are 22 charming Japanese Fairy Tales, translated by Yei Theodora Ozaki, including "My Lord Bag of Rice", "The Tongue-Cut Sparrow", "The Story of Urashima Taro, the Fisher Lad", "The Farmer and the Badger", "The Shinansha, or the South Pointing Carriage", "The Adventures of Kintaro, the Golden Boy", "The Story of Princess Hase", "The Story of the Man Who Did Not Wish to Die", "The Bamboo-Cutter and the Moonchild", "The Mirror of Matsuyama", and more.
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Nice book, wish the narrator spoke Japanese better
- By Ben on 01-31-17
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Lavinia
- By: Ursula K. Le Guin
- Narrated by: Alyssa Bresnahan
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
Highly acclaimed author Ursula K. Le Guin lends a resonant voice to a pivotal yet often overlooked character of Vergil's The Aeneid. Born into peace and freedom, Lavinia is stunned to learn that she will be the cause of a great war - or so the prophecies and omens claim. Her fate is sealed, however, when she meets a man from Troy.
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Fascinatingly well written
- By Kennet on 03-11-09
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The Ramayana
- A New Retelling of Valmiki's Ancient Epic - Complete and Comprehensive
- By: Linda Egenes, Kumuda Reddy MD
- Narrated by: Deepti Gupta
- Length: 16 hrs
- Unabridged
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Here is one of the world's most hallowed works of sacred literature, the grand, sweeping epic of the divine bowman and warrior Rama and his struggles with evil, power, duplicity, and avarice. The Ramayana is one of the foundations of world literature and one of humanity's most ancient and treasured ethical and spiritual works. Includes an introduction by scholar Michael Sternfeld.
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The intricacies of Ramayana lost
- By Sampath Shrivatsa on 11-02-18
By: Linda Egenes, and others
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Peacemaker
- By: Joseph Bruchac
- Narrated by: Shaun Taylor-Corbett
- Length: 3 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
Twelve-year-old Okwaho’s life has suddenly changed. While out hunting with his best friend, his friend is kidnapped by marauders from a neighboring tribe. Okwaho barely escapes back to his village where everyone lives in fear of raids and killings: The five tribes of the Iroquois have been at war with each other for far too long, and no one can even remember what it was like to live in peace. Okwaho seeks only revenge, which will just perpetuate the violence. But before he can retaliate, a visitor with a message of peace comes to him in the woods.
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Wonderful Story!
- By 1HAPPYMAMA on 08-18-23
By: Joseph Bruchac
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Mythology
- By: Edith Hamilton
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 14 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Since its original publication by Little, Brown and Company, in 1942, Edith Hamilton's Mythology has sold millions of copies throughout the world and established itself as a perennial best-seller in its various available formats. Mythology succeeds like no other audiobook in bringing to life for the modern listener the Greek, Roman, and Norse myths and legends that are the keystone of Western culture - the stories of gods and heroes that have inspired human creativity from antiquity to the present.
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Good reading of classical myths
- By Kathi on 03-18-13
By: Edith Hamilton
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Greek Mythology
- Classic Stories of the Greek Gods, Goddesses, Heroes, and Monsters (Classic Mythology, Book 1)
- By: Scott Lewis
- Narrated by: Madison Niederhauser
- Length: 3 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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This captivating audiobook will take you on a beautiful journey through the fascinating world of Greek mythology. From the beginning of the cosmos to the Odyssey, be ready to venture into an exciting world of love, loyalty, infidelity, vengeance, deception, and intrigue!
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A great way to gain insight to Ancient Greece
- By cosmitron on 07-27-18
By: Scott Lewis
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The Kebra Nagast
- The Lost Bible of Rastafarian Wisdom and Faith
- By: Ziggy Marley - introduction, Gerald Hausman - editor
- Narrated by: Ron Butler
- Length: 3 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
A sacred text to Ethiopian Christians and Jamaican Rastafarians, The Kebra Nagast tells of the relationship between King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba and their son, Menyelik, who hid the Ark of the Covenant in Ethiopia. This edition of the Ethiopian text is edited by Gerald Hausman, with an introduction by Ziggy Marley.
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great
- By Rebecca Oliver on 03-20-21
By: Ziggy Marley - introduction, and others
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The Epic of Gilgamesh
- By: Sebastian Lockwood - adaptation
- Narrated by: Sebastian Lockwood
- Length: 1 hr and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
A new version of The Epic of Gilgamesh by Sebastian Lockwood. This is the story of Gilgamesh, King of Kings, who brought back knowledge from before the flood - who loved and lost his companion Enkidu and had to find out why we die. The Epic of Gilgamesh was written on clay tablets over 4,000 years ago, in what is today Baghdad Iraq - the Biblical Garden of Eden between the Tigris and the Euphrates. Lockwood gives a passionate reading from a text that faithfully follows the original.
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Captain Kirk reads Gilgamesh?
- By TAGSfan on 10-07-13
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Rules for a Knight
- By: Ethan Hawke
- Narrated by: Alessandro Nivola
- Length: 2 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
It is 1483, and Sir Thomas Lemuel Hawke, a Cornish knight, is about to ride into battle. On the eve of his departure, he composes a letter to his four young children, consisting of 20 virtues that provide instruction on how to live a noble life and on all the lessons, large and small, that he might have imparted to them himself were he not expecting to die on the battlefield.
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Knights Tale
- By Placeholder on 04-18-16
By: Ethan Hawke
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People of the Wolf
- A Novel of North America's Forgotten Past
- By: W. Michael Gear, Kathleen O'Neal Gear
- Narrated by: Mark Boyett
- Length: 19 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Story
In the dawn of history, a valiant people forged a pathway from an old world into a new one. Led by a dreamer who followed the spirit of the wolf, a handful of courageous men and women dared to cross the frozen wastes to find an untouched, unspoiled continent.
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Magnificent performance of a book I read yesrs ago
- By A Fortune on 08-05-18
By: W. Michael Gear, and others
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What listeners say about The Perfect Nine
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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- Ifayemisi
- 04-30-23
Very Nice
A lot of life lessons in tales. This makes them more accessible and understandable to a broader cross-section of people. I would like to hear a differently abled person's take on the work. I like that she wasn't treated as a burden and her voice was respected and centred but that is from my able perspective.
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