They Called Us Exceptional
And Other Lies That Raised Us
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 $18.00
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Prachi Gupta
-
By:
-
Prachi Gupta
About this listen
“In this vulnerable and courageous memoir, Prachi Gupta takes the myth of the exceptional Indian American family to task.”—The Washington Post
“I read it in one sitting. Wow. It aims right at the tender spot where racism, sexism, and family dynamics collide, and somehow manages to be both searingly honest and deeply compassionate.”—Celeste Ng, New York Times bestselling author of Little Fires Everywhere
A SHE READS BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE SEASON: The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Bustle
How do we understand ourselves when the story about who we are supposed to be is stronger than our sense of self? What do we stand to gain—and lose—by taking control of our narrative?
Family defined the cultural identity of Prachi and her brother, Yush, connecting them to a larger Indian American community amid white suburbia. But their belonging was predicated on a powerful myth: the idea that Asian Americans, and Indian Americans in particular, have perfected the alchemy of middle-class life, raising tight-knit, high-achieving families that are immune to hardship. Molding oneself to fit this image often comes at a steep, but hidden, cost. In They Called Us Exceptional, Gupta articulates the dissonance, shame, and isolation of being upheld as an American success story while privately navigating traumas the world says do not exist.
Gupta addresses her story to her mother, braiding a deeply vulnerable personal narrative with history, postcolonial theory, and research on mental health to show how she slowly made sense of her reality and freed herself from the pervasive, reductive myth that had once defined her. But tragically, the act that liberated Gupta was also the act that distanced her from those she loved most. By charting her family’s slow unraveling, and her determination to break the cycle, Gupta shows how traditional notions of success keep us disconnected from ourselves and one another—and passionately argues why we must orient ourselves toward compassion over belonging.
©2023 Prachi Gupta (P)2023 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
-
The Myth of Normal
- Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture
- By: Gabor Maté MD, Daniel Maté
- Narrated by: Daniel Maté
- Length: 18 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this revolutionary book, renowned physician Gabor Maté eloquently dissects how in Western countries that pride themselves on their healthcare systems, chronic illness and general ill health are on the rise. Nearly 70 percent of Americans are on at least one prescription drug; more than half take two. In Canada, every fifth person has high blood pressure. In Europe, hypertension is diagnosed in more than 30 percent of the population. And everywhere, adolescent mental illness is on the rise. So what is really “normal” when it comes to health?
-
-
Bought book after hearing podcast...
- By Adrian on 09-14-22
By: Gabor Maté MD, and others
-
Thicker than Water
- A Memoir
- By: Kerry Washington
- Narrated by: Kerry Washington
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While on a drive in Los Angeles, on a seemingly average afternoon, Kerry Washington received a text message that would send her on a life-changing journey of self-discovery. In an instant, her very identity was torn apart, with everything she thought she knew about herself thrown into question.
-
-
Technical issues are ruining an otherwise good story
- By Lindsay on 09-27-23
By: Kerry Washington
-
The Woman in Me
- By: Britney Spears
- Narrated by: Michelle Williams, Britney Spears - introduction
- Length: 5 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In June 2021, the whole world was listening as Britney Spears spoke in open court. The impact of sharing her voice—her truth—was undeniable, and it changed the course of her life and the lives of countless others. The Woman in Me reveals for the first time her incredible journey—and the strength at the core of one of the greatest performers in pop music history. Written with remarkable candor and humor, Spears’s groundbreaking book illuminates the enduring power of music and love—and the importance of a woman telling her own story, on her own terms, at last.
-
-
Lack of transparency
- By Lori K on 10-31-23
By: Britney Spears
-
Worthy
- By: Jada Pinkett Smith
- Narrated by: Jada Pinkett Smith
- Length: 14 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jada Pinkett Smith was living what many would view as a fairy-tale of Hollywood success. But appearances can be deceiving, and as she felt more and more separated from her sense of self, emotional turmoil took hold. Sparing no detail, Worthy chronicles her life.
-
-
Budda
- By Tamiko on 10-18-23
-
Lessons in Chemistry
- A Novel
- By: Bonnie Garmus
- Narrated by: Miranda Raison, Bonnie Garmus, Pandora Sykes
- Length: 11 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it’s the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel–prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with—of all things—her mind. True chemistry results.
-
-
Making my 3 adult daughters read this
- By Teresa H. on 04-07-22
By: Bonnie Garmus
-
What My Bones Know
- A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma
- By: Stephanie Foo
- Narrated by: Stephanie Foo
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By age thirty, Stephanie Foo was successful on paper: She had her dream job as an award-winning radio producer at This American Life and a loving boyfriend. But behind her office door, she was having panic attacks and sobbing at her desk every morning. After years of questioning what was wrong with herself, she was diagnosed with complex PTSD—a condition that occurs when trauma happens continuously, over the course of years.
-
-
Complex PTSD from a patient's point of view!
- By Howard_a on 05-24-22
By: Stephanie Foo
-
The Myth of Normal
- Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture
- By: Gabor Maté MD, Daniel Maté
- Narrated by: Daniel Maté
- Length: 18 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this revolutionary book, renowned physician Gabor Maté eloquently dissects how in Western countries that pride themselves on their healthcare systems, chronic illness and general ill health are on the rise. Nearly 70 percent of Americans are on at least one prescription drug; more than half take two. In Canada, every fifth person has high blood pressure. In Europe, hypertension is diagnosed in more than 30 percent of the population. And everywhere, adolescent mental illness is on the rise. So what is really “normal” when it comes to health?
-
-
Bought book after hearing podcast...
- By Adrian on 09-14-22
By: Gabor Maté MD, and others
-
Thicker than Water
- A Memoir
- By: Kerry Washington
- Narrated by: Kerry Washington
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While on a drive in Los Angeles, on a seemingly average afternoon, Kerry Washington received a text message that would send her on a life-changing journey of self-discovery. In an instant, her very identity was torn apart, with everything she thought she knew about herself thrown into question.
-
-
Technical issues are ruining an otherwise good story
- By Lindsay on 09-27-23
By: Kerry Washington
-
The Woman in Me
- By: Britney Spears
- Narrated by: Michelle Williams, Britney Spears - introduction
- Length: 5 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In June 2021, the whole world was listening as Britney Spears spoke in open court. The impact of sharing her voice—her truth—was undeniable, and it changed the course of her life and the lives of countless others. The Woman in Me reveals for the first time her incredible journey—and the strength at the core of one of the greatest performers in pop music history. Written with remarkable candor and humor, Spears’s groundbreaking book illuminates the enduring power of music and love—and the importance of a woman telling her own story, on her own terms, at last.
-
-
Lack of transparency
- By Lori K on 10-31-23
By: Britney Spears
-
Worthy
- By: Jada Pinkett Smith
- Narrated by: Jada Pinkett Smith
- Length: 14 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jada Pinkett Smith was living what many would view as a fairy-tale of Hollywood success. But appearances can be deceiving, and as she felt more and more separated from her sense of self, emotional turmoil took hold. Sparing no detail, Worthy chronicles her life.
-
-
Budda
- By Tamiko on 10-18-23
-
Lessons in Chemistry
- A Novel
- By: Bonnie Garmus
- Narrated by: Miranda Raison, Bonnie Garmus, Pandora Sykes
- Length: 11 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it’s the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel–prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with—of all things—her mind. True chemistry results.
-
-
Making my 3 adult daughters read this
- By Teresa H. on 04-07-22
By: Bonnie Garmus
-
What My Bones Know
- A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma
- By: Stephanie Foo
- Narrated by: Stephanie Foo
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By age thirty, Stephanie Foo was successful on paper: She had her dream job as an award-winning radio producer at This American Life and a loving boyfriend. But behind her office door, she was having panic attacks and sobbing at her desk every morning. After years of questioning what was wrong with herself, she was diagnosed with complex PTSD—a condition that occurs when trauma happens continuously, over the course of years.
-
-
Complex PTSD from a patient's point of view!
- By Howard_a on 05-24-22
By: Stephanie Foo
-
The Covenant of Water
- By: Abraham Verghese
- Narrated by: Abraham Verghese
- Length: 31 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Spanning the years 1900 to 1977, The Covenant of Water is set in Kerala, on South India’s Malabar Coast, and follows three generations of a family that suffers a peculiar affliction: in every generation, at least one person dies by drowning—and in Kerala, water is everywhere. At the turn of the century, a twelve-year-old girl from Kerala’s long-existing Christian community, grieving the death of her father, is sent by boat to her wedding, where she will meet her forty-year-old husband for the first time.
-
-
Story Telling At Its Best
- By Regina on 05-06-23
By: Abraham Verghese
-
Still Born
- By: Guadalupe Nettel, Rosalind Harvey - translator
- Narrated by: Rachel Schwab
- Length: 5 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alina and Laura are independent and career-driven women in their mid-thirties, neither of whom have built their future around the prospect of a family. Laura is so determined not to become a mother that she has taken the drastic decision to have her tubes tied. But when she announces this to her friend, she learns that Alina has made the opposite decision and is preparing to have a child of her own.
-
-
The title
- By valeria on 10-17-24
By: Guadalupe Nettel, and others
-
Crying in H Mart
- A Memoir
- By: Michelle Zauner
- Narrated by: Michelle Zauner
- Length: 7 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this exquisite story of family, food, grief, and endurance, Michelle Zauner proves herself far more than a dazzling singer, songwriter, and guitarist. With humor and heart, she tells of growing up one of the few Asian-American kids at her school in Eugene, Oregon; of struggling with her mother's particular high expectations of her; of a painful adolescence; of treasured months spent in her grandmother's tiny apartment in Seoul, where she and her mother would bond, late at night, over heaping plates of food.
-
-
Broken Korean
- By Tim on 04-21-21
By: Michelle Zauner
-
Good Morning, Monster
- A Therapist Shares Five Heroic Stories of Emotional Recovery
- By: Catherine Gildiner
- Narrated by: Deborah Burgess
- Length: 13 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this fascinating narrative, therapist Catherine Gildiner presents five of what she calls her most heroic and memorable patients. Among them: A successful, first-generation Chinese immigrant musician suffering sexual dysfunction; a young woman whose father abandoned her at age nine with her younger siblings in an isolated cottage in the depth of winter; and a glamorous workaholic whose narcissistic, negligent mother greeted her each morning of her childhood with "Good morning, Monster". Each patient presents a mystery, one that will only be unpacked over years.
-
-
some things shouldn't be consumed
- By Jess on 12-28-22
-
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store
- A Novel
- By: James McBride
- Narrated by: Dominic Hoffman
- Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
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.
-
-
Multiple Stories Obfuscate Narrative
- By Stephnsea on 08-12-23
By: James McBride
-
Unreliable Narrator
- Me, Myself, and Impostor Syndrome
- By: Aparna Nancherla
- Narrated by: Aparna Nancherla
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Aparna Nancherla is a superstar comedian on the rise—a darling of Netflix and Comedy Central’s comedy special lineups, a headliner at comedy shows and music festivals, a frequenter of late night television and the subject of numerous profiles. She’s also a successful actor who has written a barrage of thoughtful essays published by the likes of the New York Times. If you ask her, though, she’s a total fraud. She’d hate to admit it, but no one does impostor syndrome quite like Aparna Nancherla.
-
-
So much valuable insight, please read
- By patski on 10-07-23
By: Aparna Nancherla
-
Enough
- By: Cassidy Hutchinson
- Narrated by: Cassidy Hutchinson
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ever since a childhood visit to Washington, DC, Cassidy Hutchinson aspired to serve her country in government. Raised in a working-class family with a military background, she was the first in her immediate family to graduate from college. Despite having no ties to Washington, Hutchinson landed a vital position at the center of the Trump White House.
-
-
Painful
- By Melissa C. on 09-28-23
-
I'm Glad My Mom Died
- By: Jennette McCurdy
- Narrated by: Jennette McCurdy
- Length: 6 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jennette McCurdy was six years old when she had her first acting audition. Her mother’s dream was for her only daughter to become a star, and Jennette would do anything to make her mother happy. So she went along with what Mom called “calorie restriction." She endured extensive at-home makeovers while Mom chided, “Your eyelashes are invisible, okay? You think Dakota Fanning doesn’t tint hers?” She was even showered by Mom until age sixteen while sharing her diaries, email, and all her income. In I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jennette recounts all this in unflinching detail.
-
-
Unexpectedly poor narration
- By Blurryface on 08-10-22
By: Jennette McCurdy
-
Tom Lake
- A Novel
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Meryl Streep
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the spring of 2020, Lara’s three daughters return to the family's orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew.
-
-
So incredibly boring
- By Rhonda Morrison on 08-05-23
By: Ann Patchett
-
Up Home
- One Girl's Journey
- By: Ruth J. Simmons
- Narrated by: Ruth J. Simmons
- Length: 6 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Born in 1945, Ruth J. Simmons grew up the twelfth child of sharecroppers. Her first home had no running water, no electricity, no books to read. Yet despite this—or, in her words, because of it—Simmons would become the first Black president of an Ivy League university. The former president of Smith College, Brown University, and Prairie View A&M, Texas’s oldest HBCU, Simmons has inspired generations of students as she herself made history.
-
-
BORING
- By jacer on 11-02-24
By: Ruth J. Simmons
-
While You Were Out
- An Intimate Family Portrait of Mental Illness in an Era of Silence
- By: Meg Kissinger
- Narrated by: Meg Kissinger
- Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Growing up in the 1960s in the suburbs of Chicago, Meg Kissinger’s family seemed to live a charmed life. With eight kids and two loving parents, the Kissingers radiated a warm, boisterous energy. Whether they were spending summer days on the shores of Lake Michigan, barreling down the ski slopes, or navigating the trials of their Catholic school, the Kissingers always knew how to live large and play hard. But behind closed doors, a harsher reality was unfolding.
-
-
Thoughtful and mindful
- By James Thomas McIntyre on 09-11-23
By: Meg Kissinger
-
Never Enough
- When Achievement Culture Becomes Toxic—and What We Can Do About It
- By: Jennifer Breheny Wallace
- Narrated by: Jennifer Breheny Wallace
- Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the ever more competitive race to secure the best possible future, today’s students face unprecedented pressure to succeed. They jam-pack their schedules with AP classes, fill every waking hour with resume-padding activities, and even sabotage relationships with friends to “get ahead.” Family incomes and schedules are stretched to the breaking point by tutoring fees and athletic schedules. Yet this drive to optimize performance has only resulted in skyrocketing rates of anxiety, depression, and even self-harm in America’s highest achieving schools.
-
-
If you live or work in one of these communities, you will see yourself
- By Paula on 09-04-23
Critic reviews
"In this vulnerable and courageous memoir, Prachi Gupta takes the myth of the exceptional Indian American family to task . . . [her] resilience and her hope to be fully seen are an inspiration in both personal and political terms.”—The Washington Post
“She explains better than any writer I’ve ever encountered how conflicts that may appear low-stakes—such as an argument over grades or extracurriculars—can tear open an unnavigable gulf. She does this while loving, and grieving, her formerly close family.”—The Atlantic
“They Called Us Exceptional is a marvel: a searingly honest memoir that manages to be at once a scalding indictment, and a heartfelt love letter. In its descriptions of the struggle to live authentically across two cultures, Gupta's book evokes W.E.B DuBois and Maxine Hong Kingston; in its exploration of how family psychopathology and cultural history entwine themselves across generations.”—Scott Stossel, national editor of The Atlantic and author of My Age of Anxiety
Related to this topic
-
Your Turn
- How to Be an Adult
- By: Julie Lythcott-Haims
- Narrated by: Julie Lythcott-Haims
- Length: 20 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What does it mean to be an adult? In the 20th century, psychologists came up with five markers of adulthood: finish your education, get a job, leave home, marry, and have children. Since then, every generation has been held to those same markers. Yet so much has changed about the world and living in it since that sequence was formulated. All of those markers are choices, and they’re all valid, but any one person’s choices along those lines do not make them more or less an adult.
-
-
Not the book that was advertised
- By M. Rogers on 04-13-21
-
My Time Among the Whites
- Notes from an Unfinished Education
- By: Jennine Capo Crucet
- Narrated by: Jennine Capo Crucet
- Length: 4 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Raised in Miami and the daughter of Cuban refugees, Crucet examines the political and personal contours of American identity and the physical places where those contours find themselves smashed: be it a rodeo town in Nebraska, a university campus in upstate New York, or Disney World in Florida. Crucet illuminates how she came to see her exclusion from aspects of the theoretical American Dream, despite her family's attempts to fit in with white American culture - beginning with their ill-fated plan to name her after the winner of the Miss America pageant.
-
-
Empowering
- By elvia on 10-23-19
-
The Survivors
- A Story of War, Inheritance, and Healing
- By: Adam Frankel
- Narrated by: Adam Frankel, Rob Shapiro
- Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Adam Frankel’s maternal grandparents survived the Holocaust and built new lives, with new names, in Connecticut. Though they tried to leave the horrors of their past behind, the pain they suffered crossed generational lines - a fact most apparent in the mental health of Adam’s mother. When Adam sat down with her to examine their family history in detail, he learned another shocking secret, this time one that unraveled Adam’s entire understanding of who he is.
-
-
Amazing story
- By Alissa on 12-26-19
By: Adam Frankel
-
Modern Loss
- Candid Conversation About Grief. Beginners Welcome.
- By: Rebecca Soffer, Gabrielle Birkner
- Narrated by: Meredith Mitchell, Josh Bloomberg
- Length: 7 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At a time when we mourn public figures and national tragedies with hashtags, where intimate posts about loss go viral and we receive automated birthday reminders for dead friends, it's clear we are navigating new terrain without a road map. Let's face it: Most of us have always had a difficult time talking about death and sharing our grief. We're awkward and uncertain; we avoid, ignore, or even deny feelings of sadness; we offer platitudes; we send sympathy bouquets whittled out of fruit.
-
-
Not What I Was Expecting
- By Bessie Mae on 03-01-23
By: Rebecca Soffer, and others
-
Growing Yourself Back Up
- Understanding Emotional Regression
- By: John Lee
- Narrated by: BJ Harrison
- Length: 7 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We've all experienced moments when we lose control of a situation and ourselves. Now, in Growing Yourself Back Up, the first book to explain the idea of emotional regression to the general listener, best-selling author John Lee identifies the circumstances that cause these seemingly uncontrollable feelings and shows how they are directly tied to our experience as children.
-
-
A Must Read for All Human Beings
- By Dr Brandon Wardell, DBH, MAMFT, NCC, LPC on 08-04-20
By: John Lee
-
Inside Out
- A Memoir
- By: Demi Moore
- Narrated by: Demi Moore
- Length: 6 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For decades, Demi Moore has been synonymous with celebrity. From iconic film roles to high-profile relationships, Moore has never been far from the spotlight - or the headlines. Even as Demi was becoming the highest paid actress in Hollywood, however, she was always outrunning her past. Throughout her rise to fame and during some of the most pivotal moments of her life, Demi battled addiction, body image issues, and childhood trauma that would follow her for years - all while juggling a skyrocketing career and at times negative public perception.
-
-
I loved this Memoir
- By mrsbee19 on 09-25-19
By: Demi Moore
-
Your Turn
- How to Be an Adult
- By: Julie Lythcott-Haims
- Narrated by: Julie Lythcott-Haims
- Length: 20 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What does it mean to be an adult? In the 20th century, psychologists came up with five markers of adulthood: finish your education, get a job, leave home, marry, and have children. Since then, every generation has been held to those same markers. Yet so much has changed about the world and living in it since that sequence was formulated. All of those markers are choices, and they’re all valid, but any one person’s choices along those lines do not make them more or less an adult.
-
-
Not the book that was advertised
- By M. Rogers on 04-13-21
-
My Time Among the Whites
- Notes from an Unfinished Education
- By: Jennine Capo Crucet
- Narrated by: Jennine Capo Crucet
- Length: 4 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Raised in Miami and the daughter of Cuban refugees, Crucet examines the political and personal contours of American identity and the physical places where those contours find themselves smashed: be it a rodeo town in Nebraska, a university campus in upstate New York, or Disney World in Florida. Crucet illuminates how she came to see her exclusion from aspects of the theoretical American Dream, despite her family's attempts to fit in with white American culture - beginning with their ill-fated plan to name her after the winner of the Miss America pageant.
-
-
Empowering
- By elvia on 10-23-19
-
The Survivors
- A Story of War, Inheritance, and Healing
- By: Adam Frankel
- Narrated by: Adam Frankel, Rob Shapiro
- Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Adam Frankel’s maternal grandparents survived the Holocaust and built new lives, with new names, in Connecticut. Though they tried to leave the horrors of their past behind, the pain they suffered crossed generational lines - a fact most apparent in the mental health of Adam’s mother. When Adam sat down with her to examine their family history in detail, he learned another shocking secret, this time one that unraveled Adam’s entire understanding of who he is.
-
-
Amazing story
- By Alissa on 12-26-19
By: Adam Frankel
-
Modern Loss
- Candid Conversation About Grief. Beginners Welcome.
- By: Rebecca Soffer, Gabrielle Birkner
- Narrated by: Meredith Mitchell, Josh Bloomberg
- Length: 7 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At a time when we mourn public figures and national tragedies with hashtags, where intimate posts about loss go viral and we receive automated birthday reminders for dead friends, it's clear we are navigating new terrain without a road map. Let's face it: Most of us have always had a difficult time talking about death and sharing our grief. We're awkward and uncertain; we avoid, ignore, or even deny feelings of sadness; we offer platitudes; we send sympathy bouquets whittled out of fruit.
-
-
Not What I Was Expecting
- By Bessie Mae on 03-01-23
By: Rebecca Soffer, and others
-
Growing Yourself Back Up
- Understanding Emotional Regression
- By: John Lee
- Narrated by: BJ Harrison
- Length: 7 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We've all experienced moments when we lose control of a situation and ourselves. Now, in Growing Yourself Back Up, the first book to explain the idea of emotional regression to the general listener, best-selling author John Lee identifies the circumstances that cause these seemingly uncontrollable feelings and shows how they are directly tied to our experience as children.
-
-
A Must Read for All Human Beings
- By Dr Brandon Wardell, DBH, MAMFT, NCC, LPC on 08-04-20
By: John Lee
-
Inside Out
- A Memoir
- By: Demi Moore
- Narrated by: Demi Moore
- Length: 6 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For decades, Demi Moore has been synonymous with celebrity. From iconic film roles to high-profile relationships, Moore has never been far from the spotlight - or the headlines. Even as Demi was becoming the highest paid actress in Hollywood, however, she was always outrunning her past. Throughout her rise to fame and during some of the most pivotal moments of her life, Demi battled addiction, body image issues, and childhood trauma that would follow her for years - all while juggling a skyrocketing career and at times negative public perception.
-
-
I loved this Memoir
- By mrsbee19 on 09-25-19
By: Demi Moore
-
Transition
- The Story of How I Became a Man
- By: Chaz Bono
- Narrated by: Chaz Bono
- Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At first, America knew the only child of Sonny and Cher as Chastity, the cherubic little girl who appeared on her parents' TV show. In later years, she became famous for coming out on a national stage, working with two major organizations toward LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) rights and publishing two books. And just within the past 18 months, Chaz Bono has entered the public consciousness as the most high-profile transgender person ever.
-
-
Great book
- By Lisa M. W. on 10-26-19
By: Chaz Bono
-
How to Be Fine
- What We Learned by Living by the Rules of 50 Self-Help Books
- By: Jolenta Greenberg, Kristen Meinzer
- Narrated by: Jolenta Greenberg, Kristen Meinzer
- Length: 4 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In each episode of their podcast By the Book, Jolenta Greenberg and Kristen Meinzer take a deep dive into a different self-help book, following its specific instructions, rules, and advice to the letter. From diet and productivity to decorating to social interactions, they try it all, record themselves along the way, then share what they’ve learned with their devoted and growing audience of fans who tune in.
-
-
Disappointed
- By doughswan on 10-23-20
By: Jolenta Greenberg, and others
-
Transitions of the Heart
- Stories of Love, Struggle and Acceptance by Mothers of Transgender and Gender Variant Children
- By: Rachel Pepper - editor
- Narrated by: Elisabeth Rodgers
- Length: 5 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Transitions of the Heart is the first collection to ever invite mothers of transgender and gender variant children of all ages to tell their own stories about their child’s gender transition. Often transitioning socially and emotionally alongside their child but rarely given a voice in the experience, mothers hold the key to familial and societal understanding of gender difference.
-
-
Heartfelt, Well-Written, and Moving
- By Susie on 01-04-13
-
The Girls Who Went Away
- The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades Before Roe v. Wade
- By: Ann Fessler
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 12 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this deeply moving and myth-shattering work, Ann Fessler brings out into the open for the first time the astonishing untold history of the million and a half women who surrendered children for adoption due to enormous family and social pressure in the decades before Roe v. Wade.
-
-
Sad but True ... and Helpful
- By Kim Kavanagh on 01-05-17
By: Ann Fessler
-
Girl, Wash Your Face
- Stop Believing the Lies About Who You Are So You Can Become Who You Were Meant to Be
- By: Rachel Hollis
- Narrated by: Rachel Hollis
- Length: 7 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As the founder of the lifestyle website TheChicSite.com and CEO of her own media company, Rachel Hollis developed an immense online community by sharing tips for better living while fearlessly revealing the messiness of her own life. Now, in this challenging and inspiring new book, Rachel exposes the 20 lies and misconceptions that too often hold us back from living joyfully and productively.
-
-
More for women who are mothers
- By MeredithNCSU girl on 04-07-18
By: Rachel Hollis
-
Boundaries: Where You End and I Begin
- How to Recognize and Set Healthy Boundaries
- By: Anne Katherine MA
- Narrated by: Pam Ward
- Length: 6 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Have you recently walked away from a date or a conversation feeling uncomfortable or violated? Are you looking for ways to set limits with your spouse, kids, parents, or boss? This essential guide to setting and respecting boundaries is for anyone wanting to better understand themselves and others. Just as a cut in our skin causes pain and injury, a breach of any of our physical, emotional, or sexual boundaries can be very harmful to our bodies and minds.
-
-
Not exactly for tailored for the Male reader
- By Matt on 04-26-22
-
Walking on Eggshells
- Navigating the Delicate Relationship Between Adult Children and Parents
- By: Jane Isay
- Narrated by: Ann Marie Lee
- Length: 7 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We raise our children to be independent and lead fulfilling lives, but when they finally do, staying close becomes more complicated than ever. And for every bewildered mother who wonders why her children don't call, there is a frustrated son or daughter who just wants to be treated like a grownup. Now, renowned editor Jane Isay delivers the perfect gift to both parents and their adult children-real-life wisdom and advice on how to stay together without falling apart.
-
-
Disappointed
- By tammy alvarez on 01-13-19
By: Jane Isay
-
Crazy Time, Revised Edition
- Surviving Divorce and Building a New Life
- By: Abigail Trafford
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this intelligent and insightful book, Abigail Trafford charts the emotional journey of a breakup of a marriage, identifying the common phases in the evolution from marriage to separation to divorce, and eventually to a new life. This revised edition includes the most up-to-date research on the personal and economic effects of divorce in adults and children's lives, addresses the special challenges of becoming single again in the age of the Internet, and broadens the experience of divorce to the breakup of all committed relationships.
-
-
Better as an additional book
- By Ethan on 09-18-19
By: Abigail Trafford
-
Unrequited
- Women and Romantic Obsession
- By: Lisa A. Phillips
- Narrated by: Karen White
- Length: 9 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The summer Lisa A. Phillips turned 30, she fell in love with someone who didn't return her feelings. She soon became obsessed. She followed him around, called him compulsively, and talked about him endlessly. One desperate morning, after she snuck into his apartment building, he picked up a baseball bat to protect himself and began to dial 911. Her unrequited love had changed her from a sane, conscientious college teacher and radio reporter into someone she barely recognized.
-
-
Great book! So-so narrator....
- By ToluGrace on 04-14-15
By: Lisa A. Phillips
-
The Man I Never Met
- A Memoir
- By: Adam Schefter
- Narrated by: Adam Schefter
- Length: 4 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On September 11, 2001, Joe Maio went to work in the north tower of the World Trade Center. He never returned, leaving behind a wife, Sharri, and 15-month old son, Devon. Five years later, Sharri remarried, and Devon welcomed a new dad into his life. For thousands, the whole country really, 9/11 is a day of grief. For Adam and Sharri Maio Schefter and their family it’s not just a day of grief, but also hope. This is a story of 9/11, but it’s also the story of 9/12 and all the days after. Life moved on. Pieces were picked up. New dreams were dreamed. The Schefters are the embodiment of that.
-
-
Remembering a fallen father thru a family
- By Bob H on 09-07-18
By: Adam Schefter
-
Shanda
- A Memoir of Shame and Secrecy
- By: Letty Cottin Pogrebin
- Narrated by: Dina Pearlman
- Length: 14 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The word "shanda" is defined as shame or disgrace in Yiddish. This book, Shanda, tells the story of three generations of complicated, intense twentieth-century Jews for whom the desire to fit in and the fear of public humiliation either drove their aspirations or crushed their spirit. In her deeply engaging, astonishingly candid memoir, author and activist Letty Cottin Pogrebin exposes the fiercely-guarded lies and intricate cover-ups woven by dozens of members of her extended family.
-
-
Beautifully Written!
- By Adele Aron Greenspun on 01-12-23
-
How to Be Sad
- Everything I’ve Learned About Getting Happier by Being Sad
- By: Helen Russell
- Narrated by: Helen Russell
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Helen Russell has researched sadness from the inside out for her entire life. Her earliest memory is of the day her sister died. Her parents divorced soon after, and her mother didn’t receive the help she needed to grieve. Coping with her own emotional turmoil — including struggles with body image and infertility — she’s endured professional and personal setbacks as well as relationships that have imploded in truly spectacular ways. Even the things that brought her the greatest joy — like eventually becoming a parent — are fraught with challenges.
-
-
More an self biography
- By Jaime Murillo on 04-27-24
By: Helen Russell
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
But What Will People Say?
- Navigating Mental Health, Identity, Love, and Family Between Cultures
- By: Sahaj Kaur Kohli MAEd LGPC
- Narrated by: Sahaj Kaur Kohli MAEd LGPC
- Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Writer and therapist Sahaj Kaur Kohli grew up knowing exactly what it means to straddle multiple cultures at once. Like many children of immigrants, she has often found herself plagued by questions: Can I establish my own values and embrace where I come from? Is prioritizing my mental health really rejecting my culture? How do I set boundaries and care for myself when family and community mean everything? Even after becoming a therapist herself, she saw those same gaps in the mental health world, leading her to wonder, like so many children of immigrants: what about us?
-
-
I am her, and she is me
- By A. Osorio on 10-31-24
-
Well-Behaved Indian Women
- By: Saumya Dave
- Narrated by: Soneela Nankani
- Length: 12 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Simran Mehta has always felt harshly judged by her mother, Nandini, especially when it comes to her little "writing hobby". But when a charismatic and highly respected journalist careens into Simran's life, she begins to question not only her future as a psychologist, but her engagement to her high-school sweetheart. Nandini Mehta has strived to create an easy life for her children in America. It isn’t until an old colleague makes her a life-changing offer that Nandini realizes she's spent so much time focusing on being the perfect Indian woman, she’s let herself slip away.
-
-
Very rich and well-developed characters
- By B Shah on 07-26-20
By: Saumya Dave
-
Late Bloomers
- A Novel
- By: Deepa Varadarajan
- Narrated by: Vikas Adam, Deepa Samuel, Shahjehan Khan, and others
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After thirty-six years of a dutiful but unhappy arranged marriage, recently divorced Suresh and Lata Raman find themselves starting new paths in life. Suresh is trying to navigate the world of online dating on a website that caters to Indians and is striking out at every turn—until he meets a mysterious, devastatingly attractive younger woman who seems to be smitten with him. Lata is enjoying her newfound independence, but she's caught off guard when a professor in his early sixties starts to flirt with her.
-
-
Heartwarming and fun!
- By nyjeri whipps on 08-11-23
-
Goddess of the River
- By: Vaishnavi Patel
- Narrated by: Sneha Mathan
- Length: 11 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ganga, joyful goddess of the river, serves as caretaker to the mischievous godlings who roam her banks. But when their antics incur the wrath of a powerful sage, Ganga is cursed to become mortal, bound to her human form until she fulfills the obligations of the curse. Though she knows nothing of mortal life, Ganga weds King Shantanu and becomes a queen, determined to regain her freedom no matter the cost. But in a cruel turn of fate, just as she is freed of her binding, she is forced to leave her infant son behind. Her son, prince Devavrata, unwittingly carries the legacy of Ganga’s curse.
-
-
Quick read excellent narration
- By Navaneeth on 07-14-24
By: Vaishnavi Patel
-
While You Were Out
- An Intimate Family Portrait of Mental Illness in an Era of Silence
- By: Meg Kissinger
- Narrated by: Meg Kissinger
- Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Growing up in the 1960s in the suburbs of Chicago, Meg Kissinger’s family seemed to live a charmed life. With eight kids and two loving parents, the Kissingers radiated a warm, boisterous energy. Whether they were spending summer days on the shores of Lake Michigan, barreling down the ski slopes, or navigating the trials of their Catholic school, the Kissingers always knew how to live large and play hard. But behind closed doors, a harsher reality was unfolding.
-
-
Thoughtful and mindful
- By James Thomas McIntyre on 09-11-23
By: Meg Kissinger
-
Independence
- A Novel
- By: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
- Narrated by: Sneha Mathan
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Set during the partition of British India in 1947, a time when neighbor was pitted against neighbor and families were torn apart, award-winning author Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s novel brings to life the sweeping story of three sisters caught up in events beyond their control, their unbreakable bond, and their incredible struggle against powerful odds.
-
-
A very interesting story, good but a tad flat
- By Naturegirl09 on 06-25-23
-
But What Will People Say?
- Navigating Mental Health, Identity, Love, and Family Between Cultures
- By: Sahaj Kaur Kohli MAEd LGPC
- Narrated by: Sahaj Kaur Kohli MAEd LGPC
- Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Writer and therapist Sahaj Kaur Kohli grew up knowing exactly what it means to straddle multiple cultures at once. Like many children of immigrants, she has often found herself plagued by questions: Can I establish my own values and embrace where I come from? Is prioritizing my mental health really rejecting my culture? How do I set boundaries and care for myself when family and community mean everything? Even after becoming a therapist herself, she saw those same gaps in the mental health world, leading her to wonder, like so many children of immigrants: what about us?
-
-
I am her, and she is me
- By A. Osorio on 10-31-24
-
Well-Behaved Indian Women
- By: Saumya Dave
- Narrated by: Soneela Nankani
- Length: 12 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Simran Mehta has always felt harshly judged by her mother, Nandini, especially when it comes to her little "writing hobby". But when a charismatic and highly respected journalist careens into Simran's life, she begins to question not only her future as a psychologist, but her engagement to her high-school sweetheart. Nandini Mehta has strived to create an easy life for her children in America. It isn’t until an old colleague makes her a life-changing offer that Nandini realizes she's spent so much time focusing on being the perfect Indian woman, she’s let herself slip away.
-
-
Very rich and well-developed characters
- By B Shah on 07-26-20
By: Saumya Dave
-
Late Bloomers
- A Novel
- By: Deepa Varadarajan
- Narrated by: Vikas Adam, Deepa Samuel, Shahjehan Khan, and others
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After thirty-six years of a dutiful but unhappy arranged marriage, recently divorced Suresh and Lata Raman find themselves starting new paths in life. Suresh is trying to navigate the world of online dating on a website that caters to Indians and is striking out at every turn—until he meets a mysterious, devastatingly attractive younger woman who seems to be smitten with him. Lata is enjoying her newfound independence, but she's caught off guard when a professor in his early sixties starts to flirt with her.
-
-
Heartwarming and fun!
- By nyjeri whipps on 08-11-23
-
Goddess of the River
- By: Vaishnavi Patel
- Narrated by: Sneha Mathan
- Length: 11 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ganga, joyful goddess of the river, serves as caretaker to the mischievous godlings who roam her banks. But when their antics incur the wrath of a powerful sage, Ganga is cursed to become mortal, bound to her human form until she fulfills the obligations of the curse. Though she knows nothing of mortal life, Ganga weds King Shantanu and becomes a queen, determined to regain her freedom no matter the cost. But in a cruel turn of fate, just as she is freed of her binding, she is forced to leave her infant son behind. Her son, prince Devavrata, unwittingly carries the legacy of Ganga’s curse.
-
-
Quick read excellent narration
- By Navaneeth on 07-14-24
By: Vaishnavi Patel
-
While You Were Out
- An Intimate Family Portrait of Mental Illness in an Era of Silence
- By: Meg Kissinger
- Narrated by: Meg Kissinger
- Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Growing up in the 1960s in the suburbs of Chicago, Meg Kissinger’s family seemed to live a charmed life. With eight kids and two loving parents, the Kissingers radiated a warm, boisterous energy. Whether they were spending summer days on the shores of Lake Michigan, barreling down the ski slopes, or navigating the trials of their Catholic school, the Kissingers always knew how to live large and play hard. But behind closed doors, a harsher reality was unfolding.
-
-
Thoughtful and mindful
- By James Thomas McIntyre on 09-11-23
By: Meg Kissinger
-
Independence
- A Novel
- By: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
- Narrated by: Sneha Mathan
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Set during the partition of British India in 1947, a time when neighbor was pitted against neighbor and families were torn apart, award-winning author Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s novel brings to life the sweeping story of three sisters caught up in events beyond their control, their unbreakable bond, and their incredible struggle against powerful odds.
-
-
A very interesting story, good but a tad flat
- By Naturegirl09 on 06-25-23
-
Where I Belong
- Healing Trauma and Embracing Asian American Identity
- By: Soo Jin Lee, Linda Yoon
- Narrated by: Jeena Yi, Catherine Ho, Will Dao
- Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Coauthors Soo Jin Lee and Linda Yoon are professional therapists who witnessed firsthand how mental health issues often went unaddressed not only in their own immigrant families, but in Asian and Asian American communities. Where I Belong shows us how the cycle of trauma can play out in our relationships, placing Asian American experiences front and center to help us process and heal from racial and intergenerational trauma.
-
-
exellent
- By jeri on 04-21-24
By: Soo Jin Lee, and others
-
Class
- A Memoir
- By: Stephanie Land
- Narrated by: Stephanie Land
- Length: 8 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Stephanie Land set out to write her memoir Maid, she never could have imagined what was to come. Handpicked by President Barack Obama as one of the best books of 2019, he called it an “unflinching look at America’s class divide…and a reminder of the dignity of all work.” Later, it was adapted into the hit Netflix series Maid, which was viewed by sixty-seven million households and was Netflix’s fourth most-watched show in 2021, garnering three Primetime Emmy Award nominations. Stephanie’s escape out of poverty and abuse in search of a better life inspired millions.
-
-
Very disappointing
- By Cathy McCann on 11-07-23
By: Stephanie Land
-
We Were Dreamers
- An Immigrant Superhero Origin Story
- By: Simu Liu
- Narrated by: Simu Liu
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The star of Marvel’s first Asian superhero film, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, tells his own origin story of being a Chinese immigrant, his battles with cultural stereotypes and his own identity, becoming a TV star, and landing the role of a lifetime.
-
-
This Asian-American Approves.
- By Jasmine Y. on 06-04-22
By: Simu Liu
-
No Visible Bruises
- What We Don't Know About Domestic Violence Can Kill Us
- By: Rachel Louise Snyder
- Narrated by: Rachel Louise Snyder
- Length: 12 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We call it domestic violence. We call it private violence. Sometimes we call it intimate terrorism. But whatever we call it, we generally do not believe it has anything at all to do with us, despite the World Health Organization deeming it a 'global epidemic'. In No Visible Bruises, journalist Rachel Louise Snyder gives context for what we don't know we're seeing. She frames this urgent and immersive account of the scale of domestic violence in our country around key stories that explode the common myths....
-
-
Not yet ready
- By Alyssa E. on 05-17-19
-
What a Happy Family
- By: Saumya Dave
- Narrated by: Soneela Nankani
- Length: 12 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the outside, the Joshi family is the quintessential Indian American family. Decades ago, Bina and Deepak immigrated to America, where she became a pillar of their local Indian community and he a successful psychiatrist. Their eldest daughter, Suhani, is following the footsteps of her father’s career and happily married. Natasha, their middle daughter, is about to become engaged to the son of longtime family friends. And Anuj, their son - well, he’s a son, and what could be better than that? But a family scandal shows that nothing is as it seems.
-
-
Unrealistic depiction of our mental health system
- By 3dogknits on 10-02-24
By: Saumya Dave
-
Liliana's Invincible Summer
- A Sister's Search for Justice
- By: Cristina Rivera Garza
- Narrated by: Victoria Villarreal
- Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
October 18, 2019. Cristina Rivera Garza travels from her home in Texas to Mexico City, in search of an old, unresolved criminal file. “My name is Cristina Rivera Garza,” she writes in her request to the attorney general, “and I am writing to you as a relative of Liliana Rivera Garza, who was murdered on July 16, 1990.” It’s been twenty-nine years. Twenty-nine years, three months, and two days since Liliana was murdered by an abusive ex-boyfriend.
-
-
A True Story Artistically Written
- By Josie on 08-31-24
-
Tell Me Everything
- A Memoir
- By: Minka Kelly
- Narrated by: Minka Kelly
- Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fans know her as the spoiled, rich cheerleader Lyla Garrity on Friday Night Lights or as the affluent, mysterious Samantha on the HBO megahit Euphoria. But as revealed for the first time in this book, Minka Kelly’s life has been anything but easy. Raised by a single mother who worked as a stripper and struggled with addiction, Minka spent years waking up in strange apartments as she and her mom bounced around the country, relying on friends and relatives to take them in. Now an established actress and philanthropist, Minka takes this next step in her career as a writer.
-
-
Had me until the white privileged and cis comments
- By Rachel Gilbert on 06-02-23
By: Minka Kelly
-
Sure, I'll Join Your Cult
- A Memoir of Mental Illness and the Quest to Belong Anywhere
- By: Maria Bamford
- Narrated by: Maria Bamford
- Length: 7 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Maria Bamford is a comedian’s comedian (an outsider among outsiders) and has forever fought to find a place to belong. From struggling with an eating disorder as a child of the 1980s, to navigating a career in the arts (and medical debt and psychiatric institutionalization), she has tried just about every method possible to not only be a part of the world, but to want to be a part of it. In Bamford’s “trademark blend of disarming intimacy and dark whimsy” (Publishers Weekly), Sure, I’ll Join Your Cult brings us on a quest to participate in something.
-
-
Hilarious and sincere
- By B. Bazzell on 09-06-23
By: Maria Bamford
-
Stay True
- A Memoir
- By: Hua Hsu
- Narrated by: Hua Hsu
- Length: 5 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the eyes of eighteen-year-old Hua Hsu, the problem with Ken—with his passion for Dave Matthews, Abercrombie & Fitch, and his fraternity—is that he is exactly like everyone else. Ken, whose Japanese American family has been in the United States for generations, is mainstream; for Hua, the son of Taiwanese immigrants, who makes ’zines and haunts Bay Area record shops, Ken represents all that he defines himself in opposition to. The only thing Hua and Ken have in common is that, however they engage with it, American culture doesn’t seem to have a place for either of them.
-
-
At the end, this book is about friendships
- By rosalinda lam on 10-31-22
By: Hua Hsu
-
The Pain We Carry
- Healing from Complex PTSD for People of Color
- By: Natalie Y. Gutiérrez LMFT, Jennifer Mullan PsyD - foreword
- Narrated by: L. Malaika Cooper
- Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Pain We Carry, you'll find powerful tools to help you understand and begin healing from repeated trauma. You'll discover ways to feel safer in your body, build self-compassion and resilience, and reclaim your health and wellness by reconnecting with your sense of self and your ancestral wisdom. You'll learn how trauma is connected to grief, how it can affect both the mind and the body, and how it can persist from one generation to the next.
-
-
Affirming
- By Yaz on 06-15-23
By: Natalie Y. Gutiérrez LMFT, and others
-
The Ministry for the Future
- A Novel
- By: Kim Stanley Robinson
- Narrated by: Jennifer Fitzgerald, Fajer Al-Kaisi, Ramon de Ocampo, and others
- Length: 20 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Ministry for the Future is a masterpiece of the imagination, using fictional eyewitness accounts to tell the story of how climate change will affect us all. Its setting is not a desolate, post-apocalyptic world, but a future that is almost upon us - and in which we might just overcome the extraordinary challenges we face.
-
-
Great ideas, uneven narration
- By depthpsychologist on 12-09-20
-
The Art of Gathering
- How We Meet and Why It Matters
- By: Priya Parker
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 9 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Every day, we find ourselves in gatherings, Priya Parker says in The Art of Gathering. If we can understand what makes these gatherings effective and memorable, then we can reframe and redirect them to benefit everyone, host and guest alike. Parker defines a gathering as three or more people who come together for a specific purpose. When we understand why we gather, she says - to acknowledge, to learn, to challenge, to change - we learn how to organize gatherings that are relevant and memorable.
-
-
Would have liked a different narrator
- By Marta on 08-26-18
By: Priya Parker
What listeners say about They Called Us Exceptional
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 11-13-23
Made me see myself in a new light
I have never read a book as relatable as this one, yet still with so many twists and turns. As an Indian American woman who grew up with first generation immigrant parents, it was always hard for me to find characters in books or movies that I could relate to. I truly feel seen in a way that I didn’t know was possible.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- HRC
- 11-12-23
‘I am not done growing, I am just beginning’
Not Indian but American Indian and can totally relate to her story. Saddened as I read of her experiences but it’s a must read!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- nathalie francois
- 02-24-24
How she stayed true to her beliefs and pushed back against her narcissistic like father.
Her honesty, her love for her brother and how she tried to save him from himself and the limiting beliefs
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- sumaiya islam
- 09-22-23
In awe
Such a an incredible story, I have very little to add. Still processing how I am feeling.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anile
- 04-01-24
A relatable Desi narrative
My father is indo Persian, who is a narcissist, depressed, emotionally abusive, petty, vindictive, but everyone views him as a saint.
I thought it was a singular case shaped by a dysfunctional family, circumstances and severe trauma. Never thought that it was a much bigger picture til I read this book.
Men are forced by societal pressures that determine their value and merits by self annihilating their emotions, bodies, and self to fit a stander they were never meant to achieve.
The standers are even more impossible when the said male is not white, tall, and rich.
Is the same pressures placed on women? No, they are even more back breaking and Herculean. but most of us, already know.
Being a feminist made me re-examine my parents over the years,with each understanding, my idea of parenthood and unconditional love died with it.
Both were too absorbed by each other needs and societal expectations to function or grow beyond their family names, jobs, and position in society.
Prachi, with her honest empathy, untangle all her family sordid affaire in the most articulated, understanding manner possible when it comes to such a messy situation.
There’s so much to unpack in her memoir, but I don’t think anyone could sum it up so clearly the way she did it.
And it means more to me knowing that a young Tamil woman who suffered so much, still managed to exceed her family expectations.
I think it’s the best book I read this year, and we’re still in April.
A must read.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 10-17-24
Language and description
Strong story telling; Prachi has a powerful voice. I could relate to the story so it was moving but also hard to listen at times.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- F from California
- 09-21-23
Brave storytelling woven with journalism
Beyond a memoir with the context of research, riveting and intense, I couldn’t stop listening.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kindle Customer
- 11-07-23
Important
I really appreciated the risk the author took in terms of emotional vulnerability and possibly in her ongoing relationship with family members to share this story. I found the theme of her search for the basic source of self worth to be applicable to all people, not just women and not just minorities. It is something I myself struggle with constantly. I also feel this story is very important for everyone but especially for young people who may not have been exposed to the abusive dynamics described so well by the author, and therefore might not recognize them in their own relationships. For example, it is one thing to know what gas lighting means and another to see how that actually plays out in a relationship. I hope to share this story with my children when they are mature enough to receive it, and I highly recommend it for everyone else!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- User182
- 12-06-23
Must Listen
Listening to Prachj tell her story was incredible.
She shared things in a way that bared her soul and her truth but was also very reflective on her perceptions in the past and present.
She spoke truth to power and in a way that I felt very seen.
Likely highly relatable as a diaspora member but also just incredibly felt literature despite your background.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Yogesh Chavda, Y2S Consulting
- 03-13-24
Every South Asian Male/Female Can Relate to The Full Story or Parts of This Story
Prachi Gupta, you are an incredible writer. You wrote a book and became the adult voice of many children of South Asian immigrants. I am a middle aged woman that is a third culture child raising a teenage boy. This book made me see how many things that I am doing right (focusing on his mental/emotional health, teaching him to name his feelings from a young age, being able to distinguish big feelings from small feelings) and my blind spots (flowing with him and meeting him where he is at any point in his life). And the importance of connection over correction as a parent with my child.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!