• You’re Not a Girl in a Movie

  • By: Hala Alyan
  • Narrated by: Hala Alyan
  • Length: 34 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (867 ratings)

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You’re Not a Girl in a Movie  By  cover art

You’re Not a Girl in a Movie

By: Hala Alyan
Narrated by: Hala Alyan
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About the Creator and Performer

Hala Alyan is a Palestinian American writer and clinical psychologist whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, in The New York Times, Guernica and elsewhere. Her poetry collections have won the Arab American Book Award and the Crab Orchard Series.

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What listeners say about You’re Not a Girl in a Movie

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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    565
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    158
  • 3 Stars
    80
  • 2 Stars
    35
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Performance
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Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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  • 4 Stars
    149
  • 3 Stars
    62
  • 2 Stars
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    28

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  • Overall
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Heartache beautiful

Just finished and starting to listen again. In an Argument, My Love calls Me Fragile is an entire novel in the form of a poem. thank you

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

It touched every fiber of my soul

I am inspired, I want to right and I want to remember who I am, where I've been. Rediscover me

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  • D
  • 01-10-21

Moved to tears, beautiful and close to home

Started crying while folding laundry, loved this so much, every word hits like a truck, but very cathartic.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Powerful Poetry

This is the most powerful "new" voice I've read in a very long time. Honest, biting, seething, soft, reflective... strong.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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So good I’d happily pay for it!

Hala is a force. I loved every minute of this collection. Listening to her delivery made it even better. This title was free to listen to with my subscription, but I’d happily pay for it.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Passion with an underlying current of anger

This is a voice of passion and anger wrestling with injustices and challenges faced in thus world.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Wow........ just wow!

I listened and heard my own heart. 55yo AA woman. I listened as I planted watermelon and squash in my garden in the suburbs in NorCal and realized what I have lost. I have been journeying beyond my dutiful roll as daughter, sister, mother, wife (no longer) and trying to find me. As though I exist beyond my ancestors. I realize I do not. I cannot. I listened and though it was not Palestine calling - I heard my own heart. Thank you Hala Alyan

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Wow. Just Wow.

Wow, is all I can say. I felt like I was in a smoky hole in the wall bar in the East Village, listening to poetic justice.

Will recommend this to all my friends.

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Insanely good

Loved it al. Passionate and full of emotion. I felt so much of what she said and I loved listening to her put it al out there. Highly recommend!!!

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Powerful Voice

Vulnerable yet exceptionally strong as scar tissue is thicker than skin . She shared memories and reflections that most people would hesitate to write even in a private journal. I have never had any greater understanding of the Arabic refugee experience than the way her poems sink in.

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