Hear Me

De: Julia North

Narrado por: Karena Gregory

After yet another shameful one-night stand, Lissa has to accept that her sisters are right - she is an alcoholic, and it's time for rehab. She hates the idea of therapy and doesn't want to examine her past, but just as she begins to see reasons for her drinking, life takes a brutal turn.

Who are her fellow patients? Why is one of them so damned perfect?

Hear Me is a powerful story about life and death, addiction, sobriety, racism, and the fight for justice - but above all, it is a story about love.

©2017 Hookline Books (P)2019 Hookline Books

Very unique storyline and memorable characters

I was given this free copy review audiobook at my request and am leaving an unbiased review voluntarily.
First of all, the setting was original and the timeframe of things taking place during that time and place were very unique and memorable. I don’t think I’ve ever read or listened to a book with that particular setting and real life like events that took place in that area. That was very refreshing for it to not be as common as what is frequently written. Definitely sparked my interest! The book made me laugh at times because some situations were sarcastically hilarious, even though they weren’t meant to be necessarily for the people going through them. The author had a great craft for making things funny for the reader without it lessening the purpose of the situations the characters were going through. It almost made me cry as well to learn about things and events that took place for the main character and in real life in the particular setting of the book. It was a great “who done it” type of book, although I did figure it out somewhat early on. That didn’t make it a bad book for me though, and I’d recommend it to anyone looking for something different. The only thing I wasn’t completely crazy about was the narration. That threw me off a little because I’m not sure that the narration fit with what I had in mind for the setting and characters. Altogether though, give it a try!

Save yourself , read this book .

I was gifted this audio book free of all charges & costs at my request . When I saw , " Hear Me " by Julia North and I saw it was about alcohol addiction & me being an alcoholic I decided I needed to read it . I have read many books about my addiction but not many I can relate to , this one I can . We alcoholics are very varied & although we all suffer a common cause the reasons we do are very varied . This book is very honest & deals with the many problems we create for ourselves & our loved ones . Alcoholism is very much a disease of denial & our refusal to accept we have a problem stops our progress towards recover until we accept the truth about ourselves . I would strongly suggest that anyone who feels they might have a problem read this book & look at the similarities & not look for differences . Always remember , you are not alone & others who want to help you will not judge you as hash as you judge yourself . I'd very much like to pass on a bit of knowledge I have learnt . In A A I have heard many horrific stories , not unlike the woman in this book degrading herself with the sleazy guy from the bar . Hearing these stories I often hear people still in denial say " I've never done anything like that yet " or "I've never sank that low yet" . It's not that they will never do it , it's just they haven't done it yet . In A A its often referred to as the "YETS" . I'm very lucky , I don't ever have to worry about the "yets" . it's the AGAINs that I fear , the oh no , I fucking did it again .

New Perspective

Hear Me by Julia North intrigued me. The premise of the book appealed to me, and the author did a great job of weaving several different threads together. Karena Gregory is a new to me narrator, and did a very good job conveying emotions and feelings. Since the story takes place outside the US, some of the expressions were foreign to me. I was provided with this review copy and have voluntarily written this review. I did enjoy this listen and would listen to more by this author and narrator.

Unique and fascinating real story

After yet another one night stand, Lissa decides its time to listen to her family and go to rehab for her alcoholism. While there, she uncovers her past demons and deals with a strange 'supernatural' force. This is all set in South Africa and deals with racism along with Lissa's journey.

As someone living in South Africa, this story felt very real and was extremely well portrayed. I loved how the harrowing topics of racism and alcoholism were dealt with. It was a story with many layers and was memorable and unique on many levels. The perspective from which the story was told was very fascinating and i thought it was different and brilliant.

Karena's narration was great and was a good fit for the story. She had energy and good intonation for the characters.

Overall, i highly recommend this story. Not just for South Africans, but anyone who enjoys a unique and interesting story with very real topics intertwined therein. I look forward to more from both the author and narrator!

Note: This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this objective review voluntarily.

Solid

This was a good, solid book with a few flaws. There really was no excitement or surprises. The story and performance were very mundane, but still enjoyable.

A Little Mystery

As a therapist that works in a hospital, I enjoyed empathizing with Lissa's story and her perspective on things. I could relate to some of her interactions with staff in the hospital, given that people going through recovery can feel some kinda way when going through withdrawal and us staff are imperfect humans, after all! When Lissa enters the hospital again, the real mystery unfolds. This book was given to me for free at my request, and I provided this voluntary review.

Normally like Julia..but...

Overall, I recommend this book, but just slightly. I received my review copy for free from the author in exchange for this independent review.

Not my cup of tea, and usually I really enjoy Julia North's books. This one seemed somewhat "off" to me. It lacked precision in both plot and storytelling, and seemed to bounce from idea to idea, with limited coordination. The performance was better than the story, but even that was uneven. As noted, nominally recommended in the genre.