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Saving Fish from Drowning
- Narrated by: Amy Tan
- Length: 17 hrs and 39 mins
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Publisher's summary
But after the mysterious death of their tour leader, the carefully laid plans fall apart, and disharmony breaks out among the pleasure-seekers as they come to discover that the Burma Road is paved with less-than-honorable intentions, questionable food, and tribal curses. Then, on Christmas morning, eleven of the travelers boat across a misty lake for a sunrise cruise - and disappear.
Drawing from the current political reality in Burma and woven with pure confabulation, Amy Tan's picaresque novel poses the question: How can we discern what is real and what is fiction, in everything we see? How do we know what to believe?
Saving Fish from Drowning finds sly truth in the absurd: a reality TV show called Darwin's Fittest, a repressive regime known as SLORC, two cheroot-smoking twin children hailed as divinities, and a ragtag tribe hiding in the jungle - where the sprites of disaster known as Nats lurk, as do the specters of the fabled Younger White Brother and a British illusionist who was not who he was worshipped to be.
With her signature "idiosyncratic, sympathetic characters, haunting images, historical complexity, significant contemporary themes, and suspenseful mystery" (Los Angeles Times), Amy Tan spins a provocative and mesmerizing tale about the mind and the heart of the individual, the actions we choose, the moral questions we might ask ourselves, and above all, the deeply personal answers we seek when happy endings are seemingly impossible.
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- Narrated by: Barack Obama
- Length: 14 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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In this lyrical, unsentimental, and compelling memoir, the son of a Black African father and a White American mother searches for a workable meaning to his life as a Black American. It begins in New York, where Barack Obama learns that his father - a figure he knows more as a myth than as a man - has been killed in a car accident. This sudden death inspires an emotional odyssey - first to a small town in Kansas, from which he retraces the migration of his mother’s family to Hawaii, and then to Kenya, where he meets the African side of his family.
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Powerful
- By Gene R. on 10-26-21
By: Barack Obama
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Flame Tree Road
- By: Shona Patel
- Narrated by: Neil Shah
- Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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India, 1870s. In a tiny village where society is ruled by a caste system and women are defined solely by marriage, young Biren Roy dreams of forging a new destiny. When his mother suffers the fate of widowhood - shunned by her loved ones and forced to live in solitary penance - Biren devotes his life to effecting change.
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Riveting Love Story
- By Granny on 01-15-20
By: Shona Patel
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The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
- A Novel
- By: Deborah Moggach
- Narrated by: Juliet Mills
- Length: 11 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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When Ravi Kapoor, an overworked London doctor, reaches the breaking point with his difficult father-in-law, he asks his wife: “Can’t we just send him away somewhere? Somewhere far, far away.” His prayer is seemingly answered when Ravi’s entrepreneurial cousin sets up a retirement home in India, hoping to re-create in Bangalore an elegant lost corner of England. Several retirees are enticed by the promise of indulgent living at a bargain price, but upon arriving, they are dismayed to find that restoration of the once sophisiticated hotel has stalled....
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Screenwriters Changed it for the Better
- By Carole T. on 06-05-12
By: Deborah Moggach
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Lost in Translation
- By: Nicole Mones
- Narrated by: Angela Lin
- Length: 14 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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A novel of searing intelligence and startling originality, Lost in Translation heralds the debut of a unique new voice on the literary landscape. Nicole Mones creates an unforgettable story of love and desire, of family ties and human conflict, and of one woman's struggle to lose herself in a foreign land - only to discover her home, her heart, herself.
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Absolutely fascinating!
- By Brendan on 10-16-10
By: Nicole Mones
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Summer at Willow Lake
- The Lakeshore Chronicles, Book 1
- By: Susan Wiggs
- Narrated by: Joyce Bean
- Length: 12 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Real estate expert Olivia Bellamy reluctantly trades a trendy Manhattan summer for her family's old resort camp in the Catskills, where her primary task will be renovating the bungalow colony for her grandparents, who want one last summer together filled with fun, friends and family. A posh resort in its heyday, the camp is now in disarray and Olivia is forced to hire contractor Connor Davis - a still-smoldering flame from her own summers at camp.
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Finding Love at Summer Camp
- By Pamela Dale Foster on 02-13-15
By: Susan Wiggs
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Honor
- By: Elif Shafak
- Narrated by: Mozhan Marno, Piter Marik
- Length: 12 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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An honor killing shatters and transforms the lives of Turkish immigrants in 1970s London. Internationally best-selling Turkish author Elif Shafak’s new novel is a dramatic tale of families, love, and misunderstandings that follows the destinies of twin sisters born in a Kurdish village. While Jamila stays to become a midwife, Pembe follows her Turkish husband, Adem, to London, where they hope to make new lives for themselves and their children. In London, they face a choice: stay loyal to the old traditions or try their best to fit in.
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Complex but Compelling
- By Cariola on 04-14-13
By: Elif Shafak
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King Peggy
- An American Secretary, Her Royal Destiny, and the Inspiring Story of How She Changed an African Village
- By: Eleanor Herman, Peggielene Bartels
- Narrated by: J. Karen Thomas
- Length: 14 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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King Peggy chronicles the astonishing journey of an American secretary who suddenly finds herself king to a town of 7,000 souls on Ghana's central coast, half a world away. Upon arriving for her crowning ceremony in beautiful Otuam, she discovers the dire reality: there's no running water, no doctor, and no high school, and many of the village elders are stealing the town's funds. To make matters worse, her uncle (the late king) sits in a morgue awaiting a proper funeral in the royal palace, which is in ruins.
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Love King Peggy!
- By Monica on 05-01-13
By: Eleanor Herman, and others
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All the Lives We Never Lived
- By: Anuradha Roy
- Narrated by: Vikas Adam
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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From the Man Booker Prize-nominated author of Sleeping on Jupiter, The Folded Earth, and An Atlas of Impossible Longing, a poignant and sweeping novel set in India during World War II and the present day about a son’s quest to uncover the truth about his mother....
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Beautiful book
- By Sonia S. on 12-13-19
By: Anuradha Roy
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Wife of the Gods
- A Novel
- By: Kwei Quartey
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 9 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Detective Inspector Darko Dawson, a good family man and a remarkably intuitive sleuth, is sent to the village of Ketanu---the site of his mother's disappearance many years ago---to solve the murder of an accomplished young AIDS worker. While battling his own anger issues and concerns for his ailing son, Darko explores the motivations and secrets of the residents of Ketanu.
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Engrossing Mystery in a Fascinating Setting
- By Tracey Rains on 04-19-10
By: Kwei Quartey
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The Ground Beneath Her Feet
- By: Salman Rushdie
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 27 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Story
Salman Rushdie is widely considered one of a handful of truly great living writers. The internationally acclaimed, Booker Prize-winning author's storytelling shines in this epic love story, a modern retelling of the myth of Orpheus.
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Okay, Salmon, We get that you're a genious already
- By Julie A Quinn on 04-23-09
By: Salman Rushdie
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In 2016, Amy Tan grew overwhelmed by the state of the world: Hatred and misinformation became a daily presence on social media, and the country felt more divisive than ever. In search of peace, Tan turned toward the natural world just beyond her window and, specifically, the birds visiting her yard. But what began as an attempt to find solace turned into something far greater—an opportunity to savor quiet moments during a volatile time, connect to nature in a meaningful way, and imagine the intricate lives of the birds she admired.
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Don’t Recommend As An Audiobook
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Just could NOT get past the ugliness
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The Backyard Bird Chronicles
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Don’t Recommend As An Audiobook
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Rules for Virgins
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Amy Tan takes us deep into the illicit world of 1912 Shanghai, where beautiful courtesans mercilessly compete for the patronage of wealthy gentlemen. For the women, the contest is deadly serious, a perilous game of economic survival that, if played well, can set them up for life as mistresses of the rich and prominent. There is no room for error, however: Erotic power is hard to achieve and harder to maintain, especially in the loftiest social circles. Enter veteran seducer, Magic Gourd, formerly one of Shanghai’s “Top Ten Beauties” and now the advisor and attendant of Violet, an aspiring but inexperienced courtesan.
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Loved it - oh so briefly!
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For decades — in China and in San Francisco — Winnie Louie and Helen Kwong have kept each other's confidences, but those secrets are about to be revealed. Convinced that she is dying, Helen decides to celebrate the Chinese New Year by unburdening herself of hidden truths — not only hers, but those of Winnie and of Winnie's daughter, Pearl.
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Holds your attention through out
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Shanghai Girls
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Thanks to the financial security and material comforts provided by their father’s prosperous rickshaw business, 21-year-old Pearl Chin and her younger sister, May, are having the time of their lives. Though both sisters wave off authority and tradition, they couldn’t be more different, but both are beautiful, modern, and carefree...until the day their father tells them he has gambled away their wealth and that in order to repay his debts, he must sell the girls as wives to suitors who have traveled from California to find Chinese brides.
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Touching, sad, and enjoyable
- By Beach Biker on 07-15-09
By: Lisa See
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The Joy Luck Club
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For decades, a quartet of Chinese women who have emigrated to San Francisco gather to eat dim sum, play mahjong, and talk—they call themselves the Joy Luck Club. Over the years, their stories have informed the lives of four daughters who feel the weight of family and world history on their shoulders. With wit and sensitivity, this novel explores the deep, complicated, and sometimes painful connections between mothers and daughters.
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Joy Luck - abridged
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China Dolls
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San Francisco, 1938: A world’s fair is preparing to open on Treasure Island, a war is brewing overseas, and the city is alive with possibilities. Talented Grace, traditional Helen, and defiant Ruby, three young women from very different backgrounds, meet by chance at the exclusive and glamorous Forbidden City nightclub.
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Narrator Spoiled It For Me
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Peony in Love
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For young Peony, betrothed to a suitor she has never met, lyrics from The Peony Pavilion mirror her own longings. In the garden of the Chen Family Villa, amid the scent of ginger, green tea, and jasmine, a small theatrical troupe is performing scenes from this epic opera, a live spectacle few females have ever seen. Like the heroine in the drama, Peony is the cloistered daughter of a wealthy family, trapped like a good-luck cricket in a bamboo-and-lacquer cage.
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Eloquently written and read
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The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane
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The thrilling new novel from number-one New York Times best-selling author Lisa See explores the lives of a Chinese mother and her daughter who has been abandoned and adopted by an American couple.
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***EXCELLENT*** Six stars if I could !!
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The Woman in the White Kimono
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Japan, 1957. Seventeen-year-old Naoko Nakamura’s prearranged marriage to the son of her father’s business associate would secure her family’s status in their traditional Japanese community, but Naoko has fallen for another man - an American sailor, a gaijin - and to marry him would bring great shame upon her entire family. When it’s learned Naoko carries the sailor’s child, she’s cast out in disgrace and forced to make unimaginable choices with consequences that will ripple across generations.
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DO NOT LISTEN! Decent story, HORRIBLE narration!!!
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Lady Tan's Circle of Women
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According to Confucius, “an educated woman is a worthless woman,” but Tan Yunxian—born into an elite family, yet haunted by death, separations, and loneliness—is being raised by her grandparents to be of use. Her grandmother is one of only a handful of female doctors in China, and she teaches Yunxian the pillars of Chinese medicine, the Four Examinations—looking, listening, touching, and asking—something a man can never do with a female patient.
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Another Beautiful Novel from Lisa See!
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By: Lisa See
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Wild Swans
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- Unabridged
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Few books have had such an impact as Wild Swans: a popular best seller and a critically acclaimed history of China that opened up the country to the world. Through the story of three generations of women in her own family - the grandmother given to the warlord as a concubine, the Communist mother, and the daughter herself - Jung Chang reveals the epic history of China's twentieth century. Breathtaking in its scope, unforgettable in its descriptions, this is a masterpiece that is extraordinary in every way.
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Listen to this version!
- By Em Cheng on 06-22-20
By: Jung Chang
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Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
- A Novel
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Janet Song
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Lily is haunted by memories of who she once was, and of a person, long gone, who defined her existence. She has nothing but time now, as she recounts the tale of Snow Flower and asks the gods for forgiveness.
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Loved it!
- By Pat on 10-03-05
By: Lisa See
What listeners say about Saving Fish from Drowning
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Sara
- 01-02-12
Beyond tedious
I got the audio for this book, which my book club was reading, since I was having such a hard time getting into the printed version. I figured if I was captive in a car as I made back to back three hour drives that I would be able to become immersed in the story. Unfortunately that did not prove to be the case. The book is painful - contrived, tedious, flat. I couldn't believe in the narrator at all, and believing in the narrator requires a big buy in from the beginning. The whole thing felt very forced.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Randi
- 05-03-16
Interesting read
Great story and telling of story. I would recommend this to be read by others.
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- Lazlo
- 07-01-15
The Other side of the DaVinci Code
A posthumous narrator weaves a tale of art collector intrigue and trophy collecting from beyond the grave. A guided tour of Burma and other Khmer dynasty (sic?) locales that I can't remember are part of an art tour that goes wrong.
While this book passes the both the Bechdel test and the readability index, I blanked during it a few times. What I tend to remember are insights about this previous mysterious social set, Chinese ladies of leisure. This is mostly satire as passages here and there describe a vapid, if charmingly snarky group and their gatherings.
I found the sibilant mewling of the reader pretty grating, but appropriate to the gestalt of the woman in question. I preferred Tan's crisp, well-paced style when she covered sympathetic characters. It's been twenty years but I thought the "Kitchen God's Wife" was quite affecting from what I can recall.
You definitely wouldn't want to read this book while frying.
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Overall
- Darryl
- 12-30-09
Wonderful voice
I'll admit I had to fight the instinct to skip over all of Amy Tan's work as being "chick fiction," but I'm glad I didn't. The characterization and storytelling is rich and developed. The story is amusing and it truly does feel as if the reader is being told a story. As for Amy Tan's voice, the Asian and California accents are spot on and I found her tone conversational, which made the novel more enjoyable ... as if I were being told a story by someone who had been there.
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9 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Lily
- 08-18-09
She had me BEFORE page one
Years ago I worked at Barnes & Noble and used to suggest to customers that they SHOULD choose books by the covers! I've rarely been disappointed in a book I chose because I loved the cover. This book has a GREAT cover, which is why I bought a copy when I found it on sale recently at B&N. I was fascinated by the introduction, then by the story, and the characters. I bought the audible version because it was just taking me too long to READ the book (my reading time is the 15 minutes before I fall asleep each night. It took me two weeks to get through Kafka's "The Metamorphosis"!) Also, I got a bit confused by the action once the group got "lost"; I needed to concentrate on it a bit more, I thought. Listening to it turned out to be a great way to finish it, and I'll be able to listen again in a couple of years and enjoy it all over again.
Amy Tan excels at character development, and her stories are always interesting, well researched and plausible - I could easily believe they are non-fiction. And this book was, at times, REALLY funny! I laughed out loud several times - always at something Bibi said - she was a delightful character! I didn't love all the characters, which I prefer; all I need is ONE to root for, and at least one to dislike.
Unlike some other reviewers, I really liked Amy Tan's narration. Some of the accents she used were not very good - but I forgave that immediately. After all, she is a WRITER, not an actor.
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8 people found this helpful
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- Sci-fi buff
- 09-12-24
Insanely amazing and well crafted tale.
Very enjoyable story. My wife is the literature major and told me Amy Tan was a stellar author. I’m on a path to listen (and read) better quality literature now.
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Overall
- bulldoglady
- 01-26-09
one of my favorites
This is a keeper! I'm on my second listen, and I am enjoying it even more than the first time. I am now playing it for my husband, and he likes it too.
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8 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Christy
- 06-07-10
Love it
If you like Amy Tan books you should get this one. I dont think the publishers summary was the best for this particular book. Though this book has a different flavor than most of Amy Tans other books it is still just as good. She is such a good story teller and I thought she was wonderfull narrating this book. It is a good one
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Amazon Customer
- 11-03-10
One of her best
I love Amy Tan and this one is excellent. Kinda different but really well done.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
- jamieS
- 08-16-15
Disappointed
I normally love Amy Tan books this one was not easy to get through.
The audio was very poor at the beginning of this book but improves later on
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