Preview
  • The Optimist's Daughter

  • By: Eudora Welty
  • Narrated by: Eudora Welty
  • Length: 3 hrs and 59 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (277 ratings)

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The Optimist's Daughter

By: Eudora Welty
Narrated by: Eudora Welty
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Publisher's summary

This story of a young woman's confrontation with death and her past is a poetic study of human relations.

Public Domain (P)2011 Random House Audio
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What listeners say about The Optimist's Daughter

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Introduction to Welty's style

The Optimist's Daughter is the work that Ms. Welty won the Pulitzer Prize in Literature. This is a nice introduction to Ms. Welty's writings as well as listening to it in the author's own voice. She does a remarkable job.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The optimists daughter

Wonderful story beautiful imagery. So incredible to hear the authors
Southern voice. I would listen again.

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

magnificent

A treasure to take you back to another age and let you begin to understand....

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Superb reading and writing

What a pleasure and privilege to hear the voice of Eudora Welty read her own work! The slow cadence of her voice matches the story of the daughter and the Greek chorus of women in the small town in "Miss-ippi" who bring the past to life. I grew up in Alabama and Tennessee, so this rings true for me and, I would hope for all who've left home. It is the voice of my grandmother.

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

I love listening to books read by the author.

This book was a bit slow to start for me, and the story didn’t get interesting until the middle of the book. I felt there wasn’t enough character development for the judge’s daughter, Laural. I truly enjoyed Eudora Welty’s authentic old Mississippi accent. That alone made the performance enjoyable for me, from a phonology and linguistics stand point.

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

Enjoyed it.

While I am sure there could be more entertaining readers, you just can't beat hearing an author's words read by the author herself. I found it wonderfully fascinating, and Mrs. Welty's deep southern drawl surely helps one imagine this novel.

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3 people found this helpful

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

A perfect southern book

I love southern stories and authors. the slow, southern drawls of the reader were great.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Barely Abridged

If you could sum up The Optimist's Daughter in three words, what would they be?

Worthy of praise.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Optimist's Daughter?

Everything after the 117 or after the funeral.

Have you listened to any of Eudora Welty’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No, she does a wonderful job reading her own material.

Who was the most memorable character of The Optimist's Daughter and why?

Fay, she was viciously ignorant.

Any additional comments?

Welty reads all but a few sentences in this audiobook herself. Don't be scared off by the

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Breathtaking writing

The scene that takes place during the long night in the storm in the dark house with a bird knocking on the doors is one of the most brilliant in Amerixan literature. incredible to hear the author read it.

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

True Southern

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I'm not sure if this is for everybody but I appreciated it. I'm making my way through the Pulitzer's for fiction and this one is one of the better ones.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

The Southern colloquialisms border on poetry. This is one of those stories that deserves to be listened to multiple times. One of the few lyrical books that I've read that doesn't let the prose get away from the story.

What about Eudora Welty’s performance did you like?

Only a southerner could have read this and I'm thankful that the author did. I was unsure when I started listening but by the end I concluded that she was the only one that could have read the story. It reminded me of an old Grandma rocking in her chair and telling a family history.

Did The Optimist's Daughter inspire you to do anything?

To write and see if I'm able capture the same local flavor that I grew up with.

Any additional comments?

I recommend this for a long road trip. It comes in at only four hours.

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