Valentine

A Novel

De: Elizabeth Wetmore

Narrado por: Cassandra Campbell, Jenna Lamia

A Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club pick!

Written with the haunting emotional power of Elizabeth Strout and Barbara Kingsolver, an astonishing debut novel that explores the lingering effects of a brutal crime on the women of one small Texas oil town in the 1970s.

Mercy is hard in a place like this....

It’s February 1976, and Odessa, Texas, stands on the cusp of the next great oil boom. While the town’s men embrace the coming prosperity, its women intimately know and fear the violence that always seems to follow.

In the early hours of the morning after Valentine’s Day, 14-year-old Gloria Ramírez appears on the front porch of Mary Rose Whitehead’s ranch house, broken and barely alive. The teenager had been viciously attacked in a nearby oil field - an act of brutality that is tried in the churches and barrooms of Odessa before it can reach a court of law. When justice is evasive, the stage is set for a showdown with potentially devastating consequences.

Valentine is a haunting exploration of the intersections of violence and race, class, and region in a story that plumbs the depths of darkness and fear, yet offers a window into beauty and hope. Told through the alternating points of view of indelible characters who burrow deep in the listener’s heart, this fierce, unflinching, and surprisingly tender novel illuminates women’s strength and vulnerability, and reminds us that it is the stories we tell ourselves that keep us alive.

©2020 Elizabeth Wetmore (P)2020 HarperAudio

Narration not authentic

If you aren’t going to have a book set in West Texas narrated by a southerner, you should make sure local words and phrases are pronounced correctly. Lack of authenticity of the narrator really affected the experience of the novel.

so hard to listen to

I grew up in odessa Texas in the seventies. this book was not only inaccurate for so many reasons but the lack of research on the narrator's part and the lack of quality editing was extremely aggravating. West Texas do not say "Peecus" for Pecos or "peecahns" for pecans among so many others. I cringed every time I heard it.

Intriguing Characters But Mispronunciation of Key Texan Terms

I enjoyed getting to know the characters. The story itself, however, was not my favorite. Tough topic, and while the characters’ lives intersected, it felt a little disjointed.

My main issue is mispronunciation of key Texan terms. Pecan is Peh-Cahn not PEE-can. This mispronunciation is a pet peeve of all Texans. Beall’s department store is bells not beels. Pecos River is Pat-cos not Pee-cos. Hereford cattle are HER-ferd nor Here-a-Ford.

Mispronunciation

Disappointed and distracted by mispronunciation of words. Pecos and pecan. Someone needed to consult a dialect coach.

Wow

The narration brought this story to life. How the characters each has their own story and how there own stories brought a story of Perseverance. I highly recommend for anyone needing a deep story. I felt the heartache, the guilt, and the care these women had for each other. 5 stars!!!

Really good book! Took me away for awhile.

Loved this book. I live in Texas and I’ve been to Odessa. It made the story more real.

Love it

love it
enjoy this book very well enjoy reading books like this ber interesting would recommend this book

Great read

Came to read it based on Jenna’s recommendation. Very little awareness going in and assumed there would be more true crime details. Thankfully those were scarce and the story focused more on the lasting impacts to others and the inequities women faced at the time.

Gripping Story

Having multiple narrators added to the authors format of having each chapter be a different woman's voice. She was adept at character description and weaving the characters together going into the past. I have never been to west Texas but pictured it completely. I loved it!

Paycus not Peecus (Pecos)

Get someone that speaks like someone from the Permian Basin. We say Pacan’ not Peecan.