A Tiny Upward Shove
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Prime members: New to Audible?Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
A Tiny Upward Shove
Buy for $15.56
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Kelsey Navarro
-
By:
-
Melissa Chadburn
About this listen
This “addictive and headlong” (Lauren Groff) debut novel traces the too-short life of a woman cast out by society and transformed by death into an agent of justice—or mercy.
“My grandmother, sitting at her doily-covered table, marmalade on her cheek, explained that the aswang is all the evil bad things that a town or a society would want to deny—eventually it has to come out, has to be personified into something or the truth will reveal itself.”
Marina Salles’ life does not end the day she wakes up dead.
Instead, in the course of a moment, she is transformed into the stuff of myth, the stuff of her grandmother’s old Filipino stories—an aswang. She spent her life on the margins, knowing very little about her own life, let alone the lives of others; she was shot like a pinball through a childhood of loss, a veteran of Child Protective Services and a survivor, but always reacting, watching from a distance. Death brings her into the hearts and minds of those she has known—even her killer—as she is able to access their memories and to see anew the meaning of her own. In the course of this book, she traces back through her life, finally able to see what led these lost souls to this crushingly inevitable conclusion.
In A Tiny Upward Shove, the debut novelist Melissa Chadburn charts the heartbreaking journeys of two of society’s cast-offs as they find their way to each other and their roles as criminal and victim. What does it mean to be on the brink? When are those moments that change not only our lives but our very selves? And to what lengths will we go for mercy?
©2022 Melissa Chadburn (P)2022 Blackstone PublishingListeners also enjoyed...
-
The Books of Jacob
- A Novel
- By: Olga Tokarczuk, Jennifer Croft - translator
- Narrated by: Allen Lewis Rickman, Gilli Messer
- Length: 35 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 256
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 208
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 209
In the mid-18th century, as new ideas—and a new unrest—begin to sweep the Continent, a young Jew of mysterious origins arrives in a village in Poland. Before long, he has changed not only his name but his persona; visited by what seem to be ecstatic experiences, Jacob Frank casts a charismatic spell that attracts an increasingly fervent following.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Dense & Difficult But Rewarding
- By Nick O. on 02-28-22
By: Olga Tokarczuk, and others
-
Nightcrawling
- A Novel
- By: Leila Mottley
- Narrated by: Joniece Abbott-Pratt
- Length: 10 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,423
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 1,281
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,281
Kiara and her brother, Marcus, are barely scraping by in a squalid East Oakland apartment complex optimistically called the Regal-Hi. Both have dropped out of high school, their family fractured by death and prison. But while Marcus clings to his dream of rap stardom, Kiara hunts for work to pay their rent—which has more than doubled—and to keep the nine-year-old boy next door, abandoned by his mother, safe and fed.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Metaphors - getcher Metaphors
- By Nicole Del Sesto on 08-09-22
By: Leila Mottley
-
Bad Cree
- A Novel
- By: Jessica Johns
- Narrated by: Tanis Parenteau
- Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 90
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 78
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 78
When Mackenzie wakes up with a severed crow's head in her hands, she panics. Only moments earlier she had been fending off masses of birds in a snow-covered forest. In bed, when she blinks, the head disappears. Night after night, Mackenzie’s dreams return her to a memory from before her sister Sabrina’s untimely death: a weekend at the family’s lakefront campsite, long obscured by a fog of guilt.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Gripping & emotional & terrifying
- By Zia Frazier on 05-10-23
By: Jessica Johns
-
Trust (Pulitzer Prize Winner)
- By: Hernan Diaz
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, Jonathan Davis, Mozhan Marnò, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 3,658
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,211
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 3,211
Even through the roar and effervescence of the 1920s, everyone in New York has heard of Benjamin and Helen Rask. He is a legendary Wall Street tycoon; she is the daughter of eccentric aristocrats. Together, they have risen to the very top of a world of seemingly endless wealth—all as a decade of excess and speculation draws to an end. But at what cost have they acquired their immense fortune? This is the mystery at the center of Bonds, a successful 1937 novel that all of New York seems to have read. Yet there are other versions of this tale of privilege and deceit.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Before Purchasing
- By JLDLOfficial on 08-13-22
By: Hernan Diaz
-
Crying in H Mart
- A Memoir
- By: Michelle Zauner
- Narrated by: Michelle Zauner
- Length: 7 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 11,829
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 10,241
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 10,210
In this exquisite story of family, food, grief, and endurance, Michelle Zauner proves herself far more than a dazzling singer, songwriter, and guitarist. With humor and heart, she tells of growing up one of the few Asian-American kids at her school in Eugene, Oregon; of struggling with her mother's particular high expectations of her; of a painful adolescence; of treasured months spent in her grandmother's tiny apartment in Seoul, where she and her mother would bond, late at night, over heaping plates of food.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Broken Korean
- By Tim on 04-21-21
By: Michelle Zauner
-
Demon Copperhead
- A Novel
- By: Barbara Kingsolver
- Narrated by: Charlie Thurston
- Length: 21 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 27,486
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 24,839
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 24,773
Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia, Demon Copperhead is the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father’s good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival. Relayed in his own unsparing voice, Demon braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Wow! It’s a Masterpiece
- By Billy on 10-25-22
-
The Books of Jacob
- A Novel
- By: Olga Tokarczuk, Jennifer Croft - translator
- Narrated by: Allen Lewis Rickman, Gilli Messer
- Length: 35 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 256
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 208
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 209
In the mid-18th century, as new ideas—and a new unrest—begin to sweep the Continent, a young Jew of mysterious origins arrives in a village in Poland. Before long, he has changed not only his name but his persona; visited by what seem to be ecstatic experiences, Jacob Frank casts a charismatic spell that attracts an increasingly fervent following.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Dense & Difficult But Rewarding
- By Nick O. on 02-28-22
By: Olga Tokarczuk, and others
-
Nightcrawling
- A Novel
- By: Leila Mottley
- Narrated by: Joniece Abbott-Pratt
- Length: 10 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,423
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 1,281
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,281
Kiara and her brother, Marcus, are barely scraping by in a squalid East Oakland apartment complex optimistically called the Regal-Hi. Both have dropped out of high school, their family fractured by death and prison. But while Marcus clings to his dream of rap stardom, Kiara hunts for work to pay their rent—which has more than doubled—and to keep the nine-year-old boy next door, abandoned by his mother, safe and fed.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Metaphors - getcher Metaphors
- By Nicole Del Sesto on 08-09-22
By: Leila Mottley
-
Bad Cree
- A Novel
- By: Jessica Johns
- Narrated by: Tanis Parenteau
- Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 90
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 78
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 78
When Mackenzie wakes up with a severed crow's head in her hands, she panics. Only moments earlier she had been fending off masses of birds in a snow-covered forest. In bed, when she blinks, the head disappears. Night after night, Mackenzie’s dreams return her to a memory from before her sister Sabrina’s untimely death: a weekend at the family’s lakefront campsite, long obscured by a fog of guilt.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Gripping & emotional & terrifying
- By Zia Frazier on 05-10-23
By: Jessica Johns
-
Trust (Pulitzer Prize Winner)
- By: Hernan Diaz
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, Jonathan Davis, Mozhan Marnò, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 3,658
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,211
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 3,211
Even through the roar and effervescence of the 1920s, everyone in New York has heard of Benjamin and Helen Rask. He is a legendary Wall Street tycoon; she is the daughter of eccentric aristocrats. Together, they have risen to the very top of a world of seemingly endless wealth—all as a decade of excess and speculation draws to an end. But at what cost have they acquired their immense fortune? This is the mystery at the center of Bonds, a successful 1937 novel that all of New York seems to have read. Yet there are other versions of this tale of privilege and deceit.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Before Purchasing
- By JLDLOfficial on 08-13-22
By: Hernan Diaz
-
Crying in H Mart
- A Memoir
- By: Michelle Zauner
- Narrated by: Michelle Zauner
- Length: 7 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 11,829
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 10,241
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 10,210
In this exquisite story of family, food, grief, and endurance, Michelle Zauner proves herself far more than a dazzling singer, songwriter, and guitarist. With humor and heart, she tells of growing up one of the few Asian-American kids at her school in Eugene, Oregon; of struggling with her mother's particular high expectations of her; of a painful adolescence; of treasured months spent in her grandmother's tiny apartment in Seoul, where she and her mother would bond, late at night, over heaping plates of food.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Broken Korean
- By Tim on 04-21-21
By: Michelle Zauner
-
Demon Copperhead
- A Novel
- By: Barbara Kingsolver
- Narrated by: Charlie Thurston
- Length: 21 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 27,486
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 24,839
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 24,773
Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia, Demon Copperhead is the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father’s good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival. Relayed in his own unsparing voice, Demon braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Wow! It’s a Masterpiece
- By Billy on 10-25-22
-
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
- A Novel
- By: Gabrielle Zevin
- Narrated by: Jennifer Kim, Julian Cihi
- Length: 13 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 14,567
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 12,766
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 12,757
Sam and Sadie—two college friends, often in love, but never lovers—become creative partners in a dazzling and intricately imagined world of video game design, where success brings them fame, joy, tragedy, duplicity, and, ultimately, a kind of immortality. It is a love story, but not one you have heard before.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
This book sucked the life out of me
- By RMan on 08-08-22
By: Gabrielle Zevin
-
Jackal
- A Novel
- By: Erin E. Adams
- Narrated by: Sandra Okuboyejo, William DeMeritt
- Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 383
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 351
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 352
Liz Rocher is coming home . . . reluctantly. As a Black woman, Liz doesn’t exactly have fond memories of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, a predominantly white town. But her best friend is getting married, so she braces herself for a weekend of awkward, passive-aggressive reunions. Liz has grown, though; she can handle whatever awaits her. But on the night of the wedding, somewhere between dancing and dessert, the newlyweds’ daughter, Caroline, disappears—and the only thing left behind is a piece of white fabric covered in blood.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
There’s no such thing as a perfect story
- By Jill N Davies on 04-09-23
By: Erin E. Adams
-
Sea of Tranquility
- A Novel
- By: Emily St. John Mandel
- Narrated by: John Lee, Dylan Moore, Arthur Morey, and others
- Length: 5 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 5,060
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 4,370
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4,368
Edwin St. Andrew is eighteen years old when he crosses the Atlantic by steamship, exiled from polite society following an ill-conceived diatribe at a dinner party. He enters the forest, spellbound by the beauty of the Canadian wilderness, and suddenly hears the notes of a violin echoing in an airship terminal—an experience that shocks him to his core.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
An excellent listen.
- By Mark on 04-11-22
-
How to Be Eaten
- A Novel
- By: Maria Adelmann
- Narrated by: Lauren Ezzo
- Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 285
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 247
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 247
In present-day New York City, five women meet in a basement support group to process their traumas. Bernice grapples with the fallout of dating a psychopathic, blue-bearded billionaire. Ruby, once devoured by a wolf, now wears him as a coat. Gretel questions her memory of being held captive in a house made of candy. Ashlee, the winner of a Bachelor-esque dating show, wonders if she really got her promised fairy tale ending. And Raina's love story will shock them all.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Great story & narration; i wish it were longer (sad face emoji)
- By socalconsumer on 08-12-23
By: Maria Adelmann
-
Shutter
- By: Ramona Emerson
- Narrated by: Charley Flyte
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,141
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,022
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,019
Rita Todacheene is a forensic photographer working for the Albuquerque police force. Her excellent photography skills have cracked many cases—she is almost supernaturally good at capturing details. In fact, Rita has been hiding a secret: she sees the ghosts of crime victims who point her toward the clues that other investigators overlook. As a lone portal back to the living for traumatized spirits, Rita is terrorized by nagging ghosts who won’t let her sleep and who sabotage her personal life.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
This is why you cannot trust good reviews
- By Prabhakar J. on 10-23-22
By: Ramona Emerson
-
To Paradise
- A Novel
- By: Hanya Yanagihara
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, Catherine Ho, BD Wong, and others
- Length: 28 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,074
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 959
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 962
To Paradise is a fin de siècle novel of marvelous literary effect, but above all it is a work of emotional genius. The great power of this remarkable novel is driven by Yanagihara’s understanding of the aching desire to protect those we love—partners, lovers, children, friends, family, and even our fellow citizens—and the pain that ensues when we cannot.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Fabulous
- By Patty66215 on 01-15-22
By: Hanya Yanagihara
-
Kafka on the Shore
- By: Haruki Murakami
- Narrated by: Sean Barrett, Oliver Le Sueur
- Length: 19 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 5,428
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 4,801
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4,794
With Kafka on the Shore, Haruki Murakami gives us a novel every bit as ambitious and expansive as The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, which has been acclaimed both here and around the world for its uncommon ambition and achievement, and whose still-growing popularity suggests that it will be read and admired for decades to come.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
What's better than Murakami? More Murakami
- By Dr. Curmudgeon on 04-11-14
By: Haruki Murakami
-
Patron Saints of Nothing
- By: Randy Ribay
- Narrated by: Ramón de Ocampo
- Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 452
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 371
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 370
Jay Reguero plans to spend the last semester of his senior year playing video games before heading to the University of Michigan in the fall. But when he discovers that his Filipino cousin Jun was murdered as part of President Duterte's war on drugs, and no one in the family wants to talk about what happened, Jay travels to the Philippines to find out the real story. Hoping to uncover more about Jun and the events that led to his death, Jay is forced to reckon with the many sides of his cousin before he can face the whole horrible truth - and the part he played in it.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Touching and informative
- By Pedro Navejas on 07-09-19
By: Randy Ribay
-
Birnam Wood
- A Novel
- By: Eleanor Catton
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 12 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 727
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 604
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 603
A landslide has closed the Korowai Pass on New Zealand’s South Island, cutting off the town of Thorndike and leaving a sizable farm abandoned. The disaster presents an opportunity for Birnam Wood, an undeclared, unregulated, sometimes-criminal, sometimes-philanthropic guerrilla gardening collective that plants crops wherever no one will notice. For years, the group has struggled to break even. To occupy the farm at Thorndike would mean a shot at solvency at last. But the enigmatic American billionaire Robert Lemoine also has an interest in the place.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Outstanding thriller w/ exceptional character development
- By Bradley T. Collins on 04-21-23
By: Eleanor Catton
-
The Daughter of Doctor Moreau
- By: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
- Narrated by: Gisela Chípe
- Length: 11 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 537
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 469
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 469
Carlota Moreau: A young woman growing up on a distant and luxuriant estate, safe from the conflict and strife of the Yucatán peninsula. The only daughter of a researcher who is either a genius or a madman. Montgomery Laughton: A melancholic overseer with a tragic past and a propensity for alcohol. An outcast who assists Dr. Moreau with his experiments, which are financed by the Lizaldes, owners of magnificent haciendas and plentiful coffers. The hybrids: The fruits of the doctor’s labor, destined to blindly obey their creator and remain in the shadows.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
High hopes dashed
- By Darryl on 07-21-22
-
Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm
- A Novel
- By: Laura Warrell
- Narrated by: Nicole Lewis
- Length: 13 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 49
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 48
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 48
It’s 2013, and Circus Palmer, a 40-year-old Boston-based trumpet player and old-school ladies’ man, lives for his music and refuses to be tied down. Before a gig in Miami, he learns that the woman who is secretly closest to his heart, the free-spirited drummer Maggie, is pregnant by him.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
satisfying
- By MLF on 10-19-22
By: Laura Warrell
-
Light in August
- By: William Faulkner
- Narrated by: Will Patton
- Length: 15 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 3,077
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,362
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 2,357
An Oprah's Book Club Selection regarded as one of Faulkner's greatest and most accessible novels, Light in August is a timeless and riveting story of determination, tragedy, and hope. In Faulkner's iconic Yoknapatawpha County, race, sex, and religion collide around three memorable characters searching desperately for human connection and their own identities.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
so large, so powerful, so conflicted
- By Darwin8u on 09-17-17
By: William Faulkner
Related to this topic
-
Darling Days
- A Memoir
- By: iO Tillett Wright
- Narrated by: iO Tillett Wright
- Length: 10 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 409
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 377
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 373
Born into the beautiful bedlam of downtown New York in the eighties, iO Tillett Wright came of age at the intersection of punk, poverty, heroin, and art. This was a world of self-invented characters, glamorous superstars, and strung-out sufferers, ground zero of drag and performance art. Still, no personality was more vibrant and formidable than iO's mother's. Rhonna, a showgirl and young widow, was a mercurial, erratic glamazon. She was iO's fiercest defender and only authority in a world with few boundaries and even fewer indicators of normal life.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Can’t wait for more from this Author!
- By Team Hobson on 07-24-19
-
Marrow
- By: Tarryn Fisher
- Narrated by: Audra Pagano
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 549
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 490
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 489
Margo is not like other girls. She lives in a derelict neighborhood called the Bone, in a cursed house, with her cursed mother, who hasn't spoken to her in over two years. She lives her days feeling invisible. It's not until she develops a friendship with her wheelchair-bound neighbor, Judah Grant, that things begin to change. When a neighborhood girl, seven-year-old Neveah Anthony, goes missing, Judah sets out to help Margo uncover what happened to her. What Margo finds changes her, and with a new perspective on life she's determined to find evil and punish it.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
HUH?? I'm so confused LOL
- By ❤️Cyndi Marie❤️🎧Audiobook Addicts🎧 on 09-15-16
By: Tarryn Fisher
-
Marlena
- A Novel
- By: Julie Buntin
- Narrated by: Emma Galvin
- Length: 9 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 609
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 554
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 557
Everything about 15-year-old Cat's new town in rural Michigan is lonely and off-kilter until she meets her neighbor, the manic, beautiful, pill-popping Marlena. Cat, inexperienced and desperate for connection, is quickly lured into Marlena's orbit by little more than an arched eyebrow and a shake of white-blond hair. As the two girls turn the untamed landscape of their desolate small town into a kind of playground, Cat catalogues a litany of firsts - first drink, first cigarette, first kiss - while Marlena's habits harden and calcify.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A Brilliant, Agonizing Portrait of a Young Woman
- By Sudi on 06-06-17
By: Julie Buntin
-
She's Come Undone
- By: Wally Lamb
- Narrated by: Linda Stephens
- Length: 18 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,094
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,822
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,838
Meet Dolores Price. She's 13, wise-mouthed but wounded, having bid her childhood goodbye. Beached like a whale in front of her bedroom TV, she spends the next few years nourishing herself with the Mallomars, potato chips, and Pepsi her anxious mother supplies. When she finally rolls into young womanhood at 257 pounds, Dolores is no stronger and life is no kinder. But this time she's determined to rise to the occasion and give herself one more chance before really going belly-up.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Really disappointing narrator!
- By Jessica Williams on 01-21-12
By: Wally Lamb
-
Tiger, Tiger
- A Memoir
- By: Margaux Fragoso
- Narrated by: Susan Bennett
- Length: 12 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 233
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 200
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 200
One summer day, Margaux Fragoso meets Peter Curran at the neighborhood swimming pool, and they begin to play. She is seven; he is 51. When Peter invites her and her mother to his house, the little girl finds a child’s paradise of exotic pets and an elaborate backyard garden. Her mother, beset by mental illness and overwhelmed by caring for Margaux, is grateful for the attention Peter lavishes on her, and he creates an imaginative universe for her, much as Lewis Carroll did for his real-life Alice.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
a weirdly loving diatribe against pervs.
- By Dane Flakeman on 05-21-11
By: Margaux Fragoso
-
Scarborough
- By: Catherine Hernandez
- Narrated by: Catherine Hernandez
- Length: 6 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 29
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 27
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 27
In Scarborough, a low-income urban neighborhood, three kids struggle to rise above poverty, abuse, and a system that consistently fails them. The adults in their lives either rise to the occasion or fall by the wayside; together, they make up a troubled yet inspired community that refuses to be undone.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Difficult but excellent!
- By Erna on 01-30-20
-
Darling Days
- A Memoir
- By: iO Tillett Wright
- Narrated by: iO Tillett Wright
- Length: 10 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 409
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 377
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 373
Born into the beautiful bedlam of downtown New York in the eighties, iO Tillett Wright came of age at the intersection of punk, poverty, heroin, and art. This was a world of self-invented characters, glamorous superstars, and strung-out sufferers, ground zero of drag and performance art. Still, no personality was more vibrant and formidable than iO's mother's. Rhonna, a showgirl and young widow, was a mercurial, erratic glamazon. She was iO's fiercest defender and only authority in a world with few boundaries and even fewer indicators of normal life.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Can’t wait for more from this Author!
- By Team Hobson on 07-24-19
-
Marrow
- By: Tarryn Fisher
- Narrated by: Audra Pagano
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 549
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 490
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 489
Margo is not like other girls. She lives in a derelict neighborhood called the Bone, in a cursed house, with her cursed mother, who hasn't spoken to her in over two years. She lives her days feeling invisible. It's not until she develops a friendship with her wheelchair-bound neighbor, Judah Grant, that things begin to change. When a neighborhood girl, seven-year-old Neveah Anthony, goes missing, Judah sets out to help Margo uncover what happened to her. What Margo finds changes her, and with a new perspective on life she's determined to find evil and punish it.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
HUH?? I'm so confused LOL
- By ❤️Cyndi Marie❤️🎧Audiobook Addicts🎧 on 09-15-16
By: Tarryn Fisher
-
Marlena
- A Novel
- By: Julie Buntin
- Narrated by: Emma Galvin
- Length: 9 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 609
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 554
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 557
Everything about 15-year-old Cat's new town in rural Michigan is lonely and off-kilter until she meets her neighbor, the manic, beautiful, pill-popping Marlena. Cat, inexperienced and desperate for connection, is quickly lured into Marlena's orbit by little more than an arched eyebrow and a shake of white-blond hair. As the two girls turn the untamed landscape of their desolate small town into a kind of playground, Cat catalogues a litany of firsts - first drink, first cigarette, first kiss - while Marlena's habits harden and calcify.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A Brilliant, Agonizing Portrait of a Young Woman
- By Sudi on 06-06-17
By: Julie Buntin
-
She's Come Undone
- By: Wally Lamb
- Narrated by: Linda Stephens
- Length: 18 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,094
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,822
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,838
Meet Dolores Price. She's 13, wise-mouthed but wounded, having bid her childhood goodbye. Beached like a whale in front of her bedroom TV, she spends the next few years nourishing herself with the Mallomars, potato chips, and Pepsi her anxious mother supplies. When she finally rolls into young womanhood at 257 pounds, Dolores is no stronger and life is no kinder. But this time she's determined to rise to the occasion and give herself one more chance before really going belly-up.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Really disappointing narrator!
- By Jessica Williams on 01-21-12
By: Wally Lamb
-
Tiger, Tiger
- A Memoir
- By: Margaux Fragoso
- Narrated by: Susan Bennett
- Length: 12 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 233
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 200
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 200
One summer day, Margaux Fragoso meets Peter Curran at the neighborhood swimming pool, and they begin to play. She is seven; he is 51. When Peter invites her and her mother to his house, the little girl finds a child’s paradise of exotic pets and an elaborate backyard garden. Her mother, beset by mental illness and overwhelmed by caring for Margaux, is grateful for the attention Peter lavishes on her, and he creates an imaginative universe for her, much as Lewis Carroll did for his real-life Alice.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
a weirdly loving diatribe against pervs.
- By Dane Flakeman on 05-21-11
By: Margaux Fragoso
-
Scarborough
- By: Catherine Hernandez
- Narrated by: Catherine Hernandez
- Length: 6 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 29
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 27
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 27
In Scarborough, a low-income urban neighborhood, three kids struggle to rise above poverty, abuse, and a system that consistently fails them. The adults in their lives either rise to the occasion or fall by the wayside; together, they make up a troubled yet inspired community that refuses to be undone.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Difficult but excellent!
- By Erna on 01-30-20
-
Make Something Up
- Stories You Can't Unread
- By: Chuck Palahniuk
- Narrated by: Chuck Palahniuk, Scott Sowers, Rich Orlow, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 483
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 434
-
Story3.5 out of 5 stars 431
For years Chuck Palahniuk has reserved his best storytelling for his readings, often choosing to read a new short story instead of whatever novel he is supposed to be promoting. Make Something Up compiles these previously unpublished tales for the very first time, plus the Byliner social media insta-classic "Phoenix" and Palahniuk's most notable pieces from Playboy.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Plenty of shock, just not enough Palahniuk awe
- By Darwin8u on 06-10-15
By: Chuck Palahniuk
-
Rabbit, Run
- By: John Updike
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 12 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 909
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 663
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 664
Rabbit, Run is the book that established John Updike as one of the major American novelists of his - or any other - generation. Its hero is Harry “Rabbit” Angstrom, a onetime high-school basketball star who on an impulse deserts his wife and son. He is 26 years old, a man-child caught in a struggle between instinct and thought, self and society, sexual gratification and family duty - even, in a sense, human hard-heartedness, and divine Grace. Though his flight from home traces a zigzag of evasion, he holds to the faith that he is on the right path.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A Thinking Man's Novel
- By L. Berlyne on 01-12-09
By: John Updike
-
Breaking Night
- A Memoir of Forgiveness, Survival, and My Journey from Homeless to Harvard
- By: Liz Murray
- Narrated by: Liz Murray
- Length: 14 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 910
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 813
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 812
Liz Murray was born to loving but drug-addicted parents in the Bronx. In school she was taunted for her dirty clothing and lice-infested hair, eventually skipping so many classes that she was put into a girls' home. At age 15, Liz found herself on the streets when her family finally unraveled. She learned to scrape by, foraging for food and riding subways all night to have a warm place to sleep. Then, when Liz's mother died of AIDS, she decided to take control of her own destiny.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
unbelievably inspiring
- By Amazon Customer on 03-17-12
By: Liz Murray
-
Too Bright to Hear Too Loud to See
- By: Juliann Garey
- Narrated by: Dan Butler
- Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 497
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 455
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 454
In her tour-de-force first novel, Juliann Garey takes us inside the restless mind, ravaged heart, and anguished soul of Greyson Todd, a successful Hollywood studio executive who leaves his wife and young daughter and for a decade travels the world giving free reign to the bipolar disorder he's been forced to keep hidden for almost 20 years.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Psychosis or Syphilis?
- By Vira on 04-02-13
By: Juliann Garey
-
Homesick for Another World
- Stories
- By: Ottessa Moshfegh
- Narrated by: Alyssa Bresnahan, Richard Poe
- Length: 8 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 299
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 265
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 265
There's something eerily unsettling about Ottessa Moshfegh's stories, something almost dangerous, while also being delightful and even laugh-out-loud funny. Her characters are all unsteady on their feet in one way or another; they all yearn for connection and betterment, though each in very different ways, but they are often tripped up by their own baser impulses and existential insecurities.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Funny, Dynamic Writing
- By Sofia Macht on 06-13-18
By: Ottessa Moshfegh
-
Like Family
- Growing Up in Other People's Houses, a Memoir
- By: Paula McLain
- Narrated by: Wendy Tremont King
- Length: 9 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 78
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 71
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 72
This powerful and haunting memoir details the years Paula McLain and her two sisters spent as foster children after being abandoned by both parents in California in the early 1970s. As wards of the State, the sisters spent the next 14 years moving from foster home to foster home. The dislocations, confusions, and odd pleasures of an unrooted life form the basis of one of the most compelling memoirs in recent years - a book in the tradition of Jo Ann Beard's The Boys of My Youth and Mary Karr's The Liars' Club.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A famous writer describes her life growing up in foster care
- By Nancy C. on 12-21-18
By: Paula McLain
-
She Got Up Off the Couch
- By: Haven Kimmel
- Narrated by: Haven Kimmel
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 274
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 186
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 187
When we last saw Zippy, she was oblivious to the storm that was brewing in her home. Her mother, Delonda, had literally just gotten up off the couch and ridden her rickety bicycle down the road. Her dad was off somewhere, gambling or "working." And Zippy was lost in her own fabulous world of exploring the fringes of Moorland, Indiana.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Great fun !!
- By Kim on 04-20-11
By: Haven Kimmel
-
Second House from the Corner
- By: Sadeqa Johnson
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 590
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 541
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 541
Felicia Lyons, a stressed-out stay-at-home mom, struggles to sprint ahead of the demands of motherhood while her husband spends long days at the office. Felicia taps, utters mantras, and breathes her way through most situations, but on some days, like when the children won't stop screaming her name or arguing over toy trucks and pretzel sticks, she wonders what it would be like to get in her car and drive away.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
No ending to any of the situations that opened.
- By Tina on 03-12-16
By: Sadeqa Johnson
-
Trading Dreams at Midnight
- By: Diane McKinney-Whetstone
- Narrated by: Shari Peele
- Length: 10 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 37
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 26
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 25
Diane McKinney-Whetstone, the award-winning and best-selling author of Tumbling, presents Trading Dreams at Midnight - - an Essence Book Club Recommended Read. Back in 1984, 15-year-old Neena's mother left and never came back. And now Neena is following in her footsteps.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Hard to follow
- By Nevada on 08-13-10
-
This Raging Light
- By: Estelle Laure
- Narrated by: Sandy Rustin
- Length: 5 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 29
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 27
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 28
Lucille seems to have nothing going for her. With the bills piling in, the house falling apart around her, and her sister's growing distress, it is precisely the worst possible moment for Lucille to fall recklessly in love with her best friend's twin brother, Digby, who is practically engaged.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Amazing Loving and Sexy
- By Princess Lucy on 12-28-17
By: Estelle Laure
-
Future Home of the Living God
- A Novel
- By: Louise Erdrich
- Narrated by: Louise Erdrich
- Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 863
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 784
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 784
The world as we know it is ending. Evolution has reversed itself, affecting every living creature on earth. Science cannot stop the world from running backward, as woman after woman gives birth to infants that appear to be primitive species of humans. Thirty-two-year-old Cedar Hawk Songmaker, adopted daughter of a pair of big-hearted, open-minded Minneapolis liberals, is as disturbed and uncertain as the rest of America around her. But for Cedar, this change is profound and deeply personal. She is four months pregnant.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
“Nolite te bastardes carborundorum”
- By Mel on 11-27-17
By: Louise Erdrich
-
Lit
- A Memoir
- By: Mary Karr
- Narrated by: Mary Karr
- Length: 12 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 999
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 742
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 738
Lit follows Mary Karr's descent into the inferno of alcoholism and madness - and her astonishing resurrection. Karr's longing for a solid family seems secure when her marriage to a handsome, Shakespeare-quoting poet produces a son they adore. But she can't outrun her apocalyptic past. She drinks herself into the same numbness that nearly devoured her charismatic but troubled mother, reaching the brink of suicide. A hair-raising stint in "The Mental Marriott" awakens her to the possibility of joy, and leads her to an unlikely faith.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Finally! One for the "Win" column
- By Kim on 03-22-10
By: Mary Karr
What listeners say about A Tiny Upward Shove
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars
-
Story4 out of 5 stars
- M. Cantos
- 09-15-22
Probably easier to follow as a physical book
This novel jumps back and forth between characters' perspectives and different moments in their lives, so it's easy in the audiobook to get confused. The narrator herself does a fine job, though!
In terms of the novel itself, do not go into it expecting a lot supernatural content--the main focus is the very real ways that people and institutions can fail children (and the adults they grow to be). Also, given the unsparing rendering of this important issue, Lauren Groff's blurb calling the novel "addictive" seems a bit off; there will be plenty of times that you will be tempted to tap-out after yet another graphic rendering of sexual violence.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall3 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story4 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 08-02-22
Disturbing for sure
This book is truly disturbing and I am usually pretty comfortable with disturbing. I appreciated the end information about why this book was written and added a star on my rating with that in mind. Very depressing and likely horrible things (like what is in this story) happen in the world. Very sad.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!