Lullabies For Little Criminals

By: Heather O'Neill

Narrated by: Miriam McDonald

Heather O'Neill dazzles with a first novel of extraordinary prescience and power, a subtly understated yet searingly effective story of a young life on the streets - and the strength, wits, and luck necessary for survival.

At 13, Baby vacillates between childhood comforts and adult temptation: still young enough to drag her dolls around in a vinyl suitcase yet old enough to know more than she should about urban cruelties. Motherless, she lives with her father, Jules, who takes better care of his heroin habit than he does of his daughter. Baby's gift is a genius for spinning stories and for cherishing the small crumbs of happiness that fall into her lap. But her blossoming beauty has captured the attention of a charismatic and dangerous local pimp who runs an army of sad, slavishly devoted girls - a volatile situation even the normally oblivious Jules cannot ignore. And when an escape disguised as betrayal threatens to crush Baby's spirit, she will ultimately realize that the power of salvation rests in her hands alone.

©2006 Heather O'Neill (P)2008 HarperCollins Canada

Great read, but the performance is kinda weird

The book is really beautiful and heart wrenching. But I wasn't impressed with the performance. I guess the goal was to have the story sound as if a 12 year was telling her story directly. But it felt more like hearing a 12 year old who's been asked to read a book aloud in a classroom. It really didn't feel like the narrator was the girl. The narrator seemed to have a distance from the prose that seemed at odds with the book.

This decision to use this sort of narration seemed particularly curious to me whenever there was a french passage. The narrator reads the french as if she's a grade five student in Western Canada, learning french begrudgingly and without the slightest trace of a french accent. I really didn't understand why it is that this girl, living in Montreal and experiencing lots of french people and french culture would sound the way a stand up comic sounds when they are imitating an anglo's french.

Overall, the narration really detracted from my enjoyment of a really beautiful book.

Very engaging story!

Would you listen to Lullabies For Little Criminals again? Why?

No because the the most enjoyable part is not knowing the ending

What did you like best about this story?

Showed how quickly life can become desparate

Which character – as performed by Miriam McDonald – was your favorite?

Baby

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes

Very good book, highly recomended

Amazing book from start to finish.
No complaints, narrated well, and kept my interest until the very last sentence.
I will be recommending this book and looking for more by this autbor

Perspective is Everything

Where does Lullabies For Little Criminals rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Very enjoyable listen.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The main character, Baby, was very intriguing because she didn't fully grasp how horrifying her life really was -- reminded me of the narrator in the novel Room.

What about Miriam McDonald’s performance did you like?

McDonald has an engaging voice.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Since the book is broken into a series of episodes, it was a perfect book to listen to as I drove about town on errands or went on walks on a hot summer's evening.

Any additional comments?

Thanks for highlighting this book Audible; I had forgotten all about it after its initial release and hubbub a few years ago.