Soledad

A Novel

By: Angie Cruz

Narrated by: Stacy Gonzalez

Award-winning author Angie Cruz takes listeners on a journey as one young woman must confront not only her own past of growing up in Washington Heights, but also her mother's.

At eighteen, Soledad couldn't get away fast enough from her contentious family with their endless tragedies and petty fights. Two years later, she's an art student at Cooper Union with a gallery job and a hip East Village walk-up. But when Tia Gorda calls with the news that Soledad's mother has lapsed into an emotional coma, she insists that Soledad's return is the only cure. Fighting the memories of open hydrants, leering men, and slick-skinned teen girls with raunchy mouths and snapping gum, Soledad moves home to West 164th Street. As she tries to tame her cousin Flaca's raucous behavior and to resist falling for Richie—a soulful, intense man from the neighborhood—she also faces the greatest challenge of her life: confronting the ghosts from her mother's past and salvaging their damaged relationship.

Evocative and wise, Soledad is a wondrous story of culture and chaos, family and integrity, myth and mysticism, from a Latina literary light.

©2001 Angie Cruz (P)2022 Tantor

Good story but the narrator's accent is wrong

I only got through the second chapter before I had to stop listening to this book. I'm sure Stacy Gonzalez would be a fine narrator for Mexican-American characters, but her Dominican accent is just awful. It took me right out of the story. During Flaca's monologue in chapter 2, I was almost laughing at how badly the lines were delivered. Like another reviewer said, it sounds to a Dominican American like me as if someone is reading a character born and raised in the South Bronx with a southern accent. It just sounds and feels wrong. It's a shame because the story seemed compelling. I'll just borrow it from the library.

poor narration choice

I wanted to like this book because I really like Angie Cruz, however, the narration is all off. Nothing against Stacy Gonzalez, It needs better transitions. The book switched character perspectives and there is no transition. It's the same voice, no "announcement" that its someone else speaking. Half with through you realize its a different character. Super hard to follow. She tries to change her voice between characters but it just does not work. The story is good. This may be one you pick up a read instead of listening too

It’s a good storyline

Unfortunately I couldn’t get into the narrator. I grew up in nyc and my father lived in Washington heights. The voice was no where near us New Yorkers Dominican or Puerto Rican. Not realistic

Great story of dealing with past Traumas

Angie cruz does a great job at sharing the ways we know so little about of families past traumas and the cost of not facing them. She describes the toxic patriarchal standards placed on women perfectly. Overall I enjoyed this book.

Wish I could finish it....

I could not for the life of me finish this book. I read reviews that complained about the reader and thought, "How bad could it really be? I mean it's the story that counts right?" Wrong! when you're reading a book you assign the characters voices and tones that make sense with the background of the characters but when you hear a story it is up to the reader to convey that to you. With this book the reader's accent and tone are so way off that it becomes annoying and frustrating, especially to someone who is Dominican. I'd like to compare it to having a story about character's from the Bronx/NYC being read by a person with a heavy southern accent. It would take a lot from the story, in this case enough to make you NOT want to hear it. Dominican's do not speak in the way that this reader interprets it and I'm afraid that for a person like me who chose this book to find a sense of familiarity and even nostalgia, it is difficult to get past the reader.

The Narrator was the wrong choice for this book

I read this book back in high school and wanted to “reread” on audible. However like most of the other reviewers mentioned the narrator was the worst choice for this. As a Dominican American from NYC her pronunciation of things were hard to listen to. It really throws off the story and that’s unfortunate because it’s a beautiful book.

Not well narrated

This book is written by a Dominican about Dominican experience in NYC but it was narrated with a Mexican accent. As a Dominican with a NY experience, I was not able to relate this narration to the Dominican experience or culture so I could not get past the first hour. It is important for narrators to make sure their books are Narrated in the most accurate way possible and if they are writing about culture and cultural experience it has to be accurate. Otherwise the message is completely lost. That’s what happened here. Since I want to support the author, I will buy the book to read but am disappointed in the inaccuracy of this narration.