The Darling

By: Russell Banks

Narrated by: Mary Beth Hurt

The Darling is Hannah Musgrave's story, told emotionally and convincingly years later by Hannah herself. A political radical and member of the Weather Underground, Hannah has fled America to West Africa, where she and her Liberian husband become friends and colleagues of Charles Taylor, the notorious warlord and now ex-president of Liberia. When Taylor leaves for the United States in an effort to escape embezzlement charges, he's immediately placed in prison. Hannah's encounter with Taylor in America ultimately triggers a series of events whose momentum catches Hannah's family in its grip and forces her to make a heartrending choice.

Set in Liberia and the United States from 1975 through 1991, The Darling is a political/historical thriller, reminiscent of Graham Greene and Joseph Conrad, that explodes the genre, raising serious philosophical questions about terrorism, political violence, and the clash of races and cultures.

©2004 Russell Banks (P)2004 BBC Audiobooks America, Inc. & HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

Critic reviews

• Audie Award Winner, Fiction (Unabridged), 2005

"A rich and complex look at the searing connections between the personal and the political, this is one of Banks's most powerful novels yet." (Publishers Weekly)
"Banks brings the full weight of his storytelling genius and psychological perceptiveness to a novel as compulsively readable as it is eviscerating in its dramatization of cultural divides, political mayhem, psychotic violence, and profound alienation." (Booklist)

wonderfully read, wonderfully written

This book by Russell Banks is a powerful volume, with particular resonance for, I believe, members of the baby-boomer generation, with [formerly] radical pretensions & an interest in third world developments. I found a remarkable number of parallels with episodes in my own life (of long ago, frankly) ... college, belief systems, foreign travel, interests.

In narrow terms, this is the story of a one-time member of the SDS Weather Underground, who ends up escaping from the US to Africa, marries into the Liberian autocracy, lives through the bloody civil war of the late-1980s & 1990s. It is reminiscent of Graham Greene (e.g., the Comedians), but more powerful & more intimate. Hanna is not an alienated foreign observer of the same ilk as most of Greene's protagonists. It is reminiscent of Naipaul, but told from an American's perspective rather than a british-third-world perspective.

This is extremely well narrated and very difficult to put down. Recommended highly.

Living underground

A compelling story beautifully read by Mary Beth Hurt. It is hard to imagine anyone else reading this with such poignancy. The author introduces the reader to the political maelstrom of Liberia in the 80s and to some of the principal figures of the time. The main character is an underground Weatherman/SDS figure whose identity was defined by the political strife in the U.S. of the 60s and 70s and whose life slips between constantly changing social realities.

Not for the faint of heart

I only listened to the first hour and a half of The Darling. That's how long it took for me to realize that although Mary Beth Hurt's narration was superb and Russell Banks' story promised to be just as riveting a political and historical thriller as I had been led to believe, I would not be able to enjoy the story because of the desperately sad central thread of the chimpanzees, the creatures Hannah calls the "dreamers." It turns out that earlier in her life, during the time she was in Africa, Hannah has started a sanctuary for these animals. As she begins to reveal the details about this and the chimpanzees' ultimate fate, it becomes clear that the story will take the reader places I did not want to go. I wouldn't normally presume to review something I'd barely begun, but I thought it might be useful to share my thoughts in case there's anyone else out there who might have a similar response.

LOVED IT

Wish all my audible books were this good. I have refered several friends who were all captivated by the story.

amazing story

The story of Hannah, a revolutionary activist in The Weather Underground who flees to Liberia only to get involved in Charles Taylor's revolution and then watch it sour was riveting from start to finish. Unforgettable. Russell Banks does it again.

Brilliant!

Banks' hugely ambitious, yet emotionally introspective novel is brilliantly complemented by Hurt's compelling reading. One of the finest audiobooks I have heard!

Excellent but too painful to finish

I have to admit I may be overly sensitive when it comes to hearing about dogs and chimps being killed, left in cages to starve to death, or otherwise suffering unimaginably horrible lives and deaths. And that's just the animals suffering in this book--the people have such sad desperate lives too. It is extremely well written and well-narrated and I wanted to finish it. But I just reached a point where I just couldn't bear to hear any more about the suffering of the chimps, so lovingly described with all their ever so human characteristics. And from flashbacks earlier in the story I knew that things would only get worse so I stopped a little more than 3/4 through. I'm also not sure than the protagonist's behavior throughout the story is very congruent with who she supposedly is. I found myself thinking "Huh? Why would she do that...I thought she was smart and independent, strong and committed...that doesn't make sense..."

Good, but dark.

Interesting, well written, good history, stellar narration.
Do be warned though, this is a long listen, and out of all the many hours, there is what seemed like zero joy in the life of the protagonist, as well as none in lives of the any of the other characters. It is in fact, a grim and depressing story.

Complex and compelling

I have been listening to Audiobooks for years and this has been one of my favorite books. First of all, even though I know better, I could not believe that the author was not a woman. The constant shifting of focus from social behavior - both human and animal - to the individual conscience, was stunning. This book will appeal to readers who love politics, stories about different cultures, mysteries and wonderful character development. I am going to buy the book and read it again, something I seldom do. This book is really a masterpiece.

Compelling, but monotonous

The reader is trapped in the mind of the narrator, and her mind, though intelligent with excellent recall, is numb, relentlessly numb. I finished this audiobook, hoping that life would somehow surface, but it never did. The consistency of tone, however, is remarkable, and I learned a lot about Charles Taylor and Liberia.