The Four Books
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.
The Four Books
Buy for $20.71
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
George Backman
-
By:
-
Yan Lianke
About this listen
Shortlisted for The Man Booker International Prize 2016
In the 99th district of a sprawling labour camp, the Author, Musician, Scholar, Theologian and Technician - and hundreds just like them - are undergoing Re-education, to restore their revolutionary zeal and credentials. In charge of this process is the Child, who delights in draconian rules, monitoring behaviour and confiscating treasured books.
But when bad weather arrives, followed by the ‘three bitter years’, the intellectuals are abandoned by the regime and left on their own to survive. Divided into four narratives, The Four Books tells the story of the Great Famine, one of China’s most devastating and controversial periods.
©2015 Yan Lianke (P)2015 Audible, LtdListeners also enjoyed...
-
The Other Side of History: Daily Life in the Ancient World
- By: Robert Garland, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Robert Garland
- Length: 24 hrs and 28 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 8,749
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 7,851
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 7,799
Look beyond the abstract dates and figures, kings and queens, and battles and wars that make up so many historical accounts. Over the course of 48 richly detailed lectures, Professor Garland covers the breadth and depth of human history from the perspective of the so-called ordinary people, from its earliest beginnings through the Middle Ages.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Tantalizing time trip
- By Mark on 08-21-13
By: Robert Garland, and others
-
Red Sorghum
- A Novel of China
- By: Mo Yan, Howard Goldblatt - translator
- Narrated by: George Backman
- Length: 15 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 102
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 93
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 94
Spanning three generations, this novel of family and myth is told through a series of flashbacks that depict events of staggering horror set against a landscape of gemlike beauty, as the Chinese battle both Japanese invaders and each other in the turbulent 1930s. A legend in China, where it won major literary awards and inspired an Oscar-nominated film directed by Zhang Yimou, Red Sorghum is a book in which fable and history collide to produce fiction that is entirely new—and unforgettable.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Best narrator I've ever heard!
- By Ty on 12-12-16
By: Mo Yan, and others
-
Exhalation
- Stories
- By: Ted Chiang
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, Dominic Hoffman, Amy Landon, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,942
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,344
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3,341
Tackling some of humanity’s oldest questions along with new quandaries only he could imagine, these stories will change the way you think, feel, and see the world. They are Ted Chiang at his best: profound, sympathetic, revelatory. Ted Chiang tackles some of humanity’s oldest questions along with new quandaries only he could imagine.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Masterful and singular
- By R on 05-15-19
By: Ted Chiang
-
To Live
- A Novel
- By: Yu Hua, Michael Berry
- Narrated by: David Shih
- Length: 8 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 87
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 68
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 70
This searing novel, originally banned in China but later named one of that nation's most influential books, portrays one man's transformation from the spoiled son of a landlord to a kindhearted peasant. After squandering his family's fortune in gambling dens and brothels, the young, deeply penitent Fugui settles down to do the honest work of a farmer. Forced by the Nationalist Army to leave behind his family, he witnesses the horrors and privations of the Civil War, only to return years later to face a string of hardships brought on by the ravages of the Cultural Revolution.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Wow!
- By Phillip King on 05-30-18
By: Yu Hua, and others
-
The Decameron
- By: Giovanni Boccaccio
- Narrated by: Simon Russell Beale, Gunnar Cauthery, Alison Pettitt, and others
- Length: 28 hrs and 5 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 249
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 219
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 220
The Decameron is one of the greatest literary works of the Middle Ages. Ten young people have fled the terrible effects of the Black Death in Florence and, in an idyllic setting, tell a series of brilliant stories, by turns humorous, bawdy, tragic and provocative. This celebration of physical and sexual vitality is Boccaccio's answer to the sublime other-worldliness of Dante's Divine Comedy.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Not Up to the Usual Naxos Standard
- By John on 11-15-17
-
Waste Tide
- By: Chen Qiufan, Ken Liu - translator
- Narrated by: Ewan Chung
- Length: 12 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 115
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 101
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 102
Mimi is a "waste girl". A member of the lowest caste on Silicon Isle, located off China’s southeastern coast, and home to the world’s largest electronic waste recycling center. There, thousands of miles from home, Mimi struggles to earn a living for her family and dreams of a better life. Luo Jincheng is the head of one of three clans who run the island, a role passed down from his father and grandfather before him. As the government enforces tighter restrictions, Luo in turn tightens the reins on the waste workers in his employ. Ruthlessness is his means of survival.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Intriguing (warning, spoilers ahead)
- By Steven on 06-12-19
By: Chen Qiufan, and others
-
The Other Side of History: Daily Life in the Ancient World
- By: Robert Garland, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Robert Garland
- Length: 24 hrs and 28 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 8,749
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 7,851
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 7,799
Look beyond the abstract dates and figures, kings and queens, and battles and wars that make up so many historical accounts. Over the course of 48 richly detailed lectures, Professor Garland covers the breadth and depth of human history from the perspective of the so-called ordinary people, from its earliest beginnings through the Middle Ages.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Tantalizing time trip
- By Mark on 08-21-13
By: Robert Garland, and others
-
Red Sorghum
- A Novel of China
- By: Mo Yan, Howard Goldblatt - translator
- Narrated by: George Backman
- Length: 15 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 102
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 93
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 94
Spanning three generations, this novel of family and myth is told through a series of flashbacks that depict events of staggering horror set against a landscape of gemlike beauty, as the Chinese battle both Japanese invaders and each other in the turbulent 1930s. A legend in China, where it won major literary awards and inspired an Oscar-nominated film directed by Zhang Yimou, Red Sorghum is a book in which fable and history collide to produce fiction that is entirely new—and unforgettable.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Best narrator I've ever heard!
- By Ty on 12-12-16
By: Mo Yan, and others
-
Exhalation
- Stories
- By: Ted Chiang
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, Dominic Hoffman, Amy Landon, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,942
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,344
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3,341
Tackling some of humanity’s oldest questions along with new quandaries only he could imagine, these stories will change the way you think, feel, and see the world. They are Ted Chiang at his best: profound, sympathetic, revelatory. Ted Chiang tackles some of humanity’s oldest questions along with new quandaries only he could imagine.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Masterful and singular
- By R on 05-15-19
By: Ted Chiang
-
To Live
- A Novel
- By: Yu Hua, Michael Berry
- Narrated by: David Shih
- Length: 8 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 87
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 68
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 70
This searing novel, originally banned in China but later named one of that nation's most influential books, portrays one man's transformation from the spoiled son of a landlord to a kindhearted peasant. After squandering his family's fortune in gambling dens and brothels, the young, deeply penitent Fugui settles down to do the honest work of a farmer. Forced by the Nationalist Army to leave behind his family, he witnesses the horrors and privations of the Civil War, only to return years later to face a string of hardships brought on by the ravages of the Cultural Revolution.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Wow!
- By Phillip King on 05-30-18
By: Yu Hua, and others
-
The Decameron
- By: Giovanni Boccaccio
- Narrated by: Simon Russell Beale, Gunnar Cauthery, Alison Pettitt, and others
- Length: 28 hrs and 5 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 249
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 219
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 220
The Decameron is one of the greatest literary works of the Middle Ages. Ten young people have fled the terrible effects of the Black Death in Florence and, in an idyllic setting, tell a series of brilliant stories, by turns humorous, bawdy, tragic and provocative. This celebration of physical and sexual vitality is Boccaccio's answer to the sublime other-worldliness of Dante's Divine Comedy.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Not Up to the Usual Naxos Standard
- By John on 11-15-17
-
Waste Tide
- By: Chen Qiufan, Ken Liu - translator
- Narrated by: Ewan Chung
- Length: 12 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 115
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 101
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 102
Mimi is a "waste girl". A member of the lowest caste on Silicon Isle, located off China’s southeastern coast, and home to the world’s largest electronic waste recycling center. There, thousands of miles from home, Mimi struggles to earn a living for her family and dreams of a better life. Luo Jincheng is the head of one of three clans who run the island, a role passed down from his father and grandfather before him. As the government enforces tighter restrictions, Luo in turn tightens the reins on the waste workers in his employ. Ruthlessness is his means of survival.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Intriguing (warning, spoilers ahead)
- By Steven on 06-12-19
By: Chen Qiufan, and others
-
Labyrinths
- Selected Stories & Other Writings
- By: Jorge Luis Borges
- Narrated by: Dominic Keating
- Length: 10 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 147
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 117
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 114
The groundbreaking trans-genre work of Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) has been insinuating itself into the structure, stance, and very breath of world literature for well over half a century. Multi-layered, self-referential, elusive, and allusive writing is now frequently labelled Borgesian.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Look, this is Borges
- By Lars Spuybroek on 05-27-20
-
Shantaram
- A Novel
- By: Gregory David Roberts
- Narrated by: Humphrey Bower
- Length: 42 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 10,964
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 9,996
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 9,967
An escaped convict with a false passport, Lin flees maximum security prison in Australia for the teeming streets of Bombay, where he can disappear. Accompanied by his guide and faithful friend, Prabaker, the two enter the city’s hidden society of beggars and gangsters, prostitutes and holy men, soldiers and actors, and Indians and exiles from other countries, who seek in this remarkable place what they cannot find elsewhere.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Probably the best performance I've listened to.
- By Mickey on 04-15-14
-
Harlem Shuffle
- A Novel
- By: Colson Whitehead
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 10 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,898
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,513
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,488
To his customers and neighbors on 125th street, Ray Carney is an upstanding salesman of reasonably priced furniture, making a decent life for himself and his family. He and his wife Elizabeth are expecting their second child, and if her parents on Striver's Row don't approve of him or their cramped apartment across from the subway tracks, it's still home. Few people know he descends from a line of uptown hoods and crooks, and that his façade of normalcy has more than a few cracks in it. Cracks that are getting bigger all the time.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Best Read/Listen on Audible
- By Henry Posner on 09-22-21
By: Colson Whitehead
-
Victory City
- A Novel
- By: Salman Rushdie
- Narrated by: Sid Sagar
- Length: 11 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 190
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 159
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 159
In the wake of an unimportant battle between two long-forgotten kingdoms in fourteenth-century southern India, a nine-year-old girl has a divine encounter that will change the course of history. After witnessing the death of her mother, the grief-stricken Pampa Kampana becomes a vessel for a goddess, who begins to speak out of the girl’s mouth. Granting her powers beyond Pampa Kampana’s comprehension, the goddess tells her that she will be instrumental in the rise of a great city called Bisnaga—“victory city”—the wonder of the world.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Rushdie never fails to engage.
- By Tom on 02-23-23
By: Salman Rushdie
-
Flights
- By: Olga Tokarczuk, Jennifer Croft - translator
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 12 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 476
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 408
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 403
Chopin's heart is carried back to Warsaw in secret by his adoring sister. A woman must return to her native Poland in order to poison her terminally ill high school sweetheart, and a young man slowly descends into madness when his wife and child mysteriously vanish during a vacation and just as suddenly reappear. Through these brilliantly imagined characters and stories, interwoven with haunting, playful, and revelatory meditations, Flights explores what it means to be a traveler, a wanderer, a body in motion not only through space but through time.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Curious and beautifully written
- By Alejandra on 10-24-18
By: Olga Tokarczuk, and others
-
Golden Age
- A Novel
- By: Wang Xiaobo
- Narrated by: Brian Nishii
- Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 5
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 3
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 3
Wang Er, a twenty-one-year-old ox herder, is shamed by the local authorities and forced to write a confession of his crimes, but he instead takes it upon himself to write a modernist literary tract. Later, as a lecturer at a chaotic, newly built university, Wang Er navigates the bureaucratic maze of 1980’s China, boldly writing about the Cultural Revolution’s impact on his life and those around him. Finally, alone and humbled, Wang Er must come to terms with the banality of his own existence.
By: Wang Xiaobo
-
A Single Shard
- By: Linda Sue Park
- Narrated by: Graeme Malcolm
- Length: 3 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 909
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 710
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 715
Tree-ear is an orphan boy in a 12th-century Korean potters’ village. When he accidentally breaks a pot, he must work for the master to pay for the damage by setting off on a difficult and dangerous journey that will change his life forever.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Don't miss this book
- By D. Court on 05-02-04
By: Linda Sue Park
-
First They Killed My Father
- A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers
- By: Loung Ung
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,201
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,071
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,066
One of seven children of a high-ranking government official, Loung Ung lived a privileged life in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh until the age of five. Then, in April 1975, Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge army stormed into the city, forcing Ung's family to flee and, eventually, to disperse. Loung was trained as a child soldier in a work camp for orphans, her siblings were sent to labor camps, and those who survived the horrors would not be reunited until the Khmer Rouge was destroyed.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Brutal, Heartbreaking
- By Gillian on 01-27-15
By: Loung Ung
-
The Long Walk
- The True Story of a Trek to Freedom
- By: Slavomir Rawicz
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,658
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,336
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,333
Twenty-six-year-old cavalry officer Slavomir Rawicz was captured by the Red Army in 1939 during the German-Soviet partition of Poland and sent to the Siberian Gulag. In the spring of 1941, he escaped with six of his fellow prisoners, including one American. Thus began their astonishing trek to freedom.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Inspiring and absorbing
- By A. Millard on 05-30-07
By: Slavomir Rawicz
-
In the Shadow of the Banyan
- A Novel
- By: Vaddey Ratner
- Narrated by: Greta Lee
- Length: 13 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 526
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 447
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 447
For seven-year-old Raami, the shattering end of childhood begins with the footsteps of her father returning home in the early dawn hours bringing details of the civil war that has overwhelmed the streets of Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital. Soon the family’s world of carefully guarded royal privilege is swept up in the chaos of revolution and forced exodus. Over the next four years, as she endures the deaths of family members, starvation, and brutal forced labor, Raami clings to the only remaining vestige of childhood - the mythical legends and poems told to her by her father.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
A Terrible Tale from A Beautiful Storywriter
- By Mel on 08-23-12
By: Vaddey Ratner
-
Laurus
- By: Lisa C. Hayden - translator, Eugene Vodolazkin
- Narrated by: James Anderson Foster
- Length: 13 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 371
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 340
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 339
It is the late 15th century and a village healer in Russia called Laurus is powerless to help his beloved as she dies in childbirth, unwed and without having received communion. Devastated and desperate, he sets out on a journey in search of redemption. But this is no ordinary journey: it is one that spans ages and countries, and which brings him face-to-face with a host of unforgettable, eccentric characters and legendary creatures from the strangest medieval bestiaries.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Speechless
- By Yixiao on 11-27-17
By: Lisa C. Hayden - translator, and others
-
A Whole Life
- A Novel
- By: Robert Seethaler, Charlotte Collins - translator
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 3 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 51
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 43
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 43
Andreas Egger knows every path and peak of his mountain valley, the source of his sustenance, his livelihood - his home. Set in the mid-20th century and told with beauty and tenderness, Robert Seethaler's A Whole Life is a story of man's relationship with an ancient landscape, of the value of solitude, of the arrival of the modern world, and above all, of the moments, great and small, that make us who we are.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Quiet Power
- By Mel on 04-08-17
By: Robert Seethaler, and others
Critic reviews
"One of China's greatest living authors and fiercest satirists." (Guardian)
Related to this topic
-
The Winemaker
- By: Noah Gordon
- Narrated by: Jamie Renell
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 69
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 58
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 58
From the author of The Physician and Shaman now comes this story of a young man - the grapes he grows, the wine he fashions, the women he loves, and his struggle against an evil that seeks to destroy him. Josep Alvarez is a young man in the tiny grape-growing village of Santa Eulália, in Northern Spain, where his father grows black grapes that are turned into cheap vinegar. In Madrid, an assassination plot creates a storm of intrigue that sucks into its vortex a group of innocent young farm workers in Santa Eulália.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Inspiring, true to life
- By Cody W. on 12-18-20
By: Noah Gordon
-
The Garden of Evening Mists
- By: Tan Twan Eng
- Narrated by: Anna Bentinck
- Length: 15 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 751
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 662
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 665
Malaya, 1951. Yun Ling Teoh, the scarred lone survivor of a brutal Japanese wartime camp, seeks solace among the jungle-fringed tea plantations of Cameron Highlands. There she discovers Yugiri, the only Japanese garden in Malaya, and its owner and creator, the enigmatic Aritomo, exiled former gardener of the emperor of Japan. Despite her hatred of the Japanese, Yun Ling seeks to engage Aritomo to create a garden in memory of her sister, who died in the camp.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The best
- By Susan Gardner Bowers on 03-11-13
By: Tan Twan Eng
-
Far North
- A Novel
- By: Marcel Theroux
- Narrated by: Yelena Schmulenson
- Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 281
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 143
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 144
My father had an expression for a thing that turned out bad. He'd say it had gone west. But going west always sounded pretty good to me. After all, westwards is the path of the sun. And through as much history as I know of, people have moved west to settle and find freedom. But our world had gone north, truly gone north, and just how far north I was beginning to learn.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Spellbinding!
- By Joan on 01-14-10
By: Marcel Theroux
-
The Poet of Tolstoy Park
- By: Sonny Brewer
- Narrated by: Rick Bragg
- Length: 10 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 49
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 45
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 44
This book is based on the true life of Henry Stuart. When the 67-year-old former professor finds out he is dying of tuberculosis, he vows to “learn in solitude how to save myself.” He sets off for Fairhope, Alabama, with only the writings of his beloved Tolstoy for company. There, the barefoot poet builds himself a small hut and slowly becomes an inspiration for the rest of the utopian town. When his last few months become his last few years, Henry’s attempt to understand death becomes a lesson on life.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Great read
- By Jimmy Oaks on 03-23-15
By: Sonny Brewer
-
To Live
- A Novel
- By: Yu Hua, Michael Berry
- Narrated by: David Shih
- Length: 8 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 87
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 68
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 70
This searing novel, originally banned in China but later named one of that nation's most influential books, portrays one man's transformation from the spoiled son of a landlord to a kindhearted peasant. After squandering his family's fortune in gambling dens and brothels, the young, deeply penitent Fugui settles down to do the honest work of a farmer. Forced by the Nationalist Army to leave behind his family, he witnesses the horrors and privations of the Civil War, only to return years later to face a string of hardships brought on by the ravages of the Cultural Revolution.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Wow!
- By Phillip King on 05-30-18
By: Yu Hua, and others
-
First They Killed My Father
- A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers
- By: Loung Ung
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,201
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,071
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,066
One of seven children of a high-ranking government official, Loung Ung lived a privileged life in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh until the age of five. Then, in April 1975, Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge army stormed into the city, forcing Ung's family to flee and, eventually, to disperse. Loung was trained as a child soldier in a work camp for orphans, her siblings were sent to labor camps, and those who survived the horrors would not be reunited until the Khmer Rouge was destroyed.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Brutal, Heartbreaking
- By Gillian on 01-27-15
By: Loung Ung
-
The Winemaker
- By: Noah Gordon
- Narrated by: Jamie Renell
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 69
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 58
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 58
From the author of The Physician and Shaman now comes this story of a young man - the grapes he grows, the wine he fashions, the women he loves, and his struggle against an evil that seeks to destroy him. Josep Alvarez is a young man in the tiny grape-growing village of Santa Eulália, in Northern Spain, where his father grows black grapes that are turned into cheap vinegar. In Madrid, an assassination plot creates a storm of intrigue that sucks into its vortex a group of innocent young farm workers in Santa Eulália.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Inspiring, true to life
- By Cody W. on 12-18-20
By: Noah Gordon
-
The Garden of Evening Mists
- By: Tan Twan Eng
- Narrated by: Anna Bentinck
- Length: 15 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 751
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 662
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 665
Malaya, 1951. Yun Ling Teoh, the scarred lone survivor of a brutal Japanese wartime camp, seeks solace among the jungle-fringed tea plantations of Cameron Highlands. There she discovers Yugiri, the only Japanese garden in Malaya, and its owner and creator, the enigmatic Aritomo, exiled former gardener of the emperor of Japan. Despite her hatred of the Japanese, Yun Ling seeks to engage Aritomo to create a garden in memory of her sister, who died in the camp.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The best
- By Susan Gardner Bowers on 03-11-13
By: Tan Twan Eng
-
Far North
- A Novel
- By: Marcel Theroux
- Narrated by: Yelena Schmulenson
- Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 281
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 143
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 144
My father had an expression for a thing that turned out bad. He'd say it had gone west. But going west always sounded pretty good to me. After all, westwards is the path of the sun. And through as much history as I know of, people have moved west to settle and find freedom. But our world had gone north, truly gone north, and just how far north I was beginning to learn.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Spellbinding!
- By Joan on 01-14-10
By: Marcel Theroux
-
The Poet of Tolstoy Park
- By: Sonny Brewer
- Narrated by: Rick Bragg
- Length: 10 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 49
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 45
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 44
This book is based on the true life of Henry Stuart. When the 67-year-old former professor finds out he is dying of tuberculosis, he vows to “learn in solitude how to save myself.” He sets off for Fairhope, Alabama, with only the writings of his beloved Tolstoy for company. There, the barefoot poet builds himself a small hut and slowly becomes an inspiration for the rest of the utopian town. When his last few months become his last few years, Henry’s attempt to understand death becomes a lesson on life.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Great read
- By Jimmy Oaks on 03-23-15
By: Sonny Brewer
-
To Live
- A Novel
- By: Yu Hua, Michael Berry
- Narrated by: David Shih
- Length: 8 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 87
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 68
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 70
This searing novel, originally banned in China but later named one of that nation's most influential books, portrays one man's transformation from the spoiled son of a landlord to a kindhearted peasant. After squandering his family's fortune in gambling dens and brothels, the young, deeply penitent Fugui settles down to do the honest work of a farmer. Forced by the Nationalist Army to leave behind his family, he witnesses the horrors and privations of the Civil War, only to return years later to face a string of hardships brought on by the ravages of the Cultural Revolution.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Wow!
- By Phillip King on 05-30-18
By: Yu Hua, and others
-
First They Killed My Father
- A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers
- By: Loung Ung
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,201
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,071
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,066
One of seven children of a high-ranking government official, Loung Ung lived a privileged life in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh until the age of five. Then, in April 1975, Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge army stormed into the city, forcing Ung's family to flee and, eventually, to disperse. Loung was trained as a child soldier in a work camp for orphans, her siblings were sent to labor camps, and those who survived the horrors would not be reunited until the Khmer Rouge was destroyed.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Brutal, Heartbreaking
- By Gillian on 01-27-15
By: Loung Ung
-
The Bell Messenger
- By: Robert Cornuke
- Narrated by: Henry Strozier
- Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 41
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 23
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 22
Adventurer and author Robert Cornuke delivers an archaeological thriller that crosses the globe and spans two centuries. With these hopeful words, a dying Confederate lad bequeaths his Bible to the Union soldier who just shot him: "Be God's messenger as I have been." And so begins the journey of Elijah Bell's cherished Bible as it travels the world, transforming hearts wherever it goes.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Nice Historical Fiction
- By Michael & Cora on 09-16-24
By: Robert Cornuke
-
The Long Walk
- The True Story of a Trek to Freedom
- By: Slavomir Rawicz
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,658
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,336
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,333
Twenty-six-year-old cavalry officer Slavomir Rawicz was captured by the Red Army in 1939 during the German-Soviet partition of Poland and sent to the Siberian Gulag. In the spring of 1941, he escaped with six of his fellow prisoners, including one American. Thus began their astonishing trek to freedom.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Inspiring and absorbing
- By A. Millard on 05-30-07
By: Slavomir Rawicz
-
Stars Between the Sun and Moon
- One Woman's Life in North Korea and Escape to Freedom
- By: Lucia Jang, Susan McClelland
- Narrated by: Janet Song
- Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 211
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 196
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 196
Born in 1970s North Korea, Lucia Jang grew up in a typical household - her parents worked in the factories, and the family scraped by on rations. Nightly she bowed to her photo of Kim Il-Sung. It was the beginning of a chaotic period with a decade-long famine. Jang married an abusive man who sold their baby. She left him and went home to help her family by illegally crossing the river to China to trade goods. She was caught and imprisoned twice.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Fantastic story. Well read.
- By Jfm on 02-20-16
By: Lucia Jang, and others
-
The Seamstress
- By: Sara Tuvel Bernstein, Louise Loots Thornton, Marlene Bernstein Samuels
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 12 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,822
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,656
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,645
Told with the same old-fashioned narrative power as the novels of Herman Wouk, The Seamstress is the true story of Seren (Sara) Tuvel Bernstein and her survival during wartime. This powerful eyewitness account of survival, told with power and grace, will stay with listeners for years to come.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Overcome with Emotion
- By Meryl on 05-16-13
By: Sara Tuvel Bernstein, and others
-
Zorba the Greek
- By: Nikos Kazantzakis
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,059
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 938
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 936
A wonderful tale of a young man’s coming of age, Zorba the Greek has been a classic of world literature since it was first translated into English in 1952 and made into an unforgettable movie with Anthony Quinn. Zorba, an irrepressible, earthy hedonist, sweeps his young disciple along as he wines, dines, and loves his way through a life dedicated to fulfilling his copious appetites. Zorba is irresistible in this charming audio production by veteran narrator George Guidall.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Drink life to the lees
- By Scot Potts on 04-25-13
-
The Samurai's Garden
- A Novel
- By: Gail Tsukiyama
- Narrated by: David Shih
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 489
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 426
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 422
The daughter of a Chinese mother and a Japanese father, Gail Tsukiyama uses the Japanese invasion of China during the late 1930s as a somber backdrop for her unusual story about a 20-year-old Chinese painter named Stephen who is sent to his family's summer home in a Japanese coastal village to recover from a bout with tuberculosis. Here he is cared for by Matsu, a reticent housekeeper and a master gardener. Over the course of a remarkable year, Stephen learns Matsu's secret and gains not only physical strength, but also profound spiritual insight.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
A Novel Painted with a Master's Brush
- By Bay Area Califa on 06-25-18
By: Gail Tsukiyama
-
Rena's Promise
- A Story of Sisters in Auschwitz
- By: Rena Kornreich Gelissen, Heather Dune Macadam
- Narrated by: Heather Dune Macadam
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 332
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 308
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 304
"I do not hate. To hate is to let Hitler win." - Rena Kornreich Gelissen. On March 26, 1942, the first mass transport of Jews - 999 young women - arrived in Auschwitz. Among them was Rena Kornreich, the 716th woman numbered in camp. A few days later, her sister Danka arrives and so begins a trial of love and courage that will last three years and 41 days, from the beginning Auschwitz death camp to the end of the war.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Excellent Content / Horrible Production
- By Simone on 07-23-15
By: Rena Kornreich Gelissen, and others
-
Into the Forest
- By: Jean Hegland
- Narrated by: Alyssa Bresnahan
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 207
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 190
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 190
As America collapses in the chaos of war, pollution, and bankruptcy, two sisters pool their resources to survive alone in the hills above San Francisco. Although dwindling food and increasing isolation threaten them, they soon find a more immediate danger standing at their door. When a young man arrives, his friendship offers tantalizing fulfillment, but his love threatens to divide the sisters.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Depressing, boring, & disturbing
- By The Ropers on 07-14-16
By: Jean Hegland
-
Edge of Eternity
- By: Randy Alcorn
- Narrated by: Roger Marsh, Phil Ross
- Length: 4 hrs and 25 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 142
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 118
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 118
Nick Seagrave is a disillusioned business executive who has lost loved ones to tragedy and his family to neglect. Now, at a point of great crisis, he finds himself inexplicably transported to what appears to be another world. Suddenly he's confronted with profoundly clear views of his own past and personality. And he's enabled to see, hear, taste, and smell the realities of both heaven and hell - realities that force him to face dangers and trials far greater than any he's known before.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
AMAZING
- By Julie R. VanderMate on 08-12-10
By: Randy Alcorn
-
She Would Be King
- A Novel
- By: Wayétu Moore
- Narrated by: Wayétu Moore
- Length: 9 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 882
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 788
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 785
Wayétu Moore’s powerful debut novel, She Would Be King, reimagines the dramatic story of Liberia’s early years through three unforgettable characters who share an uncommon bond. Gbessa, exiled from the West African village of Lai, is starved, bitten by a viper, and left for dead, but still she survives. June Dey, raised on a plantation in Virginia, hides his unusual strength until a confrontation with the overseer forces him to flee. Norman Aragon, the child of a white British colonizer and a Maroon slave from Jamaica, can fade from sight when the earth calls him.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Beautiful example of magical realism.
- By Danielle on 10-07-18
By: Wayétu Moore
-
The List
- By: Patricia Forde
- Narrated by: Imogen Wilde
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 85
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 73
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 71
In the post-apocalyptic, neo-medieval city of Ark, speech is constrained to 500 sanctioned words. If somewhere were to speak outside that approved lexicon, they'd face banishment. The only exceptions to this rule are the Wordsmith and his apprentice, Letta. Together, they are the keepers and archivists of all language. But when Letta's master dies, she is suddenly promoted to Wordsmith and finds the situation more complicated than she knew.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Love is Language
- By Jennie Smith on 02-19-21
By: Patricia Forde
-
Wolf Winter
- By: Cecilia Ekback
- Narrated by: Alyssa Bresnahan
- Length: 12 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 89
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 82
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 81
Swedish Lapland, 1717. Maija, her husband Paavo and her daughters Frederika and Dorotea arrive from their native Finland, hoping to forget the traumas of their past and put down new roots in this harsh but beautiful land. Above them looms BlackAsen, a mountain whose foreboding presence looms over the valley and whose dark history seems to haunt the lives of those who live in its shadow.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
So atmospheric, it hurts
- By Bookmarque on 08-24-15
By: Cecilia Ekback