The Turner House

By: Angela Flournoy

Narrated by: Adenrele Ojo

A powerful, timely debut, The Turner House marks a major new contribution to the story of the American family.

The Turners have lived on Yarrow Street for over 50 years. Their house has seen 13 children grown and gone - and some returned; it has seen the arrival of grandchildren, the fall of Detroit's East Side, and the loss of a father. The house still stands despite abandoned lots, an embattled city, and the inevitable shift outward to the suburbs. But now, as ailing matriarch Viola finds herself forced to leave her home and move in with her eldest son, the family discovers that the house is worth just a 10th of its mortgage. The Turner children are called home to decide its fate and to reckon with how each of their pasts haunts - and shapes - their family's future.

Already praised by Ayana Mathis as "utterly moving," The Turner House brings us a colorful, complicated brood full of love and pride, sacrifice and unlikely inheritances. It's a striking examination of the price we pay for our dreams and futures and the ways in which our families bring us home.

©2015 Angela Flournoy (P)2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Beautiful!

This family, like most, had its ups and downs, domineering relatives and outcasts. It felt real.

Great idea, scattered execution

Fantastic to read a well-written novel that isn't about neurotic New York white people. The author is a fine stylist. Unfortunately, she needs help streamlining her story. This feels like it was based on a real family, and that the author felt obligated to give every character its due. The story would have been more powerful with fewer people. I look forward to the next book from a more seasoned writer.

outstanding and mesmerizing

Loved loved loved this book...very entertaining and well written.
ChaCha and Lila were my favorite characters. Wish Lila and David had gotten back together

Excellent period piece of late 20th century Detroit

Appreciated the well written story and loved the narrator. Quite good! Great character development of each of the 13 kids and parents. A family there is like a family anywhere with the strong personalities, the demons and issues each face. The question of what to do with the house...well, we are all going to have to walk that path at some point.

Every Family has its Ghosts

Loved the dimension in this huge family. It is funny what people choose to remember and hold on to and what others choose to forget.

Family life

Just simply delightful, stepping into the Turner family. I felt like I was there too.

The narrator's performance made the difference.

This book may have been well written but you'd be unable to glean that based on the reading of it. The narrator was pretty bad. She read several words incorrectly and placed inflection where it shouldn't be in most of the sentences. This threw off the flow of the story and distracted me from the storyline. Unfortunate.

great story , enjoyed learning about the Turners.

love it! The Turners ate a family like mine, unconditional love and support for one another

Great Read

Enjoyed this book. Interesting family story of their life challenges and how to survive. Look forward to next book to include story of Turner children that left Detroit.

Fall in love with all 13 Turner Offspring

What made the experience of listening to The Turner House the most enjoyable?

The narrator's voice was perfect for the text. She convincingly portrayed each main character, did a great job with slang and other lesser known phrases. If I had read the book instead of listening to it, I would have imagined the voices to be as she read them.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

The character development was outstanding. I really felt that I wanted to go to a Turner family reunion since at this point I know everyone and have a genuine affection for the huge family. I guess I could say that I would have liked more of a plot, but otherwise the book was great. I am looking forward to listening to the author's next book.

Have you listened to any of Adenrele Ojo’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No, but I would like to. She has a nice quality to her voice as narrator, and her various permutations of African American voices of all ages is excellent.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I laughed a lot and of course cried too.

Any additional comments?

Well done!