After a year of listening to memoir and non-fiction, a few months ago I listened to my very first novel on audiobook. My review explained how much I enjoyed it and I was so pleased that I could concentrate on a novel in this format. Now, I’ve gone gangbusters and gobbled up as many novels as my Spotify account will allow me to! So, let me know if you’ve read any of these and send me your audiobook novel recommendations.
THE PLOT: ‘Rootless’ is a contemporary novel about a marriage in crisis. Sam and Efe can rely on each other when the world gets tough. When Efe was sinking under the weight of her parent’s expectations; when Sam was struggling with his mother’s abandonment. But when they are confronted with an unplanned pregnancy, they find themselves on opposing sides. For Sam, a baby is the perfect opportunity to consolidate their family. For Efe, motherhood feels like shackles around her feet. But can they both have what they want without losing each other?
RATING: Ooooh, this book will have you fighting! I picked this up because @blacklistedbookclub were so divided over which character they preferred and I knew a book that had people debating would be a bit of me. It’s extremely well-written and I loved the use of description, interiority and emotionality. I was totally invested in these characters and passionate about the themes of motherhood and sacrifice. I devoured the first half and felt extremely connected to Efe’s vulnerability. However, as the book went on, the pace slowed, and I just needed Efe to be a grown up. Miscommunication is my least favourite trope and I felt sorry for Sam and wanted them to break up. Despite my frustrations with the latter half, I hope the way I’m writing about these characters like real people shows what a powerful book this is.
P.S. I don’t want to spoil it, but I think the ending illustrates why I’m ultimately Team Sam… It illuminates what’s really important!
THE PLOT: ‘Bright Young Women’ is a novel inspired by the real-life sorority targeted by a serial killer in the 1970’s. Pamela is the president of the top sorority at Florida State University. Intelligent, precocious and driven, she’s on track to study law at Columbia. But when her sorority house is broken into, she finds two of her sisters maimed and two others dead, including her best friend Denise. As the only eye-witness, she’s thrust into the centre of a murder investigation. But when the police don’t believe her, Pamela teams up with a woman who thinks the same murderer killed her girlfriend.
RATING: When you start listening to this book, you might think it’s a memoir or documentary. Written in a clean style that feels factual, it pulls you into the narrative and has you questioning what’s real. While this style can feel tiring after a while, it’s a fascinating look at sexism and violence against women and girls. This book will make you angry. Angry for the real women who died at the hands of a brutal murderer. Angry for the farce of a police investigation that allowed him to keep killing. Angry for the female witnesses and bereaved who weren’t believed or were overlooked. The author is certainly skilled; the dual-timeline and dual-POV helps keep the reader engaged in what could be a circular courtroom drama, the characters are complex and compelling, and the line-level writing is sharp and incisive. I’d definitely read more of her books in future.
Thank you to Sabs, Debs, Ruth, Claire, Katie and Katie for buddy reading this with me.
THE PLOT: ‘Hollywood Park’ is the memoir of a young boy who was born into a cult. In 1970’s America, what begins as an experimental commune to help recovering drug addicts morphs into the Church of Synanon. Per the leader’s mandate, Mikel and his brother were separated from their parents at six-months old and handed over to the cult’s “school”. After his mother kidnaps them and escapes, Mikel is raised by a clinically depressed mother, tormented by his angry older brother, and longs for contact with his father, a former heroin addict and ex-con.
RATING: This is the saddest book I’ve ever read. And, yes, I’ve read ‘A Little Life’. Perhaps it’s because it’s a true story, or perhaps it’s because the author narrates the audiobook like a child, but I could not stop crying. Filled with poverty, neglect and substance abuse, this memoir is a testament to human resilience. The writing is incredibly strong and the use of the childlike POV with incisive description and interiority is so powerful. You can tell Mikel has worked so hard to process his trauma and reflect on it so he can tell his story in such an engaging, intimate, honest, brutal and raw way.
THE PLOT: ‘The Five’ is a historical biography of the women murdered by Jack the Ripper. Polly, Annie, Elizabeth, Catherine and Mary-Jane never met but are famous for the same thing. What they had in common was the year of their murders: 1888. Their murderer was never identified, but the name created for him by the press has become far more famous than any of these five women. In this devastating narrative of five lives, historian Hallie Rubenhold finally gives these women back their stories.
RATING: I didn’t finish this book. There it is. The whole truth. So, you may ask, why are you writing a review? Well, I feel like I read enough to get the gist. This is an accomplished research project that shines a light on the victims, rather than the killer. I enjoyed learning about the poor working class in Victorian England and this book contains fantastic social history. However, it sets out to disprove the popular assumption of victims as prostitutes, which makes it a tad repetitive. So, why didn’t I finish the book if it’s well-written and interesting? Because I am the problem; I just struggle to read non-fiction. Even though I can listen to historical podcasts back-to-back, ten hours of non-fiction audio is just too much for me. However, I’m glad this book exists and would recommend it to others, even if I don’t want to finish the last couple of hours…
If you’d like to purchase these books, you can get a discount, support @aminasbookshelf and support independent bookshops via bookshop.org (aff links).
Rootless – Click here to purchase for £9.49
Bright Young Women – Click here to purchase for £9.49
Hollywood Park – Click here to purchase for £10.44
The Five –Click here to purchase for £10.44
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