Listen free for 30 days
-
The Mothers
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Adenrele Ojo
- Length: 9 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Genre Fiction
People who bought this also bought...
-
The Vanishing Half
- By: Brit Bennett
- Narrated by: Shayna Small
- Length: 11 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,368
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,171
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,173
The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. But after growing up together in a small, Southern black community and running away at age 16, it's not just the shape of their daily lives that is different as adults, it's everything: their families, their communities, their racial identities. Ten years later, one sister lives with her black daughter in the same Southern town she once tried to escape. The other secretly passes for white and her white husband knows nothing of her past.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
An Important Read
- By Steph on 23-06-20
-
Transcendent Kingdom
- By: Yaa Gyasi
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
- Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 158
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 131
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 134
As a child Gifty would ask her parents to tell the story of their journey from Ghana to Alabama, seeking escape in myths of heroism and romance. When her father and brother succumb to the hard reality of immigrant life in the American South, their family of four becomes two - and the life Gifty dreamed of slips away. Years later, desperate to understand the opioid addiction that destroyed her brother's life, she turns to science for answers. But when her mother comes to stay, Gifty soon learns that the roots of their tangled traumas reach farther than she ever thought.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Beautiful, thought-provoking, educational
- By Steph on 01-10-20
-
Dominicana
- By: Angie Cruz
- Narrated by: Coral Peña
- Length: 10 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 145
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 121
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 121
Fifteen-year-old Ana Canción never dreamed of moving to America, the way the girls she grew up with in the Dominican countryside did. But when Juan Ruiz proposes and promises to take her to New York City, she must say yes. It doesn't matter that he is twice her age, that there is no love between them. Their marriage is an opportunity for her entire close-knit family to eventually immigrate. So on New Year's Day, 1965, Ana leaves behind everything she knows and becomes Ana Ruiz, a wife confined to a cold six-floor walk-up in Washington Heights.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
So great
- By Mary on 23-03-21
-
Silver Sparrow
- By: Tayari Jones
- Narrated by: Rosalyn Coleman-Williams, Heather Alicia Simms
- Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 169
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 149
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 148
Chaurisse and Dana have a lot in common. They both grew up in Atlanta, they shop at the same stores, visit the same restaurants. But unlike Chaurisse, Dana knows the truth: that the girls share the same father. A father with two families, one of which he is determined to keep secret. When the girls meet and become friends, the unsteady balance of both their lives is threatened. Theirs is a relationship destined to explode.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
there wasn't much of a plot
- By Victoria Tuck on 09-08-20
-
How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House
- By: Cherie Jones
- Narrated by: Danielle Vitalis
- Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 57
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 53
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 52
In Baxter's Beach, Barbados, Lala's grandmother, Wilma, tells the story of the one-armed sister, a cautionary tale about what happens to girls who disobey their mothers. For Wilma, it's the story of a wilful adventurer, who ignores the warnings of those around her, and suffers as a result. When Lala grows up, she sees it offers hope - of life after losing a baby in the most terrible of circumstances and marrying the wrong man.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A beautiful chilling story.
- By Anonymous User on 09-06-21
-
Luster
- By: Raven Leilani
- Narrated by: Ariel Blake
- Length: 6 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 277
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 241
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 240
Edie is just trying to survive. She’s messing up in her dead-end admin job in her all-white office, she is sleeping with all the wrong men and she has failed at the only thing that meant anything to her: painting. No one seems to care that she doesn’t really know what she’s doing with her life beyond looking for her next hook-up. And then she meets Eric, a white, middle-aged archivist with a suburban family, including a wife who has sort-of-agreed to an open marriage and an adopted Black daughter who doesn’t have a single person in her life who can show her how to do her hair.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Rampant and pithy
- By papapownall on 31-01-21
-
The Vanishing Half
- By: Brit Bennett
- Narrated by: Shayna Small
- Length: 11 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,368
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,171
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,173
The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. But after growing up together in a small, Southern black community and running away at age 16, it's not just the shape of their daily lives that is different as adults, it's everything: their families, their communities, their racial identities. Ten years later, one sister lives with her black daughter in the same Southern town she once tried to escape. The other secretly passes for white and her white husband knows nothing of her past.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
An Important Read
- By Steph on 23-06-20
-
Transcendent Kingdom
- By: Yaa Gyasi
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
- Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 158
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 131
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 134
As a child Gifty would ask her parents to tell the story of their journey from Ghana to Alabama, seeking escape in myths of heroism and romance. When her father and brother succumb to the hard reality of immigrant life in the American South, their family of four becomes two - and the life Gifty dreamed of slips away. Years later, desperate to understand the opioid addiction that destroyed her brother's life, she turns to science for answers. But when her mother comes to stay, Gifty soon learns that the roots of their tangled traumas reach farther than she ever thought.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Beautiful, thought-provoking, educational
- By Steph on 01-10-20
-
Dominicana
- By: Angie Cruz
- Narrated by: Coral Peña
- Length: 10 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 145
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 121
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 121
Fifteen-year-old Ana Canción never dreamed of moving to America, the way the girls she grew up with in the Dominican countryside did. But when Juan Ruiz proposes and promises to take her to New York City, she must say yes. It doesn't matter that he is twice her age, that there is no love between them. Their marriage is an opportunity for her entire close-knit family to eventually immigrate. So on New Year's Day, 1965, Ana leaves behind everything she knows and becomes Ana Ruiz, a wife confined to a cold six-floor walk-up in Washington Heights.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
So great
- By Mary on 23-03-21
-
Silver Sparrow
- By: Tayari Jones
- Narrated by: Rosalyn Coleman-Williams, Heather Alicia Simms
- Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 169
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 149
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 148
Chaurisse and Dana have a lot in common. They both grew up in Atlanta, they shop at the same stores, visit the same restaurants. But unlike Chaurisse, Dana knows the truth: that the girls share the same father. A father with two families, one of which he is determined to keep secret. When the girls meet and become friends, the unsteady balance of both their lives is threatened. Theirs is a relationship destined to explode.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
there wasn't much of a plot
- By Victoria Tuck on 09-08-20
-
How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House
- By: Cherie Jones
- Narrated by: Danielle Vitalis
- Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 57
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 53
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 52
In Baxter's Beach, Barbados, Lala's grandmother, Wilma, tells the story of the one-armed sister, a cautionary tale about what happens to girls who disobey their mothers. For Wilma, it's the story of a wilful adventurer, who ignores the warnings of those around her, and suffers as a result. When Lala grows up, she sees it offers hope - of life after losing a baby in the most terrible of circumstances and marrying the wrong man.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A beautiful chilling story.
- By Anonymous User on 09-06-21
-
Luster
- By: Raven Leilani
- Narrated by: Ariel Blake
- Length: 6 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 277
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 241
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 240
Edie is just trying to survive. She’s messing up in her dead-end admin job in her all-white office, she is sleeping with all the wrong men and she has failed at the only thing that meant anything to her: painting. No one seems to care that she doesn’t really know what she’s doing with her life beyond looking for her next hook-up. And then she meets Eric, a white, middle-aged archivist with a suburban family, including a wife who has sort-of-agreed to an open marriage and an adopted Black daughter who doesn’t have a single person in her life who can show her how to do her hair.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Rampant and pithy
- By papapownall on 31-01-21
-
The Other Black Girl
- By: Zakiya Dalila Harris
- Narrated by: Aja Naomi King, Joniece Abbott-Pratt, Bahni Turpin, and others
- Length: 13 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 20
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 20
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 19
Twenty-six-year-old editorial assistant Nella Rogers is tired of being the only Black employee at Wagner Books. Fed up with the isolation and the micro-aggressions, she’s thrilled when Hazel starts working in the cubicle beside hers. They’ve only just started comparing natural hair care regimens, though, when a string of uncomfortable events cause Nella to become Public Enemy Number One and Hazel, the Office Darling. Then the notes begin to appear on Nella’s desk: Leave Wagner. Now.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Great novel, Inconsistencies with the voice over.
- By stacie cartman on 08-06-21
-
Detransition, Baby
- By: Torrey Peters
- Narrated by: Renata Friedman
- Length: 12 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 122
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 111
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 111
When her ex calls to ask if she wants to be a mother, Reese finds herself intrigued. After being attacked in the street, Amy de-transitioned to become Ames, changed jobs and, thinking he was infertile, started an affair with his boss, Katrina. Now Katrina's pregnant. Could the three of them form an unconventional family - and raise the baby together?
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A very honest depictions of modern adult life.
- By R . K on 11-02-21
-
Small Pleasures
- By: Clare Chambers
- Narrated by: Karen Cass
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 686
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 608
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 610
Jean Swinney is a feature writer on a local paper, disappointed in love and - on the brink of 40 - living a limited existence with her truculent mother: a small life from which there is no likelihood of escape. When a young Swiss woman, Gretchen Tilbury, contacts the paper to claim that her daughter is the result of a virgin birth, it is down to Jean to discover whether she is a miracle or a fraud. But the more Jean investigates, the more her life becomes strangely (and not unpleasantly) intertwined with that of the Tilburys.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Poignant, thoughtful & beautifully crafted
- By Rachel Redford on 26-07-20
-
The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives
- By: Lola Shoneyin
- Narrated by: Lola Shoneyin
- Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 70
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 59
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 58
When Baba Segi awoke with a bellyache for the sixth day in a row, he knew it was time to do something drastic about his fourth wife's childlessness. To the dismay of her ambitious mother, Bolanle marries into a polygamous family, where she is the fourth wife of a rich, rotund patriarch, Baba Segi. She is a graduate and therefore a great prize, but even graduates must produce children, and her husband's persistent bellyache is a sign that things are not as they should be.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Awesome
- By Amazon Customer on 07-02-21
-
Such a Fun Age
- By: Kiley Reid
- Narrated by: Nicole Lewis
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,027
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,755
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,752
When Emira is apprehended at a supermarket for ‘kidnapping’ the white child she’s actually babysitting, it sets off an explosive chain of events. Her employer Alix, a feminist blogger with the best of intentions, resolves to make things right. But Emira herself is aimless, broke and wary of Alix’s desire to help. When a surprising connection emerges between the two women, it sends them on a crash course that will upend everything they think they know – about themselves, each other and the messy dynamics of privilege.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
doesn't live up to the hype
- By Tsundoko and Tea on 10-01-20
-
The Girl with the Louding Voice
- By: Abi Daré
- Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh
- Length: 12 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 1,071
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 974
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 974
14-year-old Adunni has a dream: to be educated. But her father needs her bride-price, so sells his daughter to an older man, who demands she give him the fine boy-children his first two wives have failed to produce. When things go tragically wrong, Adunni flees to Lagos. It's what she has always wanted, to leave Ikati and see the world, and though her heart is full of sorrow for her lost family and the shame she has left behind, still Adunni will not be quiet and do as she's told.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Uplifting Story
- By O. on 22-03-20
-
Love in Colour
- Mythical Tales from Around the World, Retold
- By: Bolu Babalola
- Narrated by: Ajjaz Awad, Nneka Okoye, Bolu Babalola, and others
- Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 163
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 148
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 148
Bolu Babalola takes the most beautiful love stories from history and mythology and rewrites them with incredible new detail and vivacity in her debut collection. Focusing on the magical folktales of West Africa, Babalola also reimagines iconic Greek myths, ancient legends from the Middle East, and stories from countries that no longer exist in our world.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Fantastic!
- By Anonymous User on 09-09-20
-
The Last Thing He Told Me
- By: Laura Dave
- Narrated by: Rebecca Lowman
- Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 298
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 269
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 270
Before Owen Michaels disappears, he manages to smuggle a note to his new wife, Hannah: protect her. Hannah knows exactly who Owen needs her to protect - his 16-year-old daughter, Bailey, who lost her mother tragically as a child. And who wants absolutely nothing to do with her new stepmother. As her increasingly desperate calls to Owen go unanswered, his boss is arrested for fraud and the police start questioning her, Hannah realises that her husband isn't who he said he was. And that Bailey might hold the key to discovering Owen's true identity and why he disappeared.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Good start but gets lost and then boring
- By Ms AC Blundy-Mortimer on 27-05-21
-
Writers & Lovers
- By: Lily King
- Narrated by: Stacey Glemboski
- Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 136
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 117
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 117
Casey has ended up back in Massachusetts after a devastating love affair. Her one constant is the novel she has been writing for six years, but at 31 she is in debt and directionless, and feels too old to be that way - it’s strange, not be the youngest kind of adult anymore. Suddenly Casey finds herself at the point of a love triangle, torn between two very different relationships that promise two very different futures.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Lyrical, illogical, illuminating
- By the typist on 17-06-20
-
Firekeeper's Daughter
- By: Angeline Boulley
- Narrated by: Isabella Star LaBlanc
- Length: 14 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 31
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 30
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 30
Eighteen-year-old Daunis Fontaine has never quite fit in, both in her hometown and on the nearby Ojibwe reservation. She dreams of a fresh start at college, but when family tragedy strikes, Daunis puts her future on hold to look after her fragile mother. The only bright spot is meeting Jamie, the charming new recruit on her brother Levi's hockey team. Yet even as Daunis falls for Jamie, she senses the dashing hockey star is hiding something. Everything comes to light when Daunis witnesses a shocking murder, thrusting her into an FBI investigation of a lethal new drug.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Dull
- By rebecca froggatt on 12-06-21
-
Promising Young Women
- By: Caroline O'Donoghue
- Narrated by: Tessa Coates
- Length: 7 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 233
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 211
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 210
Jane Peters is an adrift 20-something by day, and a world-weary agony aunt by night. But when an office party goes too far, Jane dissolves into the high-stakes world of being the Other Woman: a role she has the right advice for, but not the smarts to follow through on. What starts out as a drunken mistake quickly unravels as Jane discovers that sex and power go hand in hand and that it's hard to keep your head when you've become someone else's dirty little secret. And soon, her friendships, her sanity and even her life are put into jeopardy.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
I don’t know what to say. That’s how bad it was
- By M. Smith on 12-02-21
-
Open Water
- By: Caleb Azumah Nelson
- Narrated by: Caleb Azumah Nelson
- Length: 4 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 69
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 58
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 58
Two young people meet at a pub in South East London. Both are Black British, both won scholarships to private schools where they struggled to belong, both are now artists - he a photographer, she a dancer - trying to make their mark in a city that by turns celebrates and rejects them. Tentatively, tenderly, they fall in love. But two people who seem destined to be together can still be torn apart by fear and violence.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Poetic writing style but falls short on plot
- By Mike on 11-04-21
Summary
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
“Bittersweet, sexy, morally fraught.” (The New York Times Book Review)
"Luminous… engrossing and poignant, this is one not to miss." (People, Pick of the Week)
"Fantastic… a book that feels alive on the page." (The Washington Post)
The beloved New York Times best-selling novel about young love and a big secret in a small community, from the author of The Vanishing Half.
Set within a contemporary Black community in Southern California, Brit Bennett's mesmerizing first novel is an emotionally perceptive story about community, love, and ambition. It begins with a secret.
"All good secrets have a taste before you tell them, and if we'd taken a moment to swish this one around our mouths, we might have noticed the sourness of an unripe secret, plucked too soon, stolen and passed around before its season."
It is the last season of high school life for Nadia Turner, a rebellious, grief-stricken, 17-year-old beauty. Mourning her own mother's recent suicide, she takes up with the local pastor's son. Luke Sheppard is 21, a former football star whose injury has reduced him to waiting tables at a diner. They are young; it's not serious. But the pregnancy that results from this teen romance - and the subsequent cover-up - will have an impact that goes far beyond their youth. As Nadia hides her secret from everyone, including Aubrey, her God-fearing best friend, the years move quickly. Soon, Nadia, Luke, and Aubrey are full-fledged adults and still living in debt to the choices they made that one seaside summer, caught in a love triangle they must carefully maneuver, and dogged by the constant, nagging question: What if they had chosen differently? The possibilities of the road not taken are a relentless haunt.
In entrancing, lyrical prose, The Mothers asks whether a "what if" can be more powerful than an experience itself. If, as time passes, we must always live in servitude to the decisions of our younger selves, to the communities that have parented us, and to the decisions we make that shape our lives forever.
Critic reviews
"Brit Bennett's absorbing debut novel, set in Southern California's Black community, gets a sensitive narration by Adenrele Ojo... Ojo's voice is smooth as honey and prickly as thistles when portraying the gossipy mothers who relentlessly poke at the secret until nothing remains hidden." (AudioFile)
More from the same
What listeners say about The Mothers
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Shamane Lee McKnight
- 19-04-20
Amazing Book
Such an amazing book, looking forward to Brit Bennett's next release this summer. I have both listened and read this book and would highly recommend to all.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Punam Madan Patel
- 16-11-20
Emotional and well written
Great story about 2 young girls and their relationships with their mothers and how it affects their lives. The narration is really good and the book is excellent with emotional prose. Easy to listen to.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall3 out of 5 stars
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars
-
Story3 out of 5 stars
- Dohm64
- 15-09-20
Abortion thread felt pro-life and 1-dimensional
This story turns out to be about how an abortion unravels an entire community and I wasn’t expecting that as a contemporary arch. Having LOVED The Vanishing Half, this felt very different
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars
-
Story4 out of 5 stars
- Yellow
- 08-06-21
Interesting journey into motherhood
The story of ’unpregnant’ mothers and their daughters is how I’d describe this book. Are mothers who abandon their children trying to make themselves ‘unpregnant’? The way young girls and women make themselves ‘unpregnant’ through abortion? What’s the cost of cutting that cord between a mother and her child? These are the questions this tender book asks. This is a story so delicately woven. The church mothers as the chorus the final arbiter of this story is so poignant. They live on and on in every generation each dying and then rebirthing.
-
Overall3 out of 5 stars
-
Performance3 out of 5 stars
-
Story3 out of 5 stars
- Wandel
- 20-05-21
Allright
The story is nice for a debut but didn’t sweep me away. And the reader was not my reader. She so explicitly articulated all words separately. Things like ‘they’d’ are pronounced as two words. Annoyed me. Still I finished the book so it wasn’t too bad.
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars
-
Story4 out of 5 stars
- TheRealMrsB
- 06-04-21
Very enjoyable
I enjoyed this book. I loved the way it was written. Narration was well performed. The story handled some challenging themes, which ultimately we all have differing views about. The author presented an insight into a community that was both embracing yet sufficating at the same time.
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars
-
Performance1 out of 5 stars
-
Story4 out of 5 stars
- Candy
- 15-08-20
Spoilt by the narrator!
On the whole I enjoyed this book, I liked the concepts it explored and the story it told. However, it was completely ruined for me by the narrator reading most of it as if to a five-year-old.
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 09-08-20
engaging story
enjoyed listening to this story . loved the ending
characters face heartening life challenges successfully
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- miss kishma samuel
- 15-07-20
loved it
i loved it. such a love story between generations and different types of love. Was captivated from the first chapter until the last.
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story4 out of 5 stars
- T
- 26-06-19
anti abortion message dampens the enjoyment
First of all, the prose is lyrical and beautiful, and the narration is solemn and coy. These are interlocking charactef storylines whivh are realistic and at times overbearingly spiritual. it speaks to a subculture that is dying as previous earlier generations leave this plane of existence. That said, the anti-abortion sentiment leaks throughout. Consistently, it is associated with shame, regret, and wondering of what could have been . . . it is referred to as a sin over and over, and the character who chooses reproductive freedom is ostracized from her community and family. Because of this, I am not sure I can recommend this book in good faith because I feel that too much of popular culture ferishizes and celebrates what is a alreqdy a heavy private decision. It is too easy to portray this aspect of abortion and many many many times the author felt it necessary to repeat these sentinents in an unnecessary way. The book is beautiful and ugly simultaneously, but in attempting to portray the nuances, the author relies too much on the negative aspects.
19 people found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- LLC
- 30-04-18
Great story!
Great story about innonence, regrets and life coming full circle. Great addition to my audible collection!
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall2 out of 5 stars
-
Performance3 out of 5 stars
-
Story2 out of 5 stars
- Valerie H.
- 20-08-20
Disappointed
This book is nothing but pro life propaganda. If I had known this I would not have wasted my time and listened to this book. It is a good thing that I read The Vanishing Half first because that book was excellent. This book is a total waste of time. However the narration was very good.
6 people found this helpful
-
Overall1 out of 5 stars
-
Performance1 out of 5 stars
-
Story1 out of 5 stars
- Dario Sartori
- 27-12-16
anti-choice propaganda
This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?
it should come it a warning. it is for the anti-choice public only...and one that heavily leans misogynistic at that
Has The Mothers turned you off from other books in this genre?
no
How could the performance have been better?
by not implying the the life of a successful, well traveled female lawyer life would have been better if she stayed behind with her looser drunk boyfriend
You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?
no, no redeeming qualities. how can one prescribe the idea of dismissing academic and career success that elevates one above their conditions. horrible message for girls. that hard work ans success will not give you happiness... only babies can do that. ouch!!!!
Any additional comments?
I kept listening the book thinking, that the story would turn around, surely... it did not.
20 people found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- dcm
- 22-02-18
Great book
I was able to relate to so much in this book. great voice and writing.
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story4 out of 5 stars
- A
- 24-01-19
An amazing story that takes you on a ride
I loved this story and this audio book! The author took me on an emotional roller coaster of a girl growing into a woman, the mistakes she makes, the relationships she develops, and the acceptance of the life and choices she has lived.
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story4 out of 5 stars
- Linzie Ezzell
- 07-02-18
Like Looking in a Mirror
The book is beautiful in a tragic, train-wreck-you-can’t-look-away-from sort of way. Listening to this book felt like exactly what it feels like to grow up as a Christian-adjacent woman. I’m not a black woman, but I strongly suspect Ojo got that feeling exactly right too. I was saddened by my own life while listening to the character’s lives play out before me. It makes me want to assign this book to men in Feminist Studies classes in college.
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall2 out of 5 stars
-
Performance2 out of 5 stars
-
Story2 out of 5 stars
- A. Fenrick
- 27-10-16
Preachy Cautionary Tale about Abortion
While the story was engaging enough, ultimately it was too preachy for me. The chapters start with church mothers talking but honestly those sections detracted rather than added to the story. The characters weren't really believable to me. I didn't care for the way the reader over enunciated words. In sum, I just didn't like this book
11 people found this helpful
-
Overall2 out of 5 stars
-
Performance3 out of 5 stars
-
Story2 out of 5 stars
- Amber
- 07-11-16
Lacks understanding, depth and compassion
Would you try another book from Brit Bennett and/or Adenrele Ojo?
I would absolutely not try another book by the author.
Has The Mothers turned you off from other books in this genre?
No.
What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?
The reading was fine.
Any additional comments?
This book failed to capture any real nuance, understanding or compassion for the main character. There are already enough voices projecting onto women how they feel or ought to feel about abortion, especially by people who have never faced the decision themselves. Unfortunately now there is one more. The writing wasn't anything special. Lots of attempts at illuminating analogies that fell flat.
9 people found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- LATOYA LEWIS
- 02-05-19
Why friendships go awry over a man
"We all have loved an ain't shit man. 2 types of men in this world, men that are and men who ain't about shit. A girl nowadays got get up close to tell if her man ain't shit and by then it may be too late. It's something to love somebody that can never love you back... it's kind of freeing in it's own way. Ain't nothing wrong with loving an ain't shit man as long as you get it out of your system. " This book is my far one of the best books I've read this year. I'm beating myself up for overlooking it. Two friends Nadia and Audrey, go through some of the worst things, like molestation, and death of a mother. Nadia and Luke the pastors son, messed around when they were young and got pregnant, not wanting to disappoint their family they had an abortion. Luke's parent's give him the money for the abortion, and his mom starts to treat Nadia bad. Aubrey came into the picture after her mother's boyfriend was molesting her, she left her moms and went to live with her lesbian sister and mate. The girls became the best of friends, then Nadia goes off to college and lives a great life. while away luke and Aubrey starts dating, later getting married. Time had flown by and they never told Aubrey that they had something between them. The story gets juicier......I'm not gonna tell you it all, go get you a copy and read this book. #book21of2019 #bookworm #whatsnext #highlyrecommended
2 people found this helpful