Audiobook Review: Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate

Before We Were Yours is an interesting story, both heartbreaking and heartwarming.

Dual perspective is used very effectively, with our first narrator being Rill, beginning in 1939 when she was twelve years old. Rill is put in charge of her four younger siblings when her mother has difficulty delivering her sixth child and must be taken to the hospital. Rill and her family live on a riverboat traveling up and down the Mississippi trying to survive. They are "river gypsies." While her parents are gone, all five children are taken away to a boarding house serving as an orphanage. They are told they will see their parents soon, but that is a lie.

The second perspective is Avery Stafford, a woman who is about to have it all. She is a successful lawyer who is engaged to be married. The wedding promises to be one of South Carolina's most lavish affairs. We are in the present day, and Avery's father, the senator, is grooming Avery to be his replacement if he must retire. Avery is on a political outing with her father when she meets an old woman in a nursing home named May. When May tells Avery she knows her grandmother, Judy, Avery thinks she must be confused. May simply didn't associate with the kind of people that Judy Stafford did. And Grandma Judy is now in a nursing home suffering from Alzheimer's, so she isn't much help.

Avery is compelled to find out why May thinks she knows Judy. As we are exposed to the absurdly harsh and unjust treatment Rill and her siblings are subjected to, we follow Avery as she secretly works to uncover her family's hidden past, revelations that will possibly redefine all of Avery's hopes and dreams for her future.

Before We Were Yours moves at a pretty slow pace and drags even more in the middle, but the story that unfolds is so unbelievable that you can't stop reading. Because it is based on true events, it is even more fascinating.

Each perspective is narrated by a different person, and both of them read too slowly for my taste. It is a story from the South, so the slow, southern drawl was appropriate, I guess, but I'm too impatient. I had to speed it up.

Overall, Before We Were Yours is a worthwhile read, and I would definitely recommend it. Depending on your taste, you may want to choose to read it rather than listen, but either way, you will enjoy the experience.

Published by Ballentine, 2017, Random House Audio, 2018
Audiobook obtained from the library
352 pages

Rating: 4/5

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Audiobook Review: The Atomic City Girls, by Janet Beard

The Atomic City Girls is another World War II book that covers an aspect of which I was unaware and kept my interest as well.

We've all heard of the Manhattan Project and the research and development that took place at Los Alamos in New Mexico. But much of the actual production of the uranium was done in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, a town that didn't exist until 1942, when the Army Corps of Engineers built it just for this purpose.

Normal, everyday citizens came from all over the country to work here--not realizing what they were doing, except that they were helping to win the war. The Atomic City Girls is the story of June Walker, eighteen years old, who moved to Oak Ridge because it was a good job with good pay. June's roommate is Cici, who is much more worldly and experienced than June. Cici is at Oak Ridge to get a rich husband. There are many more available men here than in the general population. June eventually meets one of the scientists, Sam, and they begin an unlikely relationship.

Another point of view comes from Joe, an African-American construction worker. The conditions for these workers was, as you would expect, not nearly as nice as their white counterparts. But the pay was good, so they put up with a lot.

Security is everything. The workers are constantly being reminded to not talk about what they are doing, even to those in Oak Ridge. And it is a breach in that security that eventually turns everything upside down for June.

The Atomic City Girls is well researched and interestingly written. All of the characters are distinct and add to the rich atmosphere that Beard has created. I thought there were some slow spots, particularly before June meets Sam. Also, June has a sister, who works at Oak Ridge, that is just kind of left hanging. June never sees her, except a casual mention at Christmas and at the end of the book. If you needed her for the end of the book, she should have played at least some part earlier in the story.

These are minor niggles, and if you are interested in World War II history, The Atomic City Girls should definitely be placed on your list. Xe Sands, the narrator, does a superb job, so I highly recommend the audio version.

Published by HarperCollins and Blackstone Audio, 2018
Audiobook obtained from the library
384 pages

Rating: 4.5/5

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Audio Book Review: Flight Behavior, by Barbara Kingsolver

No one I've ever read writes more beautifully than Barbara Kingsolver. Her use of simile and metaphor, and her vivid descriptions are almost like listening to a symphony. However, I didn't enjoy Flight Behavior as much as her other novels.

Flight Behavior is a novel about a situation. Dellarobia is our main character. She finds millions of monarch butterflies on her mountain in Tennessee. She tells the story, as the mountain is discovered by tourists, the rest of her family, scientists, and the press. She ends up helping the scientist, Ovid , with his research. Of course, the cause of these butterflies wintering in Tennessee instead of Mexico is believed to be global warming.

Dellarobia is feeling restless. She was married as a teen because she got pregnant, then lost the baby. Since then she and her husband Cub have had two children. All under the thumb of Cub's parents, who own the sheep farm where Cub and Dellarobia live. Dellarobia, unlike most kids in her town, dreamed of going to college, but those dreams are over.

The sleepy, mostly impoverished little town of  Feathertown and it's lively church congregation, also play a pivotal role in Flight Behavior. To add to the drama, Cub's father needs money so desperately that he wants to log the mountain -- where the monarchs are! Dellarobia tells it all. Her past, her developing relationship with Ovid, her struggle to put food on the table, and her need for more in her life are all vividly and beautifully described, as only Kingsolver can.

The setting is beautiful. Dellarobia is a multidimensional character who seemed like a friend by the end of Flight Behavior. All the other characters, while not fully developed, serve to "finish" Dellarobia's story.

But, as I said, we get a very detailed and beautiful description of a unique situation, but not much else happens. I still really enjoyed Flight Behavior. But if you are looking for a riveting plot, you won't find it here.

I could listen to Kingsolver read to me forever. This is the second book of hers that I've experienced in the author's voice (The Lacuna was the first), and I cannot recommend these audio books enough.

If you haven't read anything by Kingsolver yet, I would recommend The Poisonwood Bible or The Lacuna before you try this one. If you are (or become) a Kingsolver fan, as I am, then you won't want to miss Flight Behavior.

Published by Harper, 2012
Audiobook obtained from the library
448 pages

Rating: 4/5

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