carlamo - reviewed on 9/12/2010 + 269 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 2

I really enjoyed listening to this audio book. The narrator did a great job of differentiating between all the characters, male and female, with many different accents. It took a while to get acclimated to her Australian accent, but once I did, I had no problem understanding her. This happened at about the same time that I caught on to the flow of the book, as it went from past to present, and back again. Once I saw what the author was doing - how she was telling the story - I began to look forward to that "Oh! I get it!" moment in each chapter, as the pieces began to fall in place.

If you already know a bit of Hebrew or Yiddish, be prepared to puzzle out a few words here and there, as the Australian pronunciation is a bit different than what I've heard in America. If you don't know any at all, don't worry - the meanings of the various words are explained, along with the story.

All in all, a remarkable book. I shaved off half a point and gave it 4.5 stars instead of 5.0 because I didn't really like (or believe) the romantic aspect - a small point, but I felt that, because it was somewhat shallow, it detracted from the story, rather than added to it. The ending seemed a bit hurried after the slow and deliberate pace of the body of the book, but again, a small point compared to the wonderful experience of listening to the whole.

VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

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