AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: Bloodroot

TITLE: Bloodroot
AUTHOR: Amy Greene
NARRATOR: Emily Janice Card (as Myra Lamb), Lorna Raver (as Byrdie Lamb), and Jessie Bernstein and Rebecca Lowman (as Myra's twins)
PUBLISHER: Random House Audio
DATE OF PUBLICATION: January 12, 2010
FORMAT: Unabridged CDs (13 hours, 34 minutes)
GENRE: Historical Fiction, Contemporary Fiction
ISBN: 978-0307713230

SYNOPSIS FROM GOODREADS: 

Bloodroot is that rare sort of family saga that feels intimate instead of epic. Set in Tennessee’s Smoky Mountains, it’s told largely in tandem voices that keep watchful eyes on Myra Lamb. She is a child of the mountain, tied to the land in ways that mystify and enchant those around her. There’s magic to Myra--perhaps because she has the remarkable blue eyes foretold by a nearly-forgotten family curse--but little fantasy to her life. Bloodroot is as much about the Lambs as it is about a place, one that becomes ever more vivid as generations form, break free, and knit back together. Its characters speak plainly but true, they are resilient and flawed and beautiful, and there's a near-instant empathy in reading their stories, which--even in their most visceral moments--are alluring and wonderful.

MY REVIEW:

This is Greene's debut novel. I saw it recommended on a list as one of the Best Top 10 Debut Novels, so I decided it try it. It was also rated as one of Amazon's Best Books of the Month for January 2010.

It is a sad, touching story. The book is unique in the way that Greene uses six voices to tell the story through four generations, and it is set in the Appalachian Mountains of eastern Tennessee. Greene did a great job in developing the characters, and I felt myself feeling their happiness and sorrow throughout the book.

I intended to give a higher rating of 4 stars to the book, but there was an animal abuse scene in the last quarter of the book that disturbed me so much that it almost ruined the book for me. I could have done without that. I am glad that I pushed on and continued the book because the ending is very satisfying.

The audiobook narrators were superb! 

MY RATING: 3.5 stars!

This book qualifies as:
#10 for my 2011 100+ Reading Challenge
#7 for my 2011 Audio Book Challenge
#7 for my 2011 "Whisper Stories in My Ear" Challenge