Details Audiobook:
- author: Colby Cedar Smith
- full title: Call me Athena - Girl from Detroit
- narrators: Gail Shalan; Hope Newhouse; Ramiz Monsef
- genre: historical fiction, poetry, novel in verse
- topics: #immigrants, #greek, #french #love #comingofage
- publisher: Andrews McMeel Audio
- publish date: 17.08.2021
- timing: 4:32:13
Details book:
- publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
- publish date: 17.08.2021
- pages: 576
My Rating of the Audiobook:
- content: 💙💙💙💙💙
- narration: 💙💙💙💙💙
One of the nominees in POETRY category of the GoodReads Choice Awards 2021 - opening round: List of my Reviews
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| Goodreads |
Excerpt from the Book:
I wish
so fast
it could rotate
the earth.
I wish
I could reverse
the months, the days,
the hours.
Go back
to the beginning.
I wish
it could have been
me.
My Thoughts:
At first, I was skeptical about this novel in verse. Because with those, it’s not always what you expect it to be. But this elegant and deeply touching novel surprised me. Despite this is a full novel in verse, it still feels lightweight, it is easy to understand, and the language remains beautiful.
Three people, three stories, each different. Call Me Athena is a story about immigration, love, and coming-of-age. It is a story of Mary, her Greek father Gio, and French mother Jeanne. The story spans from 1915 to 1934 and describes two quite different time periods: First World War in Europe and the Great Depression in America.
I listened to the audio version and read the ebook at the same time. Which one to choose depends on the reader. I liked both versions, but the audiobook was so much more. Three great narrators added a lot to the story with their beautifully accented narration. In the end, I would recommend both versions, depends on what you like. But getting both versions would also be an excellent choice.
About the Author:
Colby Cedar Smith grew up in the Midwest, and she still dreams of the
cold northern woods and the smell of lake water. She holds degrees from
Colorado College and Harvard University. She has been a finalist for the
The Iowa Review Poetry Award, the New Letters Poetry Prize, and the
Colorado Prize for Poetry, and a semifinalist for the 92Y “Discovery”
Boston Review Poetry Prize. In 2020, Colby received a NJ Individual
Artist Fellowship in Poetry. Her poems have been published in Bellevue Literary Review, Harper Palate, Mid-American Review, Pleiades, Potomac Review, Saranac Review, and The Iowa Review.
Colby lives with her husband and two children in Hopewell, New Jersey,
and teaches creative writing at the Arts Council of Princeton.You can
read more of her work at www.colbycedarsmith.com.
