brilliant and moving

a fantastic book from start to the end..very moving..loved it.highly recommend this book. brilliantly written and narrated.

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The reality of the story line

Narrators were not the best and detracted from the story however it was a good listen

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a Story that must be told

This is a story that has to be told.. and i thank the author to have written it.
the story of escape from oppression and in the case of Saleem, the boy hero.. focus, determination and some luck from an angle. Help from strangers.. at personal costs..the underworld and dangers ..
Read and listen to the book and audio and it makes us more aware the dangers for these people where only the lucky ones survive.
It is a great story.. please change the presenters.. especially the man .. he sounded like a robot.
one of the best audio books i have listened to..

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Amazingly tough reality of family fleeing Taliban rule

The storyline is at times amazingly gentle, beautifully describing life under new Taliban rulership, but equally beautiful in describing short years before the violence takes over completely, the history of a Muslim family, the courtship of arranged marriages for women, in particular, but young men of ‚good family‘ are not free either to choose their bride… the careful negotiation of arranged marriages, the to and fro of the dance between matriarchs when arranging a match.
Thea only thing I disliked, at times quite a bit, was the male narration of Saleem‘s storyline, at times it lacked the narrative poise of Fereiba‘s story. It tended to feel only ‚read‘ rather than produced, thus lacking colour and the lively depiction of Fereiba‘s character, although the written prose deserved better narration, Saleem‘s narrative was equal to his mother’s storyline, if the male counterpart had been more lively, the book would deserve three perfect 5s.

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Captivating story but poor narrantion

I really enjoyed this story. It was eye opening to understand what migrants face when trying to find a safe life for their family. The female narration was excellent but the male
Narration was the worst I’ve ever heard. It sounded like a robot talking and at times I thought it had been done using AI it was so poor. There was no intonation at all, no emotion. After the beautiful female narration this male narration nearly ruined the book for me as it was painful to listen to but I persisted as I enjoyed the story. I would recommend reading the book rather than listening to it so you don’t have to suffer listening to this narrator and ruining the story for you.

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Captivating, absorbing and heartbreaking.

A wonderful story with soul trawling adventures and tales of woe and glory. Nadia’s work is truly captivating. You feel as though you are reliving the steps of a previously trodden path.

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The most beautiful story I have ever heard

The story is so beautiful, so heart breaking and it really put you in the shoes of people that have made similar journey for decades.

Being an Afghan it is particularly difficult to listen to this story. I certainly needed to take breaks when it become too much and too real.

Important side note: the voice actors are not Afghan and their pronunciation of Afghan words was god-aweful. The voice actor for Salim being the absolute worst offender. Why the producers could not make the effort of finding two Afghans to voice the story is beyond me. Nadia Hashimi had created a masterpiece and you have to listen to the most emotional parts trying to enjoy the truly terrible voice acting and pronunciation.

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Enjoyable

I really enjoyed the story line and the emotion of this story, but disappointed with the abrupt ending.

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The dreadful plight of refugees

It was well done and a very compelling story but the ending simply didn’t satisfy.

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A Brilliant Listen

I really liked this book, a difficult story that is all too true, told with compassion but very sad at times. It really makes you think differently about refugees and how it could have been any one of us. Perhaps it should be played in UK schools. I liked most of the narrative apart from when the man was depicting Salim and other voices. They were a bit gruff, comical and quieter than the rest of his audio. I had to turn the volume up at these parts sometimes and down again afterwards. His normal narrating voice was very good though. The woman also narrated well and was easy to listen to. Despite that I would still really recommend this audio book. I hope there will be a sequel as it stopped a bit ubruptiy.

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2 people found this helpful