Alexandra Marshall

A quick visit to Sarajevo.

I bought this from Audible and at only just 2 hours, it was a quick listen. In print it is apparently only 51 pages, although it isn't actually available in print, only audio and Kindle.

Marina is a world class figure skater and is invited to perform in the hometown of her birth, Sarajevo. She had been adopted by an American couple after the war and it would be the first time that she had visited the country of her birth.

It was a good, if brief picture of Sarajevo during the war. The taxi driver explained how things were and pointed out some of the remaining evidence of gunfire and destruction.
The description of Marina's skating demonstration was also excellent.
On the other hand, I struggled to piece together all the characters and still don't know who exactly Sara was or why Marina seemed not to know her father very well (One of the disadvantages of audio, as it's hard to backtrack). I'm also surprised that Marina decided not to visit the orphanage from which she was adopted, as the reader/listener would obviously be hoping that she would.

All in all, I found this to be 'good in parts', interesting, but not particularly memorable.… (plus d'informations)

This is an excellent book, a grown up story of married love. With a 14 year age difference, Gregory and Audrey had always felt like contemporaries. When Audrey, a 49 year old nurse at the top of her profession, applies to medical school and is accepted without telling Gregory, who at 63, is dreaming of retiring and traveling the world, hard feelings and hard choices abound. The two daughters, Val and Sally, provide energy and humor. I found the writing graceful and real and simply loved this book.… (plus d'informations)