Who is Martha?
Written by Marjana Gaponenko
Narrated by Allan Robertson
3.5/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this audiobook
In this rollicking novel, 96-year-old ornithologist Luka Levadski foregoes treatment for lung cancer and moves from Ukraine to Vienna to make a grand exit in a luxury suite at the Hotel Imperial. He reflects on his past while indulging in Viennese cakes and savoring music in a gilded concert hall.
Levadski was born in 1914, the same year that Martha—the last of the now-extinct passenger pigeons—died. Levadski himself has an acute sense of being the last of a species. He may have devoted much of his existence to studying birds, but now he befriends a hotel butler and another elderly guest, who also doesn't have much time left, to share in the lively escapades of his final days.
This gloriously written tale, in which Levadski feels "his heart pounding at the portals of his brain", mixes piquant wit with lofty musings about life, friendship, aging, and death.
Related to Who is Martha?
Related audiobooks
The Morning Gift Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Classic Fifty Poems Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The Raven Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Pure Wit: The Revolutionary Life of Margaret Cavendish Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anna Pavlova Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCollected Poems of Rupert Brooke Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Life of Mozart Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Eugene Onegin (Unabridged) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Black Benedicts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Phantom Lover and Other Dark Tales by Vernon Lee Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEdgar A Poe: The True Story of the Life & Time of the Great Author Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBlood Hunger Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Love in the Afternoon Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEmpty Theatre Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Bookman [Dramatized Adaptation]: The Bookman Histories 1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fall of the House of Usher Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Age of Innocence Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern, volume 6 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStories From Wagner Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDesire for the Star Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Chopin: the Man and His Music Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAs You Like It by Shakespeare, a Summary of the Play Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOvid: A Very Short Introduction Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Deceit: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Clairvoyant of the Small: The Life of Robert Walser Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Master Builder Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Death (and Apple Strudel) (A European Voyage Cozy Mystery—Book 2) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Monk: A Romance Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKarolina And The Torn Curtain Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
General Fiction For You
A Court of Mist and Fury Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Court of Wings and Ruin Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Hunger Games Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Court of Thorns and Roses Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5All the Light We Cannot See: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good Omens: A Full Cast Production Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It Ends with Us Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Name of the Wind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bell Jar Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Court of Frost and Starlight Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5And Then There Were None Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Alchemist Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Finn Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5American Gods: The Tenth Anniversary Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Gods [TV Tie-In]: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dutch House: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Man Called Ove: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Silmarillion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Farseer: Assassin's Apprentice Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Leave the World Behind: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/511/22/63: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wishful Drinking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Finding Me: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Their Eyes Were Watching God Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Overstory Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Who is Martha?
14 ratings1 review
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5I really have no clue what to say about this novel. It just seemed a bunch of words put together. I really wanted to enjoy this, but in the end it was just a long slog that just did not want to end. Dying Ukrainian ornithologist goes to Vienna and stays in a fancy hotel. Some really gorgeous and inventive descriptions of bird calls and music. Luka himself seems by turns daft and petulant. I just did not enjoy this.