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    Five-Carat Soul
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    Five-Carat Soul
    Unavailable
    Five-Carat Soul
    Audiobook8 hours

    Five-Carat Soul

    Written by James McBride

    Narrated by Arthur Morey, Nile Bullock, Dominic Hoffman and Prentice Onayemi

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    “A vivid, often funny story collection that examines serious topics like race, war, history, and self-identity—all with a deft hand and a fluid, musical voice.” —Entertainment Weekly

    Exciting new fiction from James McBride, the first since his National Book Award–winning novel The Good Lord Bird.
     
    The stories in Five-Carat Soul—none of them ever published before—spring from the place where identity, humanity, and history converge. They're funny and poignant, insightful and unpredictable, imaginative and authentic—all told with McBride's unrivaled storytelling skill and meticulous eye for character and detail. McBride explores the ways we learn from the world and the people around us. An antiques dealer discovers that a legendary toy commissioned by Civil War General Robert E. Lee now sits in the home of a black minister in Queens. Five strangers find themselves thrown together and face unexpected judgment. An American president draws inspiration from a conversation he overhears in a stable. And members of The Five-Carat Soul Bottom Bone Band recount stories from their own messy and hilarious lives. 
     
    As McBride did in his National Book award-winning The Good Lord Bird and his bestselling The Color of Water, he writes with humor and insight about how we struggle to understand who we are in a world we don't fully comprehend. The result is a surprising, perceptive, and evocative collection of stories that is also a moving exploration of our human condition.

    Editor's Note

    Full of memorable characters…

    James McBride is a master storyteller. With this novel, he delivers on both style and substance. Named one of President Obama’s favorite books of 2017, this short story collection is full of memorable characters, each on their own surprising journey.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateSep 26, 2017
    ISBN9780525497974
    Unavailable
    Five-Carat Soul
    Author

    James McBride

    James McBride is a civil servant in the United Kingdom who has been deployed on operations in Afghanistan. This is his fi rst novel, the culmination of ten years of writing and research. He and his wife, Elaine, have three children and live in Barry, on the coast in South Wales.

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    Reviews for Five-Carat Soul

    4/5

    45 ratings4 reviews

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    • 5/5
      4.5 McBride shows us in this fantastic grouping of stories, a wide range of experiences from the viewpoint of blacks. They cover different points of history, from the Civil War and on. The Five-Carat Soul was the band name of a group of youths, starting from the age of nine, telling of life in the Bottoms, the section of a town in Pennsylvania that they called home. There are several of these connecting stories, narrated by a young boy called, Butter. Chronicling daily life but also some notable happenings. I enjoyed these stories, very realistically portrayed and experiencing them from the viewpoint of a young boy made them even more noteworthy.I did, however, have three favorites. The first story about a white toy collector who covers and has the opportunity it to acquire a one of a kind train set. Made to order for Robert E. Lee, who gave it to his young son, it is discovered in the home of a black preacher. What happens is surprising and the ending even more so. Two stories made me cry. One set shortly after the Civil War and concerns a young boy named Abe Lincoln. Some of the black soldiers tell him his daddy, Abe Lincoln would be visiting soon. The boy believes him, and in fact Abe does come, accompanied by someone unexpected. The ending of the story is also unexpected. The second story is the Christmas dance and the story within is told by a few men who had been part of the Buffalo Soldiers. Again the ending is unexpected and quite beautiful.This may be my favorite book of short stories this year. Though will admit that I didn't care for the last, those were a bit of a let down. All in all though these stories are in and of themselves complete, something that in shorts is not always the case. I think McBride is a natural born storyteller, which is what makes this genre a perfect fit.ARC from Edelweiss.
    • 4/5
      These stories cover a range of places and time periods. Some of them are poignant, charming and surprising, while others are heavy handed and clumsy. For me, the better stories are at the beginning of the book and I particularly liked the first story "The Underground Railroad Box Car Set". Unfortunately, I found "Mr. P and the Wind" to be an unbearable allegory with talking zoo animals. Since it was the final, and longest, story in the book it left me with a poor impression. However, overall there was a lot more good than bad with this collection.
    • 3/5
      Not the most remarkable collection of short stories, but I liked the structure and the use of different readers on the audio. Mr. P and the Wind was my fave.
    • 4/5
      This group of short stories are very wide ranging in their subject matter and style. They use different times in history, deal with fantasy, animals communicating, and mostly deal with the black experience. McBride won the National Book Award for "The Good Lord Bird" which I read and thoroughly enjoyed. This collection deals with black soldiers in both the Civil and World War II. He also has a very creative story about a toy collector and a train created specifically for General Robert E. Lee. Not al the stories work perfectly but there is no denying the creativity. This is a good introduction to McBride and if these work for you, then you should definitely read "The Good Lord Bird".