Saturday, June 21, 2008

Madapple by Christina Meldrum (Audiobook)

I recently found a new TEEN audiobook sitting on my desk... someone suggesting that I wanted to listen to it. So, I get disc 1 out, put it in my computer and turn up the volume... The only thing I get out of it was that the family is from Denmark... so I decide that I need to wait, so I can turn the volume up louder and be able to listen more closely.

On my dinner break I take Madapple with me, and crank up the volume. As I'm driving home for break I'm introduced to sisters, Sara and Maren - in 1987. Sara has a daughter named Susanne and is pregnant, and Maren just reveals that she is also pregnant, only 3 or so months behind Sara.

Then the story jumps forward in time to 2007 and there is a courtroom and I'm utterly confused! But I stick with the story, it's got my attention and I want to know what's going on!

The story jumps backward in time to 2003, Maren's daughters name is Aslaug, and they are gathering plants - which you find out as you keep listening/reading that the plants throughout the story are very important all the way through.

To sum things up, Aslaug finds herself alone, her mother has died of cancer... so Aslaug finds her aunt and cousins and lives with them.... but the story gets complicated after that! Aslaug was raised by her mother alone, and they rarely left the house... Now Aslaug is living with her Aunt and cousins in a world she didn't know even existed.

After I was done listening to this book, I found myself sitting in my living room just thinking about Aslaug. This was a wonderful book. There are some "grown up" scenes toward the end of the story, so I would recommend this for older teens to adults. If you don't like books that jump from one time to another and back again, this story isn't for you. It goes back and forth between the "present (2007)" and the "past (2003/4, 2006)".

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