Blackbird: A Childhood Lost and Found

This book tells about the abuse experienced by Jennifer Lauck at the hands of a stepmother. It is heart wrenching but at the same time, compelling. I love the writer's point of view - from the eyes of a child. In the listening, you understand what is happening to the child, but when you realize that the child doesn't always understand, it makes you feel restless - like you want to rescue her. This was a good listen and I would recommend it to those who are fans of memoir.

I would have enjoyed this more as a short story. It seemed to go on and on in a monotone and never built empathy in me.

I'm not really sure what made me select this particular title, it's out of my usual genre, however I am very glad I did. This is the kind of story that stays with you. I found myself thinking about it all day long. The story is sad without weighting you down or being depressing. It was a wonderful story and I am now interested in anything else written by this particular author.

I listened with rapt attention but I kept waiting for some moment of enlightenment or some rise in tension in the narrative -- none of this occurred. This is a rambling, first person memoir of a horrific and unfortunate childhood. But Lauck never gives up a satisfactory ending and I left feeling unsatisfied and "is that all there is?" I detested the oft-used gambit of Lauck's writing, "There is the sidewalk, white and cool..." "There's my mother..." "There's the teacher..." Maybe Lauck doesn't know how to write like a child, but this didn't do it for me either. It's an odd tactic and, while acceptable at first, it got old and distracting after several disks. OK, but not a barnburner by any means. Don't expect a happy ending or much of an ending at all.

This is a touching story told well. The audiobook is read by the author, who inflects as her childhood self, depicted in the book, would speak. Although the impression may seem monotone or unsophisticated, I think the reading style helped me absorb the story. This book snuck up on me; it started out modestly interesting and ended with me completely wrapped up in the young Jennifer's struggles.

I loved this book. There were several times I had tears in my eyes just listening to what this family, especially Jennifer, was going through. The author/reader's voice may be monotone, but I thought that her voice actually added emotion to the story. There were certain sentences where she sounded just like a little girl, which I felt drew me in even more to the story. I became very comfortable with her voice. If you enjoyed this book, you must listen to Still Waters to find out how it all ends up!!

The book was gripping, but not well read. The reader is quite monotone which makes the book move slowly. Overall, I would recommend the book as a story of a childhood lost well-told from the child's perspective.

Powerful and gripping.....made me cry and laugh out loud more than once.

This is an excellent book for people who either had comfortable childhoods or for those who thought theirs were rough.

Wow! Slow start, but once it got moving it brought the full range of emotions to the surface. Very powerful.