05 June 2013

Audio Book Review: My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor

As I mentioned in my last audio book review, I've lucked my way onto a special list from Random House Audio, and I have to say that listening to Sonia Sotomayor's My Beloved World was as pleasant a surprise as I've ever had in my audio book experience.  I never would have picked this book up to read, much less purchased the audio book for myself, which in retrospect makes me something of a fool.

This book was everything that I had hoped Maya Angelou's memoir would be and wasn't: immediately engaging, beautifully read, and exceptionally written. If I had been reading this book instead of listening to it, there would have been much underlining and dog-earing of pages to mark the lovely passages.Rita Moreno performs the audio and she is definitely one of the better readers I've ever listened to.  The prologue is read by Sotomayor herself, and while it's nice to hear her actual voice, Moreno was definitely the perfect choice for reading the rest of the book.

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that a Supreme Court justice can write well, but I was.  Good writing isn't usually a hallmark of memoirs with a political bent, and so many lawyers I know run on at the mouth without actually saying much, that it was actually a double surprise. I particularly enjoyed learning about her younger years up through her time at Princeton and the various struggles she faced along the way. There was the rare occasion when I felt that Sotomayor, in summing up the end of a couple of chapters, was a tad too didactic, but overall this was just terrific.  Underdog stories are good, and hers is certainly one of the great underdog stories of our time. I highly recommend it to anybody interested in memoir, strong women, feisty characters, the immigrant experience, minority rights, or simply a damn good story. 

6 comments:

  1. I don't think this is one I would pick up on my own either, but your glowing review is certainly making me consider it!

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    1. I wish somebody had told me about this book months ago. I definitely recommend the audio if you have more time for listening than reading with your new little one!

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  2. Thank you for reminding me about this! I had been really excited about reading it when it first came out, but somehow seemed to let it slip away. Her story is so fascinating to me in just the bits and pieces I've heard, I'm sure the memoir as a whole is wonderful.

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    1. It really is wonderful. As a bookseller, I was aware of this book when it was first published but I didn't really pay attention to it as I didn't think it would be my cup of tea. I couldn't have been more wrong!

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  3. "I highly recommend it to anybody interested in memoir, strong women, feisty characters, the immigrant experience, minority rights, or simply a damn good story."

    Since you just described me, I guess I better purchase this one and get busy reading!!! Enjoyed your review!

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    1. I love it when books surprise me like that. If you read or listen to it, I hope you enjoy it like I did and I look forward to your review.

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Please, sir, may I have some more? (Comments, that is!)