Told from a black man's POV. He starts young at a school in the south and ends in a city in the north. It's not a feel good tale, but it is interesting. It's tragic how some things don't seem like they have gotten any better since this was written.

Well, OB was definitely right about this one. My attempt to read the text version was not nearly as exciting as listening to Joe Morton angrily declaiming in my ears. So I'm back to the audio, but it is slow going, because there is so much emotion that I can only take it in with very small sips. 

I wish I could find a clip of him on one of the rants, but you can get an idea of his cadence and emotion in this sample of him reading Ellison's explanation of invisibility. 

I started this audio during my long drive this weekend and MY GOD my jaw was dropped through most of it. Everything about Joe Morton's performance just floored me. 

The downside is that it's so dense with ideas and imagery and emotion that there is no way I can continue it solely on audio, since I'm normally listening while I multitask doing other things, so I won't have the luxury of staring blankly at a highway while spending 90% of my attention on what's soaking into my brain through my ears. Plus, I want to be able to stop and consider what I'm reading, and to look up some of the references. 

So I've put the ebook on hold at the library, and will suspend the audio until my hold comes up and I can both read and listen to this together. Hopefully it'll only be a couple of weeks. 

We're in the middle of our third week of homeschooling, and it hasn't gone as well as I would have hoped. I don't know how well I'm doing with reinforcing skills; Spanish is especially challenging, as I can't provide him with the conversational opportunities that he requires. His teachers have been trying to provide support, but they've inundated us with so many emails that I just don't have the energy to wade through them.

All that being said, the experience hasn't been without its fun parts. Today I decided to build my son's reading/ELA activity around Ray Bradbury's "A Sound of Thunder," which was part of the Tales in Time collection that I had (finally!) finished reading. He was a little uncertain, but agreed to go along with it, and given the choice between reading it on his own or having it read to him he chose the latter, so I spent about a half hour reading the story to him.

And I had an absolute blast doing so. Though for a couple of minutes I worried that he was drifting off, he was engaged throughout the story, and at one point asked a question that anticipated a plot development a few paragraphs later. His review of the story was less than glowing (it earned a solid "meh" from him) and we had a little difficulty with the writing activity afterward, he seemed to enjoy the experience. Best of all, as I was tucking him in tonight he asked if we could read another story for tomorrow. I couldn't have asked for a better confirmation of what was the highlight of my day.

Husband disappears (Josh), Aubrey is arrested and ultimately released for lack of evidence. Fast forward 5 years, Aubrey's mother in law (Daisy) is moving to have Josh declared dead. He also has a 5 million life insurance policy.
Lots of going back and forth between present and past. Lots of narratives (Josh, Daisy, Chase, and the main one- Aubrey). Aubrey's got the tragic backstory (orphaned, foster care kid, poor). She lacked a backbone and continued to tolerate toxic people- her (foster) brother Tyler and MIL Daisy. Daisy hated Aubrey (and for no good reason except she didn't like Aubrey's mom when she was alive). Daisy was the stereotypical MIL, but dialed up to 100 (was that really necessary?). The whole "poor me" got on my nerves.
And just as I thought I know everything there was THAT TWIST. Really?! And then the epilogue. Geez Louise. I still have questions that really weren't answered (what was Megan's deal?)
(I thought this would fit a category for Romance-opoly, but sadly it doesn't).