Artist Marina Abramovic narrates this memoir documenting her life and 50 years of performance art. Her Yugoslavian-accented English and unique phrasing patterned with starts and stops make this listening experience as distinctive as Abramovic's art. Her smoky-voiced, even-toned reading balances the often horrific accounts of her abusive childhood, world travels, spiritual search, love life, and pain-centered performances. In a steady serious tone, Abramovic immerses listeners in oppressive Communist Belgrade, where she discovers that "art is a matter of life and death." Believing that her body is an object to be acted upon, the artist explains how her extreme, disturbing, masochistic performances revolutionized the art world. Like her live audiences, Abramovic's listeners enter into her narrated performance art and discover that "the artist is present."
Pub Date: Oct. 25, 2016
Duration: 15 hrs
DD ISBN: 9780735284814
Publisher: Random House Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
James Michener tells the real stories behind the man and his books. The recording is read with skill and consistency although the reader does little to enhance the robust, larger-than-life incidents related in the book. Due to the first-person narrative format, there is no opportunity for the narrator to change his voice. This makes some chapters monotonous as they go on and on in the typical Michener style. The listener may also become confused because the stories are not told chronologically. This is not a great choice for the audio format, but Michener fans may stick with it to the end.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 22 hrs
Publisher: Books on Tape
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
In a quest for a sense of inner contentment and self-worth, Gloria Steinem brings the reader on a journey of investigation and discovery. Steinem reads the text herself in a straightforward and friendly, but not intimate, presentation which is so easy to listen to it invites repetition--thus ensuring the painless relearning of the lessons of the book. It's difficult to tell from the reading that this audiobook is abridged; each section can stand alone. Nonetheless, the listener wished the book were unabridged. Steinem left me wanting to learn more.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 3 hrs
Publisher: Dove Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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