Review of: Oleander City by Matt Bondurant

 I read Oleander City as an audiobook.    

If it is even possible I enjoyed only half the book, yes I know this sounds very strange.  The book was narrated by two narrators, one of them the female, she was reading the story of six year old  Hester who was the only orphan to survive the hurricane.  Hester is a very small six year old, very small for her age.   When the hurricane hit their city, the nuns who ran the orphanage tied all of the orphans together with rope with a Nun at each end, in hope to keep them all safe.   Hester, however wiggled and wormed and refused to be tied in the rope with everyone else, and a Nun relented and held her arms tight around little Hester.   This ended up being Hester's saving grace, all the other orphans and the two Nun's did not survive.   

Hester was then stranded, and fighting to survive on her own.  She was a very tough little girl, with a lot of fight in her, but she came across some terrible things in her fight for survival, including the KKK.   

The male narrator was telling the story of Chrysanthemum Joe, a Jewish boxer, he is known as the greatest Jewish boxer in America.  He is contracted to a fight raising much needed relief funding for the Red Cross.

Obviously the two stories do come together later in the book, which made the story line, much more enjoyable for me, but Chrysanthemum Joe's story was just a little bland for me, until they became entwined.   I am not sure if this was because of the Narrator, or the the way the story was written.

Overall though, the book was intriguing and enlightening.

I would recommend it to the right person.

Thank you NetGalley and Blackstone Audio for this audio book. This book was available to purchase from 14 June, 2022

3 Stars:   It was a good book and well-crafted. I would recommend it to the right person.

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