Can't say. I keep running out of time on your app to listen to the book. I didn't get a chance to hear it so I can't really comment except to say how much I don't like this Netgalley app.

Thanks to Netgalley I was able to listen to the audiobook. I rounded up from a 2.5 rating. I was expecting to learn more about the life of Clara Barton from the story and was somewhat disappointed. I do like multiple POVs in a book and this story did have that. I was put off by Diana's breathy voice in the narration. To me story was too much boxing that really did not add to the story line. I did enjoy Hester's character.

An orphan, a Red Cross volunteer & a boxer make their way through the dangers & devastation of post-storm Galveston. If it sounds boring, that’s only because I don’t want to ruin any part of this book for anyone. Oh, this story was fantastic!

Historical fiction does not always stick with me (in fact, I start more historical fiction than I finish, unfortunately), but this book is so gorgeous! It’s gutting & tender & the main characters are extremely well developed. (The secondary characters are less so, but I think that’s because we don’t spend as much time with them.)

I listened to the audiobook version & the narrators were equally wonderful! I ended up scrubbing my floors by hand one evening just so I could absorb hours of this book without guilt.

Absolutely 5 🌟!

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this AMAZING book in exchange for my honest review. I will definitely be reading more by this author!!

Historical fiction is often set in WWII or during national catastrophes like the Dust Bowl or the Depression. Oleander City takes place during a lesser known disaster, the Great Galveston Hurricane of 1900. This was the largest natural disaster in American history at the time, flattening the island and killing over 6,000 people.

Based on true accounts from the American Red Cross and the publicity from one of the nation’s most famous boxing matches, author Matt Bondurant introduces the reader to three primary characters: Joe, Diana, and Hester. Their stories weave together to provide a narrative of depth and emotion. Local power struggles, emotional exhaustion, and decrepit conditions consume adults and children. The reader feels their frustration and smells their fear. These characters will stay with the reader for a long time.

The audiobook was read by Chris Henry Coffey and Julia Atwood. Both of these narrators added depth to their characters. Listeners hear Hester’s fear, Joe’s rage, and Diana’s determination. The text provides amazing details, but the narration builds on the author’s words to encompass the listener.

In 1900 the City of Galveston in Texas was inundated by a huge flood following a tremendous hurricane. The loss of life was extensive and this remarkable book was my introduction to an event about which I knew nothing about. Through scenes unflinchingly showing the cost of this disaster with bodies floating through the streets and piled burning on beaches we slowly focus down on three main protagonists. Chrysanthemum Joe - a Jewish prize fighter from San Francisco, tempted to Galveston by the promise of a large pay out, Diana a young woman devoted to her work in the Red Cross and Hester, the only surviving child from an orphanage decimated by the storm. These three take us through the events in a city on the edge and in grief, with a simmering racial and class based rage under the surface.

This book is hypnotic, compelling and occasionally heart-breaking, it should be required reading for anyone who is interested in the more hidden aspects of US history,

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.

Please visit my Facebook page and blog to see all of my past and future book reviews.
https://www.facebook.com/kyliesbookad...
https://kyliesbookaddictreviews.blogs...

I was drawn to this historical fiction based on a real event and real people. The story starts with the hurricane that devastated Galveston in 1900. It still remains the worst natural disaster in America. Among the real people that inhabit the story are Clara Barton, Rabbi Henry Cohen, Jack Johnson and Joe Choynski. Joe’s sections take up a large portion of the book and I was less than enthralled by the time spent on his boxing matches, which are graphically described and extremely violent. The made up characters include Diana, who is Barton’s aide and six year old Hester, the only survivor from her orphanage. Hester comes across as older than six.
This story puts to myth the idea that people come together in hard times. Prejudice ran rampant and the KKK was prevalent in Galveston. Bondurant does a great job painting the time and place - the devastation, the hunger, the inhumanity. But in the midst of all this ugliness, there are glimpses of beauty and humanity, of those trying to do the right thing. There are parallels to more modern times, a reminder that the idea of “law and order” is often a thinly disguised method of keeping down minorities. And I was shocked to see that the Red Cross was viewed as a socialist plot by the white upper classes.
While the story wasn’t as tight as I would have liked, I still enjoyed it. And I found the ending to have a true karmic value to it. And I was thrilled to finally find a historical fiction that wasn’t a romance in disguise.
The two narrators both did decent jobs.
My thanks to Netgalley and Blackstone Publishing for an advance copy of this audiobook.

I just finished and I still do not know the purpose. What was the author trying to tell? I have no clue. It is definitely not what I expected based on the description. Very heavy on the boxing aspect. Which most of had no relevance to the rest of the story, hence my confusion.

I listened to the audiobook and both narrators were fine- clear, easy to follow, distinct voices for dialogue.

Some people will enjoy this- boxing fans, Texans, etc... I chose to read it because I love historical fiction, but this one was not for me.

I received an audio copy in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to like this -- I'm from Texas, and I like natural disaster stories. But -- so. much. exposition. I couldn't get into this book, and I didn't finish it.

Historically accurate, Oleander City is set in Galveston and a hurricane destroyed the city in the early 1900’s. Diane is a relief worker for the Red Cross. She and her sister travel to Galveston to help with the devastation. While there, she encounters an orphan, which leads her life to intersect with “Chrysanthemum Joe”, a professional boxer who has travelled to Galveston for a match.
I love reading historically accurate novels. I recently traveled to Galveston myself and enjoyed digging deeper into its history. I loved all of the detail. Author Matt Bondurant does an excellent job of portraying the brutal and disturbing events of that time period. He definitely did not shy away from writing about difficult history. It was a little slow for me, but very well done.
*** Huge thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review