Bellevue Square
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Bellevue Square
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Narrated by:
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Sarah Mennell
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Written by:
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Michael Redhill
About this listen
Scotiabank Giller Prize finalist
A darkly comic literary thriller about a woman who fears for her sanity - and then her life - when she learns that her doppelganger has appeared in a local park.
Jean Mason has a doppelganger. She's never seen her, but others swear they have. Apparently, her identical twin hangs out in Kensington Market, where she sometimes buys churros and drags an empty shopping cart down the streets, like she's looking for something to put in it. Jean's a grown woman with a husband and two kids as well as a thriving bookstore in downtown Toronto, and she doesn't rattle easily - not like she used to. But after two customers insist they've seen her double, Jean decides to investigate.
She begins at the crossroads of Kensington Market: a city park called Bellevue Square. Although she sees no one who looks like her, it only takes a few visits to the park for her to become obsessed with the possibility of encountering her twin in the flesh. With the aid of a small army of locals who hang around in the park, she expands her surveillance, making it known she'll pay for information or sightings. A peculiar collection of drug addicts, scam artists, philanthropists, philosophers, and vagrants - the regulars of Bellevue Square - are eager to contribute to Jean's investigation. But when some of them start disappearing, she fears her alleged double has a sinister agenda. Unless Jean stops her, she and everyone she cares about will face a fate much stranger than death.
©2017 Michael Redhill (P)2017 Doubleday CanadaWhat the critics say
"Bellevue Square is something of a performance.... In its taut span... Bellevue Square features several narrative and tonal hairpin turns. With each of these, our admiration for Redhill's storytelling dexterity burgeons.... I'd rather be lost in Redhill's ghost story than grounded in your average slab of tasteful literary realism." (The Globe and Mail)
"Sit yourself down in Bellevue Square and watch as parallel worlds collide. Redhill has written a mind-blowing brainteaser of a novel with plot twists worthy of David Lynch. A brilliant tribute to those among us whose brains are wired differently." (Neil Smith, author of Boo)
What listeners say about Bellevue Square
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Mer
- 2018-02-16
A complete mindf@ck
What just happened? Wow. I’ll have to wait for the Netflix to pick it up. Worth the time. Great Canadian content.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Tasha
- 2018-09-15
Strange and Fresh Mystery
I've never read a book like this before. It's so familiar with its Toronto locality, but so very Alice in Wonderland simultaneously. A shorter read and packed with rich descriptions of characters and nuances you might need to re-listen to catch. If you like mysteries, mixed with magical realism, this is worth a shot.
#Audible1
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Rachel
- 2018-04-05
On the fence
I had a hard time deciding how to rate this book because I did enjoy parts of it but I didn’t like the end. I was waiting for it to come together and spoiler alert: it doesn’t really. I actually googled it to see if I missed something! Interested prose and it was captivating but it might not be for me. But also I heard that this was the first in a trilogy so perhaps it comes together in later books.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 2017-11-20
A Mind-Bending Must Read!
Great narration! She did a great job at bringing the characters to life. And the story was fantastic. You really have to pay attention, but it's worth it.
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8 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Dayna Michelle
- 2017-12-30
Loved it then got lost...
The first half of this book is quite fast paced and will have you on the edge of your seat. The second half not so much... perhaps I missed something but I'm at a bit of a loss for what actually happened. This may very well be the authors intention as the theme of the book is definitely an existential crisis of sorts.
I did enjoy the reading style of the narrator.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Dianna
- 2019-06-12
Interesting Story
This book was very interesting and filled with twists and turns. I'm not a huge fan of fiction but thoroughly enjoyed this read and it's relationships to Toronto.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Donna Engelhardt
- 2018-02-27
Frustration!
This book started off okay. I was intrigued. But by the 3rd hour in I was just getting frustrated and found myself going backwards to try and figure out what I'd missed. I hadn't missed anything. If it was the author's intent to make you feel as frustrated as someone dealing with schizophrenia or some other dissociative disorder then it worked. I only stuck with it to the end thinking it would all be explained. It wasn't. Wish I could get a refund. Would not recommend it.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 2018-09-14
I'm on the fence
I'll start off by saying this isn't the type of novel I usually read, but once in a while I branch out and try something new.
I enjoyed the first half because it felt like a mystery novel, but then the author switched gears and it felt a bit jarring to me, as though I was reading two different stories...but if you've read this book you'll understand when I say that this was probably intentional and kept with the overall theme. So...yay?
It wasn't my cup of tea, but I recognize good writing when I see it, and this was good writing. There is a reason it has won awards, and you might just love it.
#Audible1
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Sarah j
- 2019-02-26
disinterested
Hate to write a bad review of a book set where I live but this one just flopped for me. RARELY do I find myself disinterested/bored by fiction. A book can fall into all the trappings of "bad" fiction and I still find myself enjoying listening or reading, still want to see how it plays out even if it's incredibly predictable. I find my mind wandering constantly while listening to this, I can't wait for it to be over and start something new because I don't care what happens.
I'm not sure why this book fails to interest. It IS well written and the story as a concept although wildly improbable is promising but somehow it just all falls apart.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Ron from Ottawa
- 2021-03-27
Delightful for its novelty and sense of the absurd
Really enjoyed Sarah's reading of this brilliant novel. She does a great job embodying the many quirks of its fascinating characters. At times this reminded me of Atwood, with the bizarre happenings and off-handed, but insightful observations, especially Jean, who tells us her story in the first person. Jean first learns of the existence of her doppleganger from a customer at the bookstore she manages, a place with its own set of quirks. Then there are further sightings, which fascinate her as much as they worry her, and she sets out in search of her twin self. On the way, she encounters a host of street people in Bellevue Square, an actual green space in Toronto, not far from Kensington Market. They agree to help her find Ingrid, her double's name, for a token fee of a looney for each sighting. In time she befriends some of them, which leads to further complications, but eventually takes her on a final, fantastic journey, where many secrets are finally revealed.
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