Icy Sparks, Gwyn Hyman Rubio
Icy Sparks, Gwyn Hyman Rubio
List: $24.47 | Sale: $17.13
Club: $12.23

Icy Sparks

Author: Gwyn Hyman Rubio

Narrator: Kate Miller

Abridged: 7 hr 4 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/04/2001

Categories: Fiction


Synopsis

An Oprah's Book Club selection

Set in Appalachia during the late 1950s, this acclaimed first novel chronicles a young girl's heartbreaking battle with Tourette's syndrome.

Ten-year-old Icy Sparks already has one strike against her: She's an orphan. Life becomes even more difficult when Icy develops strange symptoms: violent tics, inexplicable convulsions, sudden outbursts, and uncontrollable cursing that accompany her rare neurological disorder. Her affliction goes undiagnosed until adulthood, but the all-too-visible signs are the source of endless mystery and hilarity as everyone around offers an opinion about what's troubling the girl. Eventually Icy finds solace in the company of Miss Emily, who knows what it's like to be an outcast in this tightly knit community.

Narrated by a now-grown Icy, this novel shimmers with warmth and humor as it recounts a young girl's painful journey to womanhood. A funny, sad, and transcendent story, Icy Sparks introduces a fresh new Southern voice.

Reviews

AudiobooksNow review by Nicole on 2007-11-05 01:21:17

too cool, really enjoyed it, feels like youre there watching the events take place

AudiobooksNow review by Gilda on 2008-04-20 01:05:05

could not understand the narrator, Southern accent to heavy

AudiobooksNow review by Donna on 2008-05-21 19:13:47

I may have been better off reading this book the old-fashioned way - I found the narrator's inflection extremely annoying. Beyond that, it seemed as though Rubio was making a conscious effort to use as many action verbs as possible - between the accented character voices and the lower octaved but not much difefrent he said, he retorted, he bellowed, he guffawed ... it was extremely distracting. Should not have listened to this on my commute - nearly fell asleep ....

AudiobooksNow review by Tammy on 2009-12-04 11:40:00

While others have complained about the narrator I thought she was perfect and not at all difficult to understand. I have an older relative with this very tragic affliction and he experienced similar things before people were forced to understand what was really going on and let him live his life. This is an excellent book and does ring true for me. I'd love to read more from this author.

Goodreads review by Anna on September 02, 2007

i read this in high school and used it as part of my research for a paper on tourette's. "but anna," you may be thinking, "this book has a publication date of 2001, and you are 26 years old. that math doesn't compute." yeah, well, books exist before oprah gets her hands on them. TAKE THAT, OPRAH! WHO......more

Goodreads review by Heather on April 10, 2019

It was good, but then it got super religious at the end. Which is fine. Just not my wheelhouse. I enjoyed the rest of the book, though.......more

Goodreads review by Book Concierge on December 18, 2022

Book on CD performed by Kate Miller From the book jacket: Rural Kentucky in the 1950s is not an easy place to grow up, and it’s especially hard for ten-year-old Icy Sparks, an orphan who lives with her grandparents. Life becomes even more difficult for Icy when violent tics and uncontrollable cursing......more

Goodreads review by Sammy on June 12, 2007

Good read. For the most part, this book was a very enthralling and entertaining read. The story itself and the writing both very fine. It's not a book, though, that's going to go down in history as one of my favorites, despite the fact I really did enjoy it. The main problem I had with the book was t......more

Goodreads review by Janice on September 10, 2016

Until I reached the last 30 pages, I really enjoyed this book and was prepared to give it a rating of 4. The religious fervour that came out of nowhere had me feeling as if I had missed something in the story. But I hadn't. The feeling at the end is that the author needed a quick and tidy way to wra......more