Who is Martha?, Marjana Gaponenko
Who is Martha?, Marjana Gaponenko
List: $15.99 | Sale: $11.20
Club: $7.99

Who is Martha?

Author: Marjana Gaponenko

Narrator: Allan Robertson

Unabridged: 7 hr 45 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Lantern Audio

Published: 01/20/2015

Categories: Fiction


Synopsis

In this rollicking novel, 96-year-old ornithologist Luka Levadski foregoes treatment for lung cancer and moves from Ukraine to Vienna to make a grand exit in a luxury suite at the Hotel Imperial. He reflects on his past while indulging in Viennese cakes and savoring music in a gilded concert hall. Levadski was born in 1914, the same year that Martha – the last of the now-extinct passenger pigeons – died. Levadski himself has an acute sense of being the last of a species. He may have devoted much of his existence to studying birds, but now he befriends a hotel butler and another elderly guest, who also doesn't have much time left, to share in the lively escapades of his final days. This gloriously written tale, in which Levadski feels "his heart pounding at the portals of his brain," mixes piquant wit with lofty musings about life, friendship, aging and death.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Christina on April 05, 2013

96-year old Luka Lewadski decides to eave Ukraine and spend the last days of his life in a hotel in Vienna. This is a great story - beautifully told, with lots of wit. I wished the book would never end for I just loved how Luka Lewadski deals with life (the nearing end of life) and the people he mee......more

Goodreads review by Teressa on May 25, 2015

"A Moving Story About a Spectacular Life" WHO IS MARTHA? is a magical work of literature written by MARJANA GAPONENKO who will definitely be on my author to watch list from now on. I hope to hear more of her work. This audiobook was a fantastic treat for the ears and I’ll listen to this one again for......more

Goodreads review by Thomas on December 11, 2014

[URL not allowed] When the family doctor calls on a Sunday with urgent news, it means usually no good news. The news are indeed so bad that Luka Levadski, the hero of Who Is Martha? has to go to the bathroom and throw up - for the first time since ages. "The last time it had happened......more

Goodreads review by Ciaran on December 06, 2018

This was a nice little story about an old man who is diagnosed with terminal cancer and decides to forgo his treatment in favour of a last few weeks of luxury. He moves to a deluxe suite in a Viennese hotel where he stayed at better time in his life. He gets a butler, eats good food and wallows in h......more

Goodreads review by erik on June 21, 2023

gaponenko kann bestimmt gut schreiben, aber mich hat die story nicht gecatcht. ein paar themen, wie bspw die beziehung zur mutter des protagonisten und die flucht in die berge sind sehr interessant, könnten jedoch ein bisschen mehr ausgebaut werden. letztendlich habe ich mich in der gegenwart des to......more