The Incarnations: A Novel
(OverDrive MP3 Audiobook, OverDrive Listen)
Kirkus Reviews Best Fiction Book of 2015
Finalist for the 2015 Kirkus Prize for Fiction
Winner of a Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize
Hailed by The New York Times for its "wildly ambitious...dazzling use of language" and "mesmerizing storytelling," The Incarnations is a "brilliant, mind-expanding, and wildly original novel" (Chris Cleave) about a Beijing taxi driver whose past incarnations over one thousand years haunt him through searing letters sent by his mysterious soulmate.
Who are you? you must be wondering. I am your soulmate, your old friend, and I have come back to this city of sixteen million in search of you.
So begins the first letter that falls into Wang's lap as he flips down the visor in his taxi. The letters that follow are filled with the stories of Wang's previous lives—from escaping a marriage to a spirit bride, to being a slave on the run from Genghis Khan, to living as a fisherman during the Opium Wars, and being a teenager on the Red Guard during the cultural revolution—bound to his mysterious "soulmate," spanning one thousand years of betrayal and intrigue.
As the letters continue to appear seemingly out of thin air, Wang becomes convinced that someone is watching him—someone who claims to have known him for over a century. And with each letter, Wang feels the watcher growing closer and closer...
Seamlessly weaving Chinese folklore, history, literary classics, and the notion of reincarnation, this is a taut and gripping novel that reveals the cyclical nature of history as it hints that the past is never truly settled.
If you are having problem transferring a title to your device, please fill out this support form or visit the library so we can help you to use our eBooks and eAudio Books.
Susan Barker. (2015). The Incarnations: A Novel. Unabridged Simon & Schuster Audio.
Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)Susan Barker. 2015. The Incarnations: A Novel. Simon & Schuster Audio.
Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)Susan Barker, The Incarnations: A Novel. Simon & Schuster Audio, 2015.
MLA Citation (style guide)Susan Barker. The Incarnations: A Novel. Unabridged Simon & Schuster Audio, 2015.
Library | Owned | Available |
---|---|---|
Shared Digital Collection | 1 | 1 |
OverDrive Product Record
- images
- cover:
- href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-100/5054-1/{5AE575FB-98A7-4FFA-9F26-607DCB9124CA}Img100.jpg
- type: image/jpeg
- thumbnail:
- href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-200/5054-1/{5AE575FB-98A7-4FFA-9F26-607DCB9124CA}Img200.jpg
- type: image/jpeg
- cover150Wide:
- href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-150/5054-1/5AE/575/FB/{5AE575FB-98A7-4FFA-9F26-607DCB9124CA}Img150.jpg
- type: image/jpeg
- cover300Wide:
- href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-400/5054-1/5AE/575/FB/{5AE575FB-98A7-4FFA-9F26-607DCB9124CA}Img400.jpg
- type: image/jpeg
- cover:
- formats
- identifiers:
- type: 8
- value: simonandschuster_audio#9781442387034
- type: ISBN
- value: 9781442387058
- name: OverDrive MP3 Audiobook
- id: audiobook-mp3
- identifiers:
- identifiers:
- type: 8
- value: simonandschuster_audio#9781442387034
- type: ISBN
- value: 9781442387058
- name: OverDrive Listen
- id: audiobook-overdrive
- identifiers:
- mediaType
- Audiobook
- primaryCreator
- role: Author
- name: Susan Barker
- title
- The Incarnations
- dateAdded
- 2017-08-31T18:38:00-04:00
- contentDetails
- href: https://link.overdrive.com/?websiteID=141&titleID=2019997
- type: text/html
- account:
- name: Sacramento Public Library (CA)
- id: 1151
- sortTitle
- Incarnations A Novel
- crossRefId
- 2019997
- subtitle
- A Novel
- id
- 5ae575fb-98a7-4ffa-9f26-607dcb9124ca
- starRating
- 3.4
OverDrive MetaData
- isPublicDomain
- False
- formats
- duration: 14:06:49
- fileName: TheIncarnations_9781442387034_2019997
- partCount: 15
- fileSize: 414765550
- identifiers:
- type: ISBN
- value: 9781442387034
- type: 8
- value: simonandschuster_audio#9781442387034
- rights:
- type: PlayOnPC
- value: 1
- type: PlayOnPCCount
- value: -1
- type: BurnToCD
- value: 1
- type: BurnToCDCount
- value: -1
- type: PlayOnPM
- value: 1
- type: TransferToSDMI
- value: 1
- type: TransferToNonSDMI
- value: 1
- type: TransferCount
- value: -1
- type: CollaborativePlay
- value: 0
- type: PublicPerformance
- value: 0
- type: TranscodeToAAC
- value: 1
- name: OverDrive MP3 Audiobook
- isReadAlong: False
- id: audiobook-mp3
- onSaleDate: 8/18/2015
- samples:
- source: Part 1
- formatType: audiobook-mp3
- url: https://excerpts.cdn.overdrive.com/FormatType-425/5054-1/2019997-TheIncarnations.mp3
- source: Part 1
- formatType: audiobook-overdrive
- url: https://samples.overdrive.com/?crid=5ae575fb-98a7-4ffa-9f26-607dcb9124ca&.epub-sample.overdrive.com
- duration: 14:24:03
- fileName: IncarnationsANovel-8675
- partCount: 0
- fileSize: 414744444
- identifiers:
- type: ISBN
- value: 9781442387034
- type: 8
- value: simonandschuster_audio#9781442387034
- name: OverDrive Listen
- isReadAlong: False
- id: audiobook-overdrive
- onSaleDate: 8/18/2015
- samples:
- source: Part 1
- formatType: audiobook-mp3
- url: https://excerpts.cdn.overdrive.com/FormatType-425/5054-1/2019997-TheIncarnations.mp3
- source: Part 1
- formatType: audiobook-overdrive
- url: https://samples.overdrive.com/?crid=5ae575fb-98a7-4ffa-9f26-607dcb9124ca&.epub-sample.overdrive.com
- creators
- role: Author
- fileAs: Barker, Susan
- bioText: Susan Barker is the author of Sayonara Bar and The Orientalist and the Ghost, both longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize. She grew up in East London with a Chinese-Malyasian mother and a British father, and studied creative writing at the University of Manchester. She spent several years living in Beijing while working on The Incarnations, and currently lives in the UK.
- name: Susan Barker
- role: Narrator
- fileAs: Chen, Timo
- name: Timo Chen
- role: Narrator
- fileAs: Osmanski, Joy
- name: Joy Osmanski
- publishDate
- 2015-08-18T00:00:00-04:00
- edition
- Unabridged
- isOwnedByCollections
- True
- title
- The Incarnations
- fullDescription
- New York Times Notable Book of 2015
Kirkus Reviews Best Fiction Book of 2015
Finalist for the 2015 Kirkus Prize for Fiction
Winner of a Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize
Hailed by The New York Times for its "wildly ambitious...dazzling use of language" and "mesmerizing storytelling," The Incarnations is a "brilliant, mind-expanding, and wildly original novel" (Chris Cleave) about a Beijing taxi driver whose past incarnations over one thousand years haunt him through searing letters sent by his mysterious soulmate.
Who are you? you must be wondering. I am your soulmate, your old friend, and I have come back to this city of sixteen million in search of you.
So begins the first letter that falls into Wang's lap as he flips down the visor in his taxi. The letters that follow are filled with the stories of Wang's previous lives—from escaping a marriage to a spirit bride, to being a slave on the run from Genghis Khan, to living as a fisherman during the Opium Wars, and being a teenager on the Red Guard during the cultural revolution—bound to his mysterious "soulmate," spanning one thousand years of betrayal and intrigue.
As the letters continue to appear seemingly out of thin air, Wang becomes convinced that someone is watching him—someone who claims to have known him for over a century. And with each letter, Wang feels the watcher growing closer and closer...
Seamlessly weaving Chinese folklore, history, literary classics, and the notion of reincarnation, this is a taut and gripping novel that reveals the cyclical nature of history as it hints that the past is never truly settled. - reviews
- premium: True
- source:
- content:
Starred review from May 18, 2015
With her latest, Barker (Sayonara Bar) produces a page-turning reincarnation fantasy. In modern-day Beijing, Driver Wang receives anonymous letters from a source claiming to have known him in five previous lifetimes over the past 1,000 years. The letters narrate these lifetimes—set in the Tang Dynasty, 632 C.E.; the Jin Dynasty, 1213; the Ming Dynasty, 1542; the Qing Dynasty, 1836; and the People’s Republic of China, 1966—and paint them in lush historical detail, exhibiting Barker’s extensive research. These two “souls” have inhabited many rich characters (eunuch, prostitute, slave, concubine, pirate, Red Guard) and have been friends, enemies, parents, and lovers. Every new incarnation reverses their power dynamic, giving one the opportunity to betray the other. Not for the squeamish, these historical narratives contain graphic torture and sexual violence. Meanwhile, Wang’s current incarnation also includes a series of radical shifts and identities within a lifetime: born to a wealthy government official father and a mentally unstable mother, he has been a promising student, an asylum inmate, a closeted homosexual, a husband, a father, and a taxi driver. Driving the narrative is the suspense over the identity of Wang’s stalker and whether the stories are indeed true. A very memorable read.
- premium: True
- source:
- content: This surreal story recounts the many lives of Wang, a taxi driver, and his unnamed female "soul mate," whom he knew in previous lives. Narrator Joy Osmanski vigorously delivers the lives of the female in her various incarnations as bride, slave, and letter writer to Wang. Narrator Timo Chen portrays Wang, but his bass pitch reverberates, making him difficult to understand. The mysterious soul mate knows all, writing letters to the present-day Wang, who knows nothing of his past incarnations. As Wang, in the present, searches for the person leaving him the letters, his past lives unfold slowly, relentlessly, and piteously, touching upon many periods in Chinese history. Chen and Osmanski use subtle Chinese intonation and accents for Barker's tale of intertwined lives. M.B.K. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine
- popularity
- 106
- links
- self:
- href: https://api.overdrive.com/v1/collections/v1L1BWwAAAA2I/products/5ae575fb-98a7-4ffa-9f26-607dcb9124ca/metadata
- type: application/vnd.overdrive.api+json
- self:
- id
- 5ae575fb-98a7-4ffa-9f26-607dcb9124ca
- starRating
- 3.4
- images
- cover:
- href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-100/5054-1/{5AE575FB-98A7-4FFA-9F26-607DCB9124CA}Img100.jpg
- type: image/jpeg
- thumbnail:
- href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-200/5054-1/{5AE575FB-98A7-4FFA-9F26-607DCB9124CA}Img200.jpg
- type: image/jpeg
- cover150Wide:
- href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-150/5054-1/5AE/575/FB/{5AE575FB-98A7-4FFA-9F26-607DCB9124CA}Img150.jpg
- type: image/jpeg
- cover300Wide:
- href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-400/5054-1/5AE/575/FB/{5AE575FB-98A7-4FFA-9F26-607DCB9124CA}Img400.jpg
- type: image/jpeg
- cover:
- isPublicPerformanceAllowed
- False
- languages
- code: en
- name: English
- subjects
- value: Fiction
- value: Literature
- value: Historical Fiction
- publishDateText
- 08/18/2015
- mediaType
- Audiobook
- shortDescription
- New York Times Notable Book of 2015
Kirkus Reviews Best Fiction Book of 2015
Finalist for the 2015 Kirkus Prize for Fiction
Winner of a Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize
Hailed by The New York Times for its "wildly ambitious...dazzling use of language" and "mesmerizing storytelling," The Incarnations is a "brilliant, mind-expanding, and wildly original novel" (Chris Cleave) about a Beijing taxi driver whose past incarnations over one thousand years haunt him through searing letters sent by his mysterious soulmate.
Who are you? you must be wondering. I am your soulmate, your old friend, and I have come back to this city of sixteen million in search of you.
So begins the first letter that falls into Wang's lap as he flips down the visor in his taxi. The letters that follow are filled with the stories of Wang's previous lives—from escaping a marriage to a spirit bride, to being a... - sortTitle
- Incarnations A Novel
- crossRefId
- 2019997
- subtitle
- A Novel
- publisher
- Simon & Schuster Audio
- bisacCodes
- code: FIC008000
- description: Fiction / Sagas
- code: FIC014000
- description: FICTION / Historical / General
- code: FIC019000
- description: Fiction / Literary