Good Kings Bad Kings
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wish list failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Audible Standard 1-month free trial
Good Kings Bad Kings
Buy Now for $18.53
-
Written by:
-
Susan Nussbaum
Told in alternating perspectives by a varied and vocal cast of characters, Nussbaum pulls back the curtain to reveal the complicated and funny and tough life inside the walls of an institution for juveniles with disabilities. From Yessenia Lopez, who dreams of her next boyfriend and of one day of living outside those walls, to Teddy, a resident who dresses up daily in a full suit and tie, to Mia, who guards a terrifying secret, Nussbaum has crafted a multifaceted portrait of a way of life hidden from most of us.
In this isolated human warehouse on Chicago's South Side, friendships are forged, trust is built, and love affairs begin. And it's in their alliances that the residents ultimately find the strength to bond together and finally fight back against their mistreatment.
Told with humor and authenticity in voices that stay with you long past the last moments, Good Kings Bad Kings is at once strikingly original, baldly funny, and profoundly moving.
Performed by an ensemble cast, with Chris Delaine (Joanne Madsen), Lauren Fortgang (Michelle Volkmann), Emma Galvin (Yessenia Lopez), Alexander Cendese (Teddy Dobbs), David Ledoux (Ricky Hernandez), Karen Murray (Jimmie Kendrick), and Daya Mendez (Mia Oviedo).
©2013 Susan Nussbaum. Recorded by arrangement with Algonquin Books of Chapel hill, a Division of Workman Publishing Company, Inc. (P)2013 HighBridge CompanyWhat the critics say
It feels like a trauma dump and what little moments of hope we have or see are horribly squashed or mostly unfulfilled, left hanging. If I had been reading this for something other than academic purposes I probably would have put it down for my own mental health, unfortunately I couldn't.
That being said, the topics in the story as very important. Also, I think the format of the story is a unique one in the sense that it is told in multiple POVs in short spurts. If is first person POV from persons with disabilities and differing disabilities. It gives these individuals a chance to shine as themselves without an outsiders perspective saying 'they're like this' you get to know who they are, what they feel or experience from their own perspective. I liked the characters (most of them) and I thinking have the alternation between the residents and a few of the 'good' staff members allows the reader to see the characters and the institution for what it is.
It covers the systemic abuse of a healthcare for profit system, and how the most vulnerable individuals in society are at risk in this environment. This focuses on an institution for youth with disabilities but also highlights that this slumlord parent company also runs nursing homes for adults and the elderly. They are doing unnecessary tests for kick backs, denying residents the things they require because they are too expensive or would give the residents more freedom or independence, they are hiring violent individuals and criminals just to have bodies, and not intervening in their abuse.
It's a tough read. I loved the characters but oooof what they go through is just so awful and you don't really get reprieve.
Narrators are great in this performance.
A difficult read but an important story.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.