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  • The Illegal

  • Written by: Lawrence Hill
  • Narrated by: Gideon Emery
  • Length: 12 hrs and 19 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (1,147 ratings)

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The Illegal cover art

The Illegal

Written by: Lawrence Hill
Narrated by: Gideon Emery
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Publisher's Summary

Keita Ali has nothing: no bank account, no papers, no legal identity. A runner, he has fled home - a brutal dictatorship that produces the world's fastest marathoners - to live as an illegal refugee in a wealthy Western nation, surviving on winnings from local races. But the government is cracking down on illegal immigrants, so Keita - who will be executed if he is deported to his homeland - goes underground.

Now a series of crises call for him to earn quick money: an unscrupulous businessman targets him, a serious health problem erupts, and, most troublingly, officials in Keita's native country kidnap his sister, threatening to execute her unless he pays a ransom. As Keita struggles to resolve these problems, he discovers a troubling political connection between his native and his adoptive countries.

The Illegal is a rich, riveting novel that weaves a complex moral and psychological web.

©2015 Lawrence Hill Creative Services, Inc. (P)2016 Recorded Books

What listeners say about The Illegal

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Contrived, implausible, almost unlistenable

This is a dreadful book. It's portrayal of race, gender, and ableism is painful. The plot it torturously contrived. Don't bother. I hear his Book of Negroes is good, but I haven't had the heart to try another after this gawdawful mess.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

4 stars because

lots of promise but unsatisfactory ending. Keith's story is a good one but the end left me feeling unfulfilled

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

excellent book

I love this author and he did not disappoint. Sometimes I find heavier books don't work well for audio but I didn't want to stop listening. The point being made about immigration was valid but laid on a bit thick at times. Great characters and interesting story. I didn't want it to end.

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4 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

great book, great author

the book of negros is one of my favorite books so I thought I'd enjoy this one too. I was right. great story. well written. a great listen.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

BORING, LOUSY NARRATOR, COULDN'T FINISH

Tried and Tried again to listen, in the end we gave up. Monotone, hard to follow, good for the insomniac looking for a sleeping pill that will work! Wouldn't recommend at all. Took the book based on the ratings, I don't know what others see in it, proves that the world is filled with different kinds of people.

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

phenomenal book!

narrator was amazing. I couldn't stop listening and was sad when it was done! Loved it!!

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Don't bother with this book

Poorly researched. Poorly written. Don't.
I gave it a few chapters; it got worse. Skip this book. Trust me. Couldn't even fall asleep to it.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Unfortunately spoiled

The promise of a young black man running marathons to save his kidnapped sister is thoroughly let down by a glacial pace, an uninteresting political intrigue, and almost a dozen side characters (about half of whom are wildly disinteresting) who constantly push the protagonist out of the spotlight. Despite most of these side-characters having a good chapter apiece to introduce themselves, I still found myself forgetting who one or two of them were. Was this because it took me three weeks to read through? Certainly, it was. But the story was just so boring that picking it up for another chapter became tiresome.

The story has a muddled ending. About half of the characters come some level of emotional or narrative conclusion, but plenty of them don't. The protagonist is almost dropped off the face of the earth with an almost literally "and then he lived happily ever after, and continued running marathons with his girlfriend." The amount of pacing whiplash is staggering.

The most egregious example of the author's pacing issues (and worse, his lack of understanding for what is interesting in a story): At one point we spend almost five minutes describing a woman getting on a plane, getting off the plane, calling a taxi, and driving to a woman's house. The following interview is then summarized in one sentence. Jarring doesn't begin to cover it.

Narrator was very memorable, although the first half of the book was peppered with frequent musical refrains which he half-hearted. I expected the music to be an ongoing theme but was *completely dropped* halfway through and was never once mentioned again. Just bizarre.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Predictable, Tedious and Unrealistic

If this is the same Lawrence Hill that wrote The Book of Negros, then this book is very disappointing. I really wanted this book to end. It’s theme is relevant to current issues, but it was unrealistic and poorly written. I had high expectations of the writer and was very disappointed from start to finish.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Amateur writing exploits racial stereotypes.

If you like two-dimensional stereotypes and plots that resemble paint-by-number, this is the book for you. A runner who's trying to evade the authorities registers for a high-profile race as Roger Bannister. A major character who's a Black lesbian with no legs; the only way to check more boxes is to make her cognitively challenged.
The theme has potential, but it's squandered by lazy, hackneyed writing that exploits the sympathy one feels for the oppressed and disadvantaged.
A real shame!

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1 person found this helpful