What Stands in a Storm

Three Days in the Worst Superstorm to Hit the South's Tornado Alley

By: Kim Cross

Narrated by: Tracy Brunjes

Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

April 27, 2011, marked the climax of a superstorm that saw a record 358 tornadoes rip through 21 states in 3 days, 7 hours, and 18 minutes. It was the deadliest day of the biggest tornado outbreak in recorded history, which saw 348 people killed, entire neighborhoods erased, and $11 billion in damage. But from the terrible destruction emerged everyday heroes, neighbors, and strangers who rescued each other from hell on earth.

With powerful emotion and gripping detail, Kim Cross weaves together the heart-wrenching stories of several characters - including three college students, a celebrity weatherman, and a team of hard-hit rescuers - to create a nail-biting chronicle in the Tornado Alley of America. No, it's not Oklahoma or Kansas; it's Alabama, where there are more tornado fatalities than anywhere in the US, where the trees and hills obscure the storms until they're bearing down upon you. For some it's a story of survival, and for others it's the story of their last hours.

©2015 Kim Cross (P)2015 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Horrifying depictions of the monster storms and gut-wrenching scenes of loss make other accounts of Tuscaloosa's tragic tornados." ( Publishers Weekly)

both heart breaking and heart warming

Wonderful information about how the storm formed and how it changed people's lives. a lot of research was obviously put into this. great read.

Gripping and Unblinking

What Stands in a Storm is a play-by-play breakdown of the worst super tornado outbreak to date. The author brings you close to the inner circle of victims, the details of major tornados, and the meteorologists who document their terrible toll.

Extremely Offensive Narration

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

For the content of the book yes, but due to the narration, no.

As a native Birminghamian, and witness to the devastation of April 27th, I would recommend this book to both residents of Alabama and others across the nation. While most of us who live here already know many of these stories (or ones just like them), as well as are directly connected to people affected by this more greatly than ourselves, this was a fantastic depiction of our resilient state, our courageous people and the fine men and women who work tirelessly to aid others.

What did you like best about this story?

I enjoyed the honesty of this book. I respect the meticulous research and development that went into creating this story. It is a testament to the dedication of the author to the memory of those lost and the accuracy in which their stories deserved to be told.

What didn’t you like about Tracy Brunjes’s performance?

As a native Alabamian, I found her narration particularly offensive. The choice to portray the voices of Alabamians with a fake, and often times mockish seeming Southern accent was an extremely poor judgement. Not all Alabamians even speak with that thick of an accent. It seemed more like she was making fun of the Southern people rather than trying to tell the story in our voices. This narration was very distasteful and overall ruined the enjoyment of the book for me. It is of my opinion that this book should be re-recorded with a different narrator, or to correct the parts where she speaks in an Alabamian character's "voice".

There really isn't even enough room here to properly describe the feeling of anger I had while listening to the narration of this book when the narrator chose to speak in "accent". Degrading is the only word I can even find.

Incredibly written. Disgracefully narrated.

Kim Cross does a fantastic job gathering information to piece together a heart-wrenching tale of the 2011 Tornado Outbreak. The stories are moving, the tornadoes and damage is scientifically fascinating and the loss of life will move you to tears.

BUT. The narrator, Tracy Brunjes, does a disgraceful and disrespectful narration of the lives and stories lost and touched by this natural disaster. Faked southern accents will make you cringe. She also makes errors or stumbles when reading. It could have been fixed by a re-recording of those instances.

I beg Audible to have this re-read and uploaded to honor the victims and Kim's writing.

Good stories if you can stand the narrator

Would you try another book from Kim Cross and/or Tracy Brunjes?

Kim Cross, yes; Tracy Brunjes, no.

What didn’t you like about Tracy Brunjes’s performance?

The narrator's mawkish reading is over the top and unnecessary, even off-putting.

Any additional comments?

I found this book well written, and the stories compelling.

Educational

I'm always reading up and looking into disasters of America, trying to learn the causes, response to, and lessons learned from events. I like to learn about both natural and man caused events, gleaning information I can in order to better prepare for disasters I may have to respond to. This book gave some great eye view perspectives, and allowed for a lot of information on downfalls of response due to broken infrastructure. Great read for both history, and for emergency responders.

True story of Tornado tragedy.

good book. keeps your attention and makes you care about the people who had to endure this tragedy. Absolutely worth reading.

wonderful

this was a fantastic retelling of tragic events that sometimes made me cry,laugh,and ponder what could/should have been different. the narrator did fabulous. I'm really happy to have found this book. the first person accounts and retelling really made the book.

A gripping, emotional story, poor narration

This is a gripping, heart-rending story that is well written and packs a heavy emotional punch. Even though I'm not a parent, I found myself tearing up several times.

I particularly enjoyed the first part of the book- being a "weather weenie" I liked the meteorological insight into storm formation and the in-depth profile of James Spann.

Unfortunately, the narration of the story was not that great, as the reader mispronounced several words frequently (asphalt, Cantore, and most troubling of all, Bama!). I'm a Southerner and wasn't offended by the accent (I'm from Tennessee), but mispronouncing Bama in a book about Alabama is unforgivable.

Touching Story with Issues

I'm a disaster weather junkie, so a book like this is right up my alley. Chronicling the April 27, 2011 Alabama super outbreak of tornados, the author takes us into the impacts of the storm with a focus on the human effects. She does a good job of explaining the conditions, the personalities she chose to focus on, the storm development and a very touching part of the book about the devastating effects that the deaths of loved ones had on their families. I'd be tough to read this and not tear up during that section. Overall, I really enjoyed it with a couple of caveats, hence the 4 star rating rather than a 5 star.

(1) You'll read that some people were offended by the narrator's choice to imitate a southern accent at times. Some have gone so far as to call it "offensive". It wasn't - that's how people talk in that area of the country (45 years living in the South). It's a bit jarring because the soft accent that the narrator normally has makes the transition a bit jarring. She probably would have been better off not trying to do it but it's not that bad (and those who are hopping mad about it need to get over themselves). Her tender narration during the emotional after-effects of the storm are really well done and more than makes up for the Southern accent attempt.

(2) The author focused on certain people and places as would any good author. However, she descends into far too much Christian imagery and discussion the further you get in the book. By the last couple of chapters, you'd never know that anything was hit by the tornados beyond a couple of houses and many churches. She mentions numerous churches and interviews pastors and priests but rarely mentions any other buildings even being touched. You''ll never hear about the Piggly Wiggly being wiped off the face of the earth in Harvest or bank employees taking shelter in a vault. But she can take time to talk about this or that church being damaged. As such, the last couple of chapters seemed to dive unnecessarily into religion which was a puzzling choice..

(3) Furthermore, everyone she interviews is Caucasian as well. The exclusions and inclusions become very apparent as the book goes on to the point you start to wonder if there's some sort of agenda to paint the entire zone that was hit as white and Christian. You don't hear about any black churches or communities impacted. I'm not one for forced inclusion but the lack of diversity is again a bit puzzling.