Feeding the Dragon

I found Feeding the Dragon by Sharon Washington while browsing Audible yesterday. It was being offered for free as an Audible special and since I love the theater I immediately clicked on the offer.
Equipped with phone and earbuds I began my constitutional, hiking in Corona mandated permissible circles of 100 meters from my house (OK I cheat a little, but no one expects me to walk around with a ruler), while listening to Sharon Washington in a brilliant performance of autobiographical vignettes, as seen through the eyes of a young girl growing up with her family on the top floor of a library where her father was employed as janitor. Among his duties was to stoke the coal furnace in the basement of the building - feeding the dragon. The show more stories were touching and at some points heartbreaking, but mostly they were beautiful (do I sound like Dorothy?). Although the author begins by expertly lulling the listener into a smiley euphoric stroll down memory lane, there are some heartbreaking observations, alongside a sharply dramatic scene which ripped my heart out. show less

I saw Sharon Washinton perform Feeding the Dragon at the Hartford Stage Company in 2018, and I was so impressed. First of all, I never realized that there were apartments in the New York Public Library branches. Secondly, I began to understand code-switching after hearing this masterpiece. The way Washington describes her family life at the St. Agnes branch of the NYC Library is eye-opening, and the Audible rendition is as rapturing as the stage production. The literal dragon that her father feeds is the old furnace that needs to be fed coal to keep the library warm. Although the family is not living in heavenly bliss, Sharon takes advantage of the times that the library is closed to explore books that profoundly influence her life. She show more refers to various books, poems, and authors during her magical fairy tale upbringing, which, in retrospect, she would like to take precedence over the struggles and secrets. Sharon is a talented writer and performer who uses the title’s dragon in multiple ways that become clear as the story progresses.

I was reminded of this after reading Fiona Davis's Lions of Fith Avenue—a similar setting of family life in the New York Public Library. There were also some similar themes. show less

Great performance and content in this Audible production. Washington covers her coming-of-age years living in NYC libraries (apparently her father was a caretaker of sorts?) falling in love with books while finding herself. This is ably "performed" by the author in the style of a one-woman audioplay. While this will resonate with book lovers that would have liked to grow up in such a setting, this has much to say eloquently about seeing the adult world through the eyes of precocious if inexperienced child.

A wonderful memoir written in a narrative style.
This is an Audible Original, I think it was only released on audio. I love the writing style, and her voices and characters throughout the story. In 1970s New York City, Washington's father tended the furnace in a New York library, and her family lived on the floor above the library.
She talks about her love affair with books, and the creepy old furnace her father fed in the basement, like a hungry dragon.
There is some heavier subject matter as well, but I appreciated the whimsy and the character of the inanimate objects and buildings.

Memoir as Stage Play
Review of the Audible Original audiobook (June 2018) based on the author's stage play

Feeding the Dragon is a memoir by actress Sharon Washington that is performed as a one-woman stage play. The Dragon of the title is the nickname for the furnace in the New York City Public Library which has to be maintained by Washington's janitor father. In that era, the janitor's family was provided with an apartment on the top floor of the library and so Washington grows up as the little girl who lived in the library. Although that may sound idyllic, there is a dark side to the story as well and the title Dragon may also refer to the hidden demon of her father's alcoholism which brings conflict into the situation.

The story was show more well done and Sharon Washington's narration in all voices was excellent.

I had missed Feeding the Dragon when it was first released as an Audible Original in 2018, but I was lucky enough to catch up to it in Audible's recent offering of 9 free Theater releases at Audible Theater. The offer still appears to be available as of late April 2020 but possibly not for too much longer. show less

This was a good listen, but I was a little distracted from it after the masterpiece of Boys & Girls. I will though always remember “feeding the Dragon,” the boxes in the closet, and envy of living in a library.

I loved the author's description of living inside a library. This must have been magical to a child.