Search By:

Advanced Search

Learn More
Audible on Twitter and Facebook Audible for Blackberry is here Free Mp3 Player | Audible.com

Product Details

Sample
Consider the Lobster and Other Essays (Selected Essays)
Abridged
Narrated by
Regular Price:
$19.98
Special Offer Price: $7.49

Two ways to buy!

Get this for
$7.49
 Learn More
Get this for
$19.98
Add to Cart
Program Type
Audiobook
Publisher
Length
3 hrs and 48 mins
Audible Release Date
12-12-05
Audio Formats About Formats
2 3 4 Audible Enhanced Audio
Customer Rating

3.92 based on 95 ratings
 

Publisher's Summary

Long renowned as one of the smartest writers on the loose, David Foster Wallace reveals himself in Consider the Lobster to be also one of the funniest. In this program, he ranges far and farther in his search for the original, the curious, or the merely mystifying. He discovers the World's Largest Lobster Cooker at the Maine Lobster Festival and confronts the inevitable question just beyond the butter-or-cocktail-sauce quandary.

Do lobsters feel pain?

He addresses this and other important cultural questions in four brilliant esasays from his latest collection.

In what is sure to be a much-talked-about exploration of distinctly modern subjects, one of the sharpest minds of our time delves into some of life's most delicious topics.

This collection includes the following essays: "Consider the Lobster", "The View from Mrs. Thompson's", "Big Red Son", and "How Tracy Austin Broke My Heart".

©2005 David Foster Wallace. All Rights Reserved.; (P)2005 Time Warner AudioBooks. All Rights Reserved. A division of Time Warner Book Group.

What the Critics Say

"Wallace poses an unsettling challenge to the way many of us live now....This is strong stuff....It is Wallace's nostalgia for a lost meaningfulness...that gives his essays their particular urgency, their attractive mix of mordancy and humorous ruefulness....Few of his young peers have spoken as eloquently and feelingly as he has about the moral imagination that contemporary American life imposes on them." (The New York Times Book Review)
"Novelist Wallace might just be the smartest essayist writing today." (Publishers Weekly)

Customer Reviews

Showing: 1-5 of 5
3 of 3 people found this review helpful:
Rating 5.0Rating 5.0Rating 5.0Rating 5.0Rating 5.0 "What a Great Writer!"
By: Elizabeth (Kailua-Kona)
March 23, 2009
My only disappointment with this audiobook is the fact that several of the articles and essays that are in the actual printed book are missing. Made me mad. Otherwise, bravo!

I bought this audiobook after the deeply saddening suicide of David Foster Wallace. He's one of the greatest minds of our time, and it's such a tragedy that he wasn't able to enjoy his life more. He had a lot to give.

His vocabulary is challenging and his humor is sharp. His narration made the listening experience extra-special.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful:
Rating 3.0Rating 3.0Rating 3.0Rating 3.0Rating 3.0 "David Foster Wallace...a good place to start"
By: Rick (New Rochelle, NY, USA)
November 25, 2008
I had neither read nor listened to any of DFW's work, but I decided to check into it upon hearing of his recent death. Accolades called him our great lost voice and an amazing essayist. Well, he is a fantastic writer. These essays, about a lobster festival in Maine, a long essay about a porn awards ceremony, and another about his experience of 9/11 from the safe remove of Indiana are engaging and outstanding. He writes with a funny slant, great asides and observations. And he's laugh-out-loud funny. Also, check out his week-long tour with the John McCain press corps while a Rolling Stone correspondent in 2000 in another fine listen called "McCain's Promise"
1 of 1 people found this review helpful:
Rating 5.0Rating 5.0Rating 5.0Rating 5.0Rating 5.0 "Great Author Read"
By: Kat (USA)
November 10, 2008
This was a fantastic author read, much better than most. Wallace is a brilliant writer and hearing him read his own work adds to the experience of these essays.

The structure of the audiobook follows that of the print book - 3 separate essays. Each is thoughtful, well-written, and very entertaining.
1 of 3 people found this review helpful:
Rating 4.0Rating 4.0Rating 4.0Rating 4.0Rating 4.0 "Abridged..."
By: Shawn (Mountain View, CA, USA)
April 27, 2007
While the abridgment is probably necessary given an essay like "Host," I was hoping to <i>hear</i> "Authority and American Usage." The conversational tone of that essay would fit this medium so very well--except for the nasally footnotes: but then, how <b>do</b> you handle audio footers?
1 of 10 people found this review helpful:
Rating 1.0Rating 1.0Rating 1.0Rating 1.0Rating 1.0 "Expected More"
By: Robert (Fairfield, CA, USA)
February 06, 2006
The author provides some interesting facts but can find fault with everything. The glass is definately half empty for him.
Prices subject to VAT and sales tax where applicable
Recommendations powered by: loomia
© Copyright 1997 - 2010 Audible, Inc. Legal Notices Privacy Policy