Narrator had soul, book has ink only.

multi-cultural plot lines woven between 3 generations.

When the zeppelin was un-leashed.

nostalgic for the 1970's

Author did a nice job of describing attitudes during the 1970's. I'll bet most of the nostalgic facts were accurate. The vintage cars seemed to be true to form.

The story itself.

The final scenes with Julius and Gwen in the hospital as she delivered her baby, and then when he left and went looking for Titus...I found Julius to become a great hero of this novel and really liked it.

I think the way he performed all the women and children sounded the same...and sometimes I that annoyed me. His encapsulation of the 70's vibe of Nat and Archy were on point, though.

No, but it was a good, solid story.

this book really took me by surprise. i listened to the first chapter and honestly thought -- i'm not going to make it through. it seemed...er...do i want to say pretentious? maybe? or...perhaps i'll just say, it seemed like it was going to be too much for me. just too much.

but something kept me listening. and i'm super glad i did.

i found the lives of archy and gwen, nat and aviva, julius and titus, so enthralling....i ached for more of each of their stories. yeh, i totally just said that.

it's funny, because i know that this book was intended to be about the two men -- archy and nat -- but i found myself more riveted with the other characters' stories. i mean, i loved those guys. archy was a particularly intriguing character. i wanted him to do the right things. i rooted for him to be the good guy.

but overall, gwen was my favorite character in this book. she was tender but serious. a no nonsense woman who was raised to never sit by and let her situation get out of control. yet, all the lives around her were out of control....and she struggled to take charge and be the woman she was intended to be. her sensibility was right on.

i also loved julius. he was such a sorry little boy. my heart went out to him every time he looked at or thought about titus. i think he was one of the true heroes of this novel. as i said, his scenes at the end of the book when gwen was in labor were truly special.

this is another book where all the ancillary characters were so strong and well developed. 'chan the man,' gibson goode, 'the king of bling', luther...every single one of them had depth and purpose. i enjoyed each and every story that intertwined with our main protagonists.

i think the most interesting part of this book was the underlying (and at times overlying) element of race that was the theme of the novel. the world views that are so different between nat and archy, aviva and gwen, titus and julius. the ability they have to coexist, as best friends, business partners, lovers...yet the inability to absolutely understand the other's point of view...never able to grasp the uniqueness of the other's race. and the wedges that formed between them all because of race.

Chabon has done it again. Can't get enough of his books. They feel real. If you've shopped for vinyl records in Oakland, you will know what I mean. Can't wait for his next one

Yiddish Policeman's Union

This is a rich slice of life from a time in the not-too-distant past. All the characters are drawn with humor and compassion, and each is flawed, sometimes tragically, but always with redemption in mind. However, Chabon's novels function better with an on-board ticking bomb, so that the reader feels like they've earned closure at the end of the novel. Chabon closed Yiddish Policeman's Union with the end of a way of life, and it felt like he tried to end TA the same way. But he just couldn't let go of these wonderful guys. As life, this makes a perfect narrative. As a novel I wanted a slightly firmer hand in the last chapters. This audio performance is among my all-time favorites, and TA itself is the best novel of the year. Among the best from this great author.

Chabon is a master. It's clear that he is in full command of his craft and he has produced another work of incredible originality with a near perfect mixture of humor, anger, uncertainty, conflict, joy and loss. His deep understanding of the characters and the lives they live is truly astonishing. I find it hard to believe that one author could convey so much truth about music, infidelity, homosexuality, community politics, male friendships, kung-fu and 70's blacksploittion films; my mind is officially boggled. I truly enjoyed this book. From beginning to end. Why four stars instead of five? I'm not really certain, except to say that, when taken in context of his other works, Telegraph Avenue was not my favorite. Although it was up there. If I could give it four and three quarters stars I would.

The characters are rich; the plot held my interest through all the twists and turns; the unique setting of the East Bay is perfectly captured in ways large and small; the descriptions of jazz are marvelous; the dark side of Oakland politics was portrayed better than any journalist has done. Clarke Peters' reading is so marvelous that I can't imagine just reading the book; my wife got used to me plugging my iPod into our stereo each evening saying "You've got to listen this this."

The use of language in "Telegraph Avenue" is so rich and seductive that I really didn't want the book to end. Listening to the reader was pure joy. The language conveyed not only the bones of the story, but also varied according to each personality. In addition, the language revealed the ages of the protagonists by being apropos to each person.Mr. Chabon must have done a mountain of research or be an aficionado of vinyl himself. He reveals an encyclopedic familiarity both with jazz of the fifties to the seventies, but also of contemporary music. Listening to stories is one of my all-time favorite activities. The excellent reader sustained the voices of the four pairs of protagonists.

There are passages that reminded me of Proust's "A la recherche du temps perdu," in the minutia of details about the music; of Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" in its panoply of characters and of Joyce's "Ulysses" in the sweep of time.

This question--"what scene was your favorite" is like asking whether you prefer dark chocolate with or without nuts--because there were so many indelible moments. Here are two: the executor's daughter cleaning out Cochise Jones' apartment and releases his parrot, or the undertaker's nephews chatter while "tailing" Titus and Julie.

A tag line for a film might be "The Karma of Vinyl."

not sure

No

I don't have any real complaint about the performance

It was just a jumble.

I really wanted to enjoy this book. I tried several times restarting it because I always felt like I was missing something. In the end, I didn't even finish the book.

The plot was dull.

I could not get into it at all, and I went to college in the 70's--it was just dull.

Sorry to say I had to abandon this book after 4 chapters. Excruciatingly dull male characters that I cared not a whit for, although actually wished something would happen to change my mind. But no. Chabon has a decent writing style and some memorable turns of phrase. Just not my taste at all, and life is too short to keep reading/listening to something so deeply dull. Perhaps I was hoping for a more Armistead Maupin tale of San Francisco? The narrator's kind of upbeat jazzy voice was ok. Maybe I'll hear him read something more literary and interesting, so I can judge him more fairly.