Jeff

I also really like The Company as well as a few of Littell's other books on tape. This one was unlistenable.

The reading by Scott Brick was so staccato, so loud and abrupt, that every sentence was emphasized, every punctuation mark vividly displayed. I simply couldn't get through more than 90 minutes of it. Very disappointing presentation.

This is the 10th or 12th audiobook to which I've listened on Audible.com, and far and above the rest of them (most of which are more "popular" or "populist" titles) this one is relentless. It's both impossible to listen to, and impossible to put down.

It's not a novel of plot, though there is one, and it's not a novel of characters, though there are many of them and they are very well drawn. Rather, it's a novel of images, and a novel of feelings, and a novel of writing. It's the most well written of the novels to which I've listened, especially since I find that I enjoy the languid descriptions and sections of prose that Roth uses. It's a story of what happens when an original sinner interacts with humans of all ilks, angels and demons alike. It's a story of nature (of the human kind) and nurture (of the human kind) and interactions (of the human kind) and above all, it's the story of people.