Goliath

A Novel

By: Tochi Onyebuchi

Narrated by: Adam Lazarre-White, JD Jackson, Juliana Vélez, Kevin R. Free, Nidra Sous La Terre, Shayna Small, Tim Campbell, Stephanie Willis

Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

"A diverse cast of narrators provides glimpses of a near-future Earth devastated by climate change, nuclear disaster, and disease."—AudioFile Magazine

“Onyebuchi sets fire to the boundary between fiction and reality, and brings a crumbling city and an all too plausible future to vibrant life. Riveting, disturbing, and rendered in masterful detail.”—Leigh Bardugo

In his adult novel debut, Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and NAACP Image Award finalist and ALA Alex and New England Book Award winner Tochi Onyebuchi delivers a sweeping science-fiction epic in the vein of Samuel R. Delany and Station Eleven.

In the 2050s, Earth has begun to empty. Those with the means and the privilege have departed the great cities of the United States for the more comfortable confines of space colonies. Those left behind salvage what they can from the collapsing infrastructure. As they eke out an existence, their neighborhoods are being cannibalized. Brick by brick, their houses are sent to the colonies, what was once a home now a quaint reminder for the colonists of the world that they wrecked.

A primal biblical epic flung into the future, Goliath weaves together disparate narratives—a space-dweller looking at New Haven, Connecticut, as a chance to reconnect with his spiraling lover; a group of laborers attempting to renew the promises of Earth’s crumbling cities; a journalist attempting to capture the violence of the streets; a marshal trying to solve a kidnapping—into a richly urgent mosaic about race, class, gentrification, and who is allowed to be the hero of any history.

A Macmillan Audio production from Tor.com.

©2022 Tochi Onyebuchi (P)2022 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

2022, Audible.com Best of the Year, Long-listed

Hurston/Wright LEGACY Award - Finalist, Short-listed

2022, Time Magazine Best Books of the Year, Long-listed

2022, The Guardian (UK) Best Books of the Year, Long-listed

2022, NYPL Best Books of the Year, Long-listed

2022, NPR Best Book of the Year, Long-listed

2023, Locus Awards, Nominee, Short-listed

I listened all the way through and it made me think

I would not say I “enjoyed” it. One of the reasons I like to read is to talk about the books with my wife or friends. My wife would be turned off by the “science fiction” and my friends would say it’s not sci-fi enough. Oh well

a very interesting listen, very complex situations

a very interesting listen, very complex situations and characters. I will listen to this again as I am certain I missed things.

Beautifully written, but so depressing

The headline sums it up. A portrait of a future where climate change and other disasters have poisoned the earth and no social progress has been made, rather, society has regressed. Kind of a worst case scenario. The ideas are important, but man it was tough to get through. The writing was terrific though, the characters were compelling and few bright moments were really poignant. Would I recommend it? Yes, but…

Always support local!

We live in Groton so of course I'm going to read a novel based nearby! I thought the story was great! My only question is why the spaceport would be in New Haven?

Superb.

A superb foretelling of a fully-realized MAGA America. Terrifying, yet beautifully written and acted.

Good story but too long

Way too much redundant description of destruction and horrors of radiation, climate change. Story was good, and narrators were great, but better editing would have improved the book.

Very hard to read..

Angry, accusatory, beyond very hard to relate to unless you belong to specific groups; I am not crazy about the generic guilt trip that does not apply to me, my family or friends.

The characters are one dimensional

Like so many other folks that pen narratives about Black Americans, the author characterizes them as one dimensional almost alternatives to fully formed human beings. It was very disappointing. There was so much room in the story for meaning and feeling and caring, but instead we got lusting, slurs, and sex jokes. I cannot recommend this book and I had such high hopes for it.

It wasn’t that great

The writer writes eloquently, the words in his book sound like poetry, however, the story was not great. There is only one connection in this book and you don’t find that out until you have about 2 1/2 hours left of the book. This book is more like short stories about an apocalypse but not one story about and apocalypse. I also found it hard to engage. Some of the narrators were annoying, sorry to say. I skipped through the last few chapter Ms just so I could write my review. I guess I didn’t get it (the book).

skip this read not really sci fi

This is a terrible book. Very predictable plot with no imagination 😴 voice actors were very good