Go Down Together

The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde

By: Jeff Guinn

Narrated by: Jonathan Hogan

Length: 16 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

With dramatic flair, Jeff Guinn delivers the definitive portrait of Bonnie and Clyde. These media-savvy outlaws appealed to America's Depression-era hunger for swashbuckling characters. Glowing radio and newspaper reports transformed these "public enemies" into celebrities - much like the cinema gangsters of the time.

©2009 24 Words LLC (P)2009 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

"With the brisk pacing of a novel, Guinn's richly detailed history will leave readers breathless until the final hail of bullets." ( Publishers Weekly)
"A fine work of history.... Easily readable and includes much of the last two decades' new scholarship.... Go Down Together is especially good at...placing Bonnie and Clyde in context." ( The New York Times Book Review)

Bravo!

What a great read!! Not only did I learn a lot about Bonnie & Clyde, but also about the economic conditions that produced these two outlaws. While it is truly sad what they did with their lives, their stories are really fascinating.

I had seen the movie with Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway. It was interesting to watch it again after reading this book and to note the "glamorization" of the two villians, as well as the many misrepresentations in the movie.

Some of the more fascinating facts have to do with the techinques they used to outgun and outrun the law. The story of how Clyde got out of prison the first time is not only interesting but unbelievably ironic. And the story of the poverty they grew up in (especially Clyde) is almost unbelievable.

One other notable theme was how many times they were severely injured and managed to live through it. Hard to believe that they actually didn't die much sooner.

The only thing that surprised me is that the chapter on their death almost seems anticlimatic and brief. The truth of the ambush and the aftermath of their death also holds many unexpected surprises.

Mr. Guinn has done a GREAT job. I learned a great deal and highly recommend this book!!

Unlike some other reviews, I had no issues with the narrator.

Recording One-Off

Any additional comments?

There are several reviews that left negative comments about the narrator. I have to agree, but don't think it is the narrator's fault. The recording has the feel that it has been over processed. When an audio file is aggressively processed (which seems to be the case here) you will hear words clipped. IMHO it is the sound engineer who shoulders the responsibility.

The story I really didnt know

Not a criminal mastermind but more a man who wanted to "Be someone" more than anything else. Clyde Barrow led an interesting and somewhat charmed life. The tales of his adventures criss-crossing the midwest were interesting and filled in all I didnt know.

If you are interested in biographies you will find this and interesting look into the lives of two of our countries most notorious criminals.

I found the narration easy to listen to and somehow "Newsy" enough to fit the topic perfectly.

I Feel Like I Know Bonnie and Clyde

Where does Go Down Together rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Well, it is the first one I have listened too till the end so I would say that, so far, it is the best audiobook I have listened to.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Jonathan Hogan?

Maybe. He has a pleasant voice with one exception which has been noted by several reviewers. I am not sure if he has a speech impediment or if he was drinking when he narrated this book but some of the issues are pretty distracting. He drops "s"' from a lot of words including plurals, which forces the listener to stop and think about what he just said. The problem I ran into is that when that would happen, the story would continue but I would be stuck in the previous word or even paragraph because I would have to fix the sentence in my head to move on. Maybe that's a personal issue, but it happened. One of the worst was when he said the word "Dallas", which appears countless times in the narrative. So many times the "s" was dropped and it was completely distracting. So, I think I would listen to another book narrated by him if the topic was of great interest, but only because I spent 12 hours or so listening to him and I can deal with the distraction of his speech because he actually does have a pleasant reading voice. Save for that speech issue, I would want him to read my biography, if I had one.

Any additional comments?

Overall, this was a wonderful narrative. I honestly felt like I knew the outlaw couple along with every other member of the gang and their families and, while that had a lot to do with the writing of the book itself, it had a lot to do with the man reading it as well. This was truly a journey and an emotional one at that. I didn't want it to end but, as with Bonnie and Clyde, it had to. I would definitely recommend this to friends and family and have done so already, however noting that the narrator might be tough to listen to at first. Overall, 5 star book without the narrator.

anybody knows.....

The only issue I have is with the pronunciation of "Coupe" to describe Tha car it is pronounced ( koop )
NOT ( KOOPEY ) As a former auto technician this just ticked me off every time!!

Detailed But Very Grim

This book is interesting but extremely grim. It is incredibly detailed and well-researched but hard to listen to because of the harsh and brutal situations depicted. It is very sad and doesn’t romanticize Clyde and Bonnie. The narrator is fine and the stories of the Parker & Barrow families are very fully covered. There is no suspense. The story ends as badly as possible and as everyone expected, even at the time.

Best book on B & C!!!!!

If you are a fan of b and c like I am this is a must read! I thought it would just go over the same things I’d already heard but I learned so many new cool
Facts!! I now look at Clyde and Bonnie in a totally different way, no longer as cold blooded killers .

Top 10 favorite!

Excellent story, perfectly told. Out of the 500 some books I've heard ,in the top ten

Bonnie's & Clyde's Entire Stories

I do not know whether to admire or be amazed at the labor of love this book represents for it's author. The research and effort are certainly impressive. I enjoyed the book.

Great story, good delivery, no on narrator!

When telling a story about people from Texas, regardless of the atrocities they might have or might not have done, it is imperative that you have a narrator that does not sound like Al Franken! Please pass the word around in the audio book world? He is a great narrator, but not particularly for this application. Any other subject matter I'm sure I would have been pleased.As you can tell , I don't hold Al Franken in high regard, He is a puss w/ a loud mouth. As far as the narrator, exceptionally good, but not meant for this story!