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Being There  By  cover art

Being There

By: Jerzy Kosinski
Narrated by: Dustin Hoffman
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Publisher's summary

Earphones Award Winner (AudioFile Magazine)

Audie Award Nominee, Best Solo Narration, 2013

Jerzy Kosinski’s clever parable of a naive man thrust into the modern world is more pointed now than ever. Academy Award winner Dustin Hoffman (Rain Man, The Graduate), perhaps best known for his portrayals of vulnerable characters and antiheroes, gives an understated and exemplary performance of this satiric look at the unreality of American media culture.

Chance, the enigmatic gardener, becomes Chauncey Gardiner after getting hit by a limo belonging to a Wall Street tycoon. The whirlwind that follows brings Chance to his new status of political policy advisor and possible vice presidential candidate. His garden-variety political responses, inspired by television, become heralded as visionary, and he is soon a media icon due to his unknown background and vague, yet appealing, conversational nature. Being There was adapted into an Academy Award-winning film, starring Peter Sellers as Chance, in 1979.

Explore more titles performed by some of the most celebrated actors in the business in Audible’s Star-Powered Listens collection.
©1971 Jerzy Kosinski (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Dustin Hoffman's performance of this spare and provocative novel is a revelation. The story is surreal (though certainly not difficult and certainly highly amusing); to deliver it, what is needed is not pacing or vocal pyrotechnics but a thorough, thoughtful understanding of the text and the restraint to perform only exactly what is there." (AudioFile)

What listeners say about Being There

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be there now

The sex scenes are exquisite. If only Chance would run for president, all our problems would be solved. Watch him!

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Good!

The story unfolds smoothly and is amazingly plausible in today's context of media validation. Definitely interesting.

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  • Overall
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Dustin Hoffman's voice is perfect 4Gardner's story

I thoroughly enjoyed this story and Mr. Hoffman's narration was perfect for it. It was a quick listen. I listened while doing chores etc.

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Excellent performance!

Mr. Hoffman is brilliant! He is so gifted! He can do anything with his wonderful voice! Just great!

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Enjoyable light read with great narration

Any additional comments?

This story portrays a simple vulnerable man who is perceived by a successful tycoon to be brilliant and then it snowballs to everyone believing he is brilliant. Enjoyable afternoon listen.

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  • 02-25-16

Dustin Hoffman Narrated This Book Perfectly

Where does Being There rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

average. book great narration

Any additional comments?

Very unique.
I bought this book on a Daily Deal with no knowledge of the story. Dustin Hoffman was perfect for this book. This was a pretty good book but i honestly think Hoffman took it from a 2* to a 4*. I cant remember a book that was as positively affected by a narrator.

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Wonderful Narration

Dustin Hoffman 's excellent Narration was another effective interpretation of this wonderfully crafted Kosinski novel.

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Delightful!

What a really seemingly simple but incredibly insightful story! One of my favorite actors, Dustin H. was incredible and really made the characters come alive!

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Dustin Hoffman reads masterfully.

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this reading of Jezry Kosinski's classic work, which is as relevant today as it was in 1970.

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A classic.

Though the story was written years ago before cell phones, the Internet and politics by sound bites, this story is as pertinent now as it was in 1970. Dustin Hoffman does a great job with the narration.

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