Heft

By: Liz Moore

Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne, Keith Szarabajka

Length: 11 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

Audie Award Nominee, Literary Fiction, 2013

A heartwarming novel about larger-than-life characters and second chances....

Former academic Arthur Opp weighs 550 pounds and hasn’t left his rambling Brooklyn home in a decade. Twenty miles away in Yonkers, seventeen-year-old Kel Keller navigates life as the poor kid in a rich school and pins his hopes on what seems like a promising baseball career - if he can untangle himself from his family drama. The link between this unlikely pair is Kel’s mother, Charlene, a former student of Arthur’s. After nearly two decades of silence, it is Charlene’s unexpected phone call to Arthur - a plea for help - that jostles them into action. Through Arthur and Kel’s own quirky and lovable voices, Heft tells the winning story of two improbable heroes whose sudden connection transforms both their lives. Like Elizabeth McCracken’s The Giant’s House, Heft is a novel about love and family found in the most unexpected places.

©2012 Liz Moore (P)2012 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“A suspenseful, restorative novel from one of our fine young voices.” (Colum McCann, National Book Award–winning author)

“In Heft, Liz Moore creates a cast of vulnerable, lonely misfits that will break your heart and then make it soar. What a terrific novel!” (Ann Hood, best-selling author of The Red Thread)

“This is the real deal, Liz Moore is the real deal - she’s written a novel that will stick with you long after you’ve finished it.” (Russell Banks, Pulitzer Prize finalist)

Multi-Star Rating, But Worth Your Time

A frank and sometimes harsh story of a lonely obese man who ultimately accepts himself and who is the object of a young man's link to finding his father. It is heart wrenching at times, but comedy relief comes when a friendship develops between the man and his hispanic young maid. The narrator brings this female forward in a stellar performance.. The story would have been 4 stars if it hadn't left the reader hanging a ltitle and unsatisfied in the end. I am not sure if it was to set up the scene for a second novel or not, but either way, closure could have been better. Both narrator's performance is outstanding, and in fact, may be the reason it's a successful listen

Heavy, but never hopeless!

A beautiful story about loneliness in its many manifestations, about how lives overlap and enrich in ways we never see. About the destructive power of rejection and the courage to overcome it. Beautifully told.

Excellent read

What did you love best about Heft?

Heft is everything I want in an audiobook. I care deeply about the characters, it's well written and the performances are spot on.

My new favorite

The most enthralling thing about this book is the narration by Keith Szarabajka, which is superb. And the Arthur Opp character is one of the most appealing ever. I could so easily envision him lumbering around in his chic old brownstone, checking his mailbox, peering out the window, hauling mounds of food out of his well-stocked refrigerator. The voice of the teenage boy, the other main character, disappointed me a little, as I thought he sounded too old and mature (the only reason I gave the performance four instead of five stars). But the story is mesmerizing -- profoundly sad at times but ultimately satisfying. I loved the ending, which I had to listen to twice. At first it sounded a bit forlorn, but then I realized it was all about human connections and the truth that comes from that. A beautiful book.

Wish the story was longer. Curious for sequel.

Great story line. Want to know how the old man carried on. I bet he really was the boys father. Why wouldn't he admit it what was he hiding? I need book two!

Good book made better

The performance made the book. It was an excellent story made much better by the best reading performance I've heard. I may even listen to it again, and I've never done that before.

Really loved this book! Left me wanting more!

A wonderful story! I cared about each character and their relationships as the story developed!. The surprise ending left me wanting to know what happens next in the lives of the characters. Great narration!

Excellent narration

A lovely but sad story with excellent narration by both narrators. Left me wondering what is to become of the characters.

Profound beauty

Any additional comments?

Liz Moore cares for words, knows, cherishes and reveres them. Both main characters are introduced and presented down to the ground. Heft is a story of two completely different people, outwardly not connected or related, far from one another, never even met each other, but at the same time, page after page, line by line one can see how alike they are, how similar in their inner solitude and hunger for honesty, acceptance, friendship. So maybe they are related? Thanks to one special person, for one a mother, for another one a long lost friend, they are.
Lectors are fantastic.
All of that makes Heft one wonderful, enchanted pleasure.

Excellent capturing of emotions

What did you love best about Heft?

The readers were just very good.I felt the author captured real, true emotions.....not over-the-top, but down-to-earth. I've never liked an open-ended book, I think, because they really do have one obvious outcome-so why not finish it? But not this one.....so many possibilities.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Both main characters were so needy. Yet slowly, slowly hurtling toward each other through no fault of their own. Yolanda was such an unusual character too.

Which scene was your favorite?

The opening of the door-at last.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Fated destiny

Any additional comments?

Good stuff