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)

Ignatius P. Reilly as Inspiration

The first really, really fat fictional character I met was John Kennedy Toole's (1937 - 1969) Ignatius P. Reilly, the hero of "A Confederacy of Dunces" (1980). No, the dates aren't typos - and neither is 1981, the year Toole's book was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Toole's Reilly is New Orleans personified, in all of its excess, insular and corpulent glory.

Liz Moore's 550 pound Arthur Opp of "Heft" (2012) is no Ignatius P. Reilly, but Opp, the reclusive, disgraced night school college professor bears an uncanny literary resemblance to the actual writer Toole. Moore has an MFA from Hunter College, where Toole was an instructor long before Moore was born. I've never taken a writing class, but in my imagination, college professors of both sexes wear tweed blazers with leather elbow patches, a la Reilly; scuffed brown loafers with tassels; and stride confidently in front of a full classroom making Important Observations about Prize Winning Literature that will Inspire eager new college students.

Opp the literary character never inspired anyone except Yonkers-born and raised Charlene Turner. Charlene went to one semester of night school, dropped out, married, and had a son, Arthur "Kel" Keller. After her divorce, Charlene got a job at Westchester Prep School, where students dress carefully in The Right Clothes and a Mercedes for their 16th birthday is a modest gift. Kel is allowed to attend, and fits in surprisingly well. Kel may be from the wrong zip code, but an ace three sport athlete is welcome just about anywhere.

Both Opp's and Kel's lives are fragile constructs, and as William Butler Yeats famously said, "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold" ("The Second Coming," 1919). If Charlene Turner was the centre, "Heft" is the story of the fall and eventual rise of both men.

"Heft" uses two narrators. The Opp narrator, Keith Szarabajka, sounds quite large and almost out of breath. The performance reminded me a bit of Adam Arkin's performance as Dale Biederbeck in the television show "Mr. Monk Meets Dale the Whale" (2002). Kirby Heyborne was convincing as a teenager.

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Original

This started out good, and ended in a way I didn't expect...Not horrible but not the greatest story either.

Amazing writing , sad but uplifting

Heft is told in two voices... Arthur, a 550 pound man living in Brooklyn and Kel an 18 year old from Yonkers. They are both vulnerable, sensitive, insecure, guilt ridden and damaged by life. They are fully developed, imperfect but appealing characters. They are tied together only by a quirky friendship between Kel's mother and Arthur years earlier and her desire for them to meet. Doesn't sound like a five star read... but I lived inside their thoughts and life for 11 hours and 44 minutes and have to say I didn't want it to end. Loneliness, loss, death, abandonment, "almost," disapproval, hope... its not a light read, nor oppressive. The role of fathers and the ways one can be fatherless, is a beautiful thread woven though the book. If you need action, a fast moving plot, mystery or adventure... this isn't it. The only book I can think of that is similar "The Unlikely Pilgrimage Harold Fry" is actually very different. Kel occasionally swears, smokes marijuana and engages in sex at a teen drinking party... probably a PG-13 read.

Flawless

First let me say that I ordinarily do not like audiobooks read by more than one reader. Just as I am really beginning to become absorbed by the timbre, tone and cadence of one reader, another voice comes in and I find it jarring. This was NOT the case with this book. I fell in love with the first reader and became absorbed almost instantly, and when the other reader came in a while later I was able to remain without effort in the flow of the story. Their two voices complement one another's perfectly, and the transitions are seamless.

The story is beautiful. Two lonely people who have had, and lost, family find the courage to accept new and different kinds of family. That's basically the gist of the overarching plot. The details are what makes it so vibrant, and it is done believably and with an honesty that takes your breath away. The author NAILS the stream-of-consciousness of a teenager without ever rendering him whiny or annoying, and the sophisticated flow of the hermit's narration is entirely in keeping with the character's secluded, academic past. At no point do you think "really?" when they do something.

Arthur's consciousness of his obesity is enough to make anyone rethink their opinion about the subject. He is calmly detached from it, aware of everything it means about him, and everything it means to others who see him. When he begins planning his eating around Yolanda's presence you get the full picture of a man who must maintain his sense of self calorically. His naked perspective of his body and his health is heartbreaking and deeply moving.

Kell is entirely lovable. He's a more stereotypical character, poor kid from Yonkers whose mom gets him a spot at a rich prep school, no other family or friends, struggling to make good on an exceptional talent in the face of adversity. But being inside his mind as he goes through the 6 months or so over which the story takes place is unbelievably real. You want so badly for things to go his way, and whether they do or don't you will find yourself filled with respect for the grace with which he takes it all.

I was not paying attention to how much time was left to this book, and when it ended I was so furious I had to laugh at myself for getting angry at my iPod, like it was the iPod's fault I couldn't listen for another hour. There has been some negative feedback about the book's conclusion, and I'll address that without including any spoilers, since I hope you will want to read this book: it does end at what seems like a rather crucial final scene, but after considering it I think that reaction was wrong - or rather, correct but intentional on the part of the author. The book ends just as what you've been waiting for is about to happen, but really if the author had gone ahead with that scene you wouldn't be at the end of a book - you'd be at the start of a brand new one.

Bottom line, there is no one part of this book that makes it excellent - story, narration, character development, believability, etc. It's ALL there, and the components fit together perfectly. Kudos to the author and to the production team - this is one which I will recommend to anyone and everyone.

Quirky story with good message.

Thorny issues faced in daily life by characters not often given a voice. Sadness and loneliness, love and family all play roles. A book that will definitely get a second listen. Narrators are superb.

Touching story

Who was your favorite character and why?

Arthur Art. He was very likeable and gave you insight to what it must be like to be overweight and homebound.

Any additional comments?

I enjoyed this book much more than I expected and really enjoyed Arthur's story.

I really enjoyed this

What an interesting subject for a novel, and what a good job Liz Moore has done with it. I found this listen quite absorbing. The four-star rating is mainly because I felt the book could have been condensed a little. It seemed to go on a little long. But the characters are unforgettable and believable, as is the story. I look forward to her next book.

Realistically flawed characters

Any additional comments?

This is a great book with characters that struggle with fears & addictions that at times get the best of them. I only wish that greater time had been spent on Arthur Opp rather than Kel Keller because he was a more deeply intriguing character to me. I also agree with another Audible reviewer that the narrator for the character Kel sounded too old and somewhat one dimensional. The narrator for Arthur was fantastic. I am very glad I listened to this book. It is definitely worth a credit.

A new favorite

The narration of Arthur has to be among the best audible performances to date. Beautifully paced, vulnerable and with a gentle timbre brought this story to life in a way that a simple read could never have done. Definitely on the list of great books made better by the performance of their reading.

Unbelievably excellent

This is a story of loneliness and loss and fear of the unknowns. Performed with such excellence written with such tenderness and combined for a wonderful read.
Listen and enjoy. It is simply marvelous