Fly Already

Stories

By: Etgar Keret

Narrated by: Various

Length: 5 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

From a "genius" (New York Times) storyteller: a new, subversive, hilarious, heart-breaking collection.

"There is sweetheartedness and wisdom and eloquence and transcendence in his stories because these virtues exist in abundance in Etgar himself.... I am very happy that Etgar and his work are in the world, making things better." (George Saunders)

There's no one like Etgar Keret. His stories take place at the crossroads of the fantastical, searing, and hilarious. His characters grapple with parenthood and family, war and games, marijuana and cake, memory and love. These stories never go to the expected place, but always surprise, entertain, and move....

In "Arctic Lizard", a young boy narrates a post-apocalyptic version of the world where a youth army wages an unending war, rewarded by collecting prizes. A father tries to shield his son from the inevitable in "Fly Already". In "One Gram Short", a guy just wants to get a joint to impress a girl and ends up down a rabbit hole of chaos and heartache. And in the masterpiece "Pineapple Crush", two unlikely people connect through an evening smoke down by the beach, only to have one of them imagine a much deeper relationship.

The thread that weaves these pieces together is our inability to communicate, to see so little of the world around us and to understand each other even less. Yet somehow, in this audio, through Etgar's deep love for humanity and our hapless existence, a bright light shines through and our universal connection to each other sparks alive.

Audiobook table of contents:
"Fly Already", read by Rob Shapiro
“One Gram Short”, read by MacLeod Andrews
“The Next-to-Last Time I Was Shot Out of a Cannon”, read by John Rubinstein
“Todd”, read by Kirby Heyborne
“Tabula Rasa”, read by John Rubinstein
“Car Concentrate”, read by Rob Shapiro
“At Night”, read by Karissa Vacker
“Windows”, read by Kirby Heyborne
“To the Moon and Back”, read by MacLeod Andrews
“GooDeed”, read by John Rubinstein
“Crumb Cake”, read by Rob Shapiro
“Dad With Mashed Potatoes”, read by Karissa Vacker
“Arctic Lizard”, read by MacLeod Andrews
(Email from Michael Warshavski to Sefi Moreh), read by Rob Shapiro
(Email from Sefi Moreh to Michael Warshavski), read by Kirby Heyborne
“Ladder”, read by John Rubinstein
(Email from Michael Warshavski to Sefi Moreh), read by Rob Shapiro
(Email from Sefi Moreh to Michael Warshavski), read by Kirby Heyborne
“Yad Vashem”, read by Rob Shapiro
(Email from Michael Warshavski to Sefi Moreh), read by Rob Shapiro
(Email from Sefi Moreh to Michael Warshavski), read by Kirby Heyborne
“The Birthday of a Failed Revolutionary”, read by John Rubinstein
(Email from Michael Warshavski to Sefi Moreh), read by Rob Shapiro
“Allergies”, read by Kirby Heyborne
(Email from Sefi Moreh to Michael Warshavski), read by Kirby Heyborne
“Fungus”, read by Rob Shapiro
(Email from Michael Warshavski to Sefi Moreh), read by Rob Shapiro
“Chips”, read by MacLeod Andrews
(Email from Michael Warshavski to Sefi Moreh), read by Rob Shapiro
“Home”, read by John Rubinstein
(Email from Sefi to Chief Dept. of Rational Species Study), read by Kirby Heyborne
“Pineapple Crush”, read by MacLeod Andrews
“Evolution of a Breakup”, read by Rob Shapiro

©2019 Etgar Keret (P)2019 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“Reading Fly Already is like settling down for a ride in a luxurious car with a world-class driver who has an extremely crazy worldview that doesn’t interfere with his amazing driving. Is there any better way to see the world?” (Elif Batuman)

“These stories - swervy, thrillingly funny, honest, and almost shockingly alert - disarm a reader in abundant ways. Keret will look at any situation and any type of character with an open eye to all defenses, and slowly (or really quickly) peel these away.” (Aimee Bender)

“I am in awe of Keret's ability to simultaneously make me laugh while crying, explore the joy and horror of every day life with precision, brevity and great psychological depth. His recognition of and engagement with the absurd is profound and he never loses his humanity, his heart long the way.” (A. M. Homes)

Fun/ odd/ deep

The collection of short stories are well written , a wonderfully unique look a accepted norms

Enjoyable

So hard to rate a collection. None are astounding. All are very good. Easy to listen to. Enjoyable

Mix of Interesting, Provacative and Unimaginative

As a collection of short stories, I was both well- rewarded for my time and annoyed. In several stories the author's penchant for discussing the minutiae of a physical relationship ad nauseum just became tedious to listen to. This was in stark contrast to other stories that were clever and included wonderful twists in the end. The editor should have weeded some of the run-on narratives out to make this a stronger collection overall. Towards the end I hit the "forward button" far too many times.

don't waste your time

a group of stories that did not make me laugh or cry or feel anything. I am not sure why anyone would read this book. I am not enlightened, I do not feel I understand the human condition better. The ending of almost every story was also unsatisfactory. If ironic they lacked punch. Mostly they just ended mid thought. Save a credit. If you want some short stories listen to a David Sedaris book. They are at least well written and hysterical.