The Telling Room

A Tale of Love, Betrayal, Revenge, and the World's Greatest Piece of Cheese

By: Michael Paterniti

Narrated by: L.J. Ganser

Length: 13 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

Audie Award Finalist, Non-Fiction, 2014

In the picturesque village of Guzmán, Spain, in a cave dug into a hillside on the edge of town, an ancient door leads to a cramped limestone chamber known as "the telling room". Containing nothing but a wooden table and two benches, this is where villagers have gathered for centuries to share their stories and secrets - usually accompanied by copious amounts of wine.

It was here, in the summer of 2000, that Michael Paterniti found himself listening to a larger-than-life Spanish cheesemaker named Ambrosio Molinos de las Heras as he spun an odd and compelling tale about a piece of cheese. An unusual piece of cheese. Made from an old family recipe, Ambrosio’s cheese was reputed to be among the finest in the world, and was said to hold mystical qualities. Eating it, some claimed, conjured long-lost memories. But then, Ambrosio said, things had gone horribly wrong.... By the time the two men exited the telling room that evening, Paterniti was hooked. Soon he was fully embroiled in village life, relocating his young family to Guzmán in order to chase the truth about this cheese and explore the fairy tale-like place where the villagers conversed with farm animals, lived by an ancient Castilian code of honor, and made their wine and food by hand, from the grapes growing on a nearby hill and the flocks of sheep floating over the Meseta.

What Paterniti ultimately discovers there in the highlands of Castile is nothing like the idyllic slow-food fable he first imagined. Instead, he’s sucked into the heart of an unfolding mystery, a blood feud that includes accusations of betrayal and theft, death threats, and a murder plot. As the village begins to spill its long-held secrets, Paterniti finds himself implicated in the very story he is writing.

Equal parts mystery and memoir, travelogue and history, The Telling Room is an astonishing work of literary nonfiction by one of our most accomplished storytellers.

A moving exploration of happiness, friendship, and betrayal, The Telling Room introduces us to Ambrosio Molinos de las Heras, an unforgettable real-life literary hero, while also holding a mirror up to the world, fully alive to the power of stories that define and sustain us.

©2013 Michael Paterniti (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Not a good audio book

I read the first half of this book and then switched over to the audio book so I could finish in time for my book club. This is not the right kind of book for an audio book because there are too many footnotes. When reading it to myself I could make sense on the rants and tangents the author goes on, but in audio form it felt all over the place and ruined the flow of the story.

Too slow

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Too slow and after eight hours and I wanted to die. I'm sorry I just could not finish this book.

Would you ever listen to anything by Michael Paterniti again?

Yes

How did the narrator detract from the book?

I don't think it was a narrator I think it was the story

Wordy

A story that could have been told in 1/3 of the words but over written to fulfill a book contract.

Ugh

Not worth the credit. Great narration of a long circuitous pointless story that has no discernible plot line

I want to throw my iPhone at the narrator

I only made it halfway. The story is moderately engrossing. The author's descriptions and characters paint a vivid picture, and I find myself wanting to know what happens next, but i can't bring myself to listen any more. The narrator's overconfident, Italianate, mispronunciation of every Spanish word in the book, and there are a lot of them, is completely ruining it for me. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh. I want my credit back!

too bad another author didn't scoop this story

What would have made The Telling Room better?

narrator dreadful - like the worst kind of sportscaster. Very clear he read this book through for the first time when it was recorded.

What could Michael Paterniti have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

overheated incoherent writing packed with cliches - author completely self-involved. Less blabbing about awful author and his boring personal journey as a writer, and more about cheesemaker.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

weird parsing choices, blaring and boring delivery, wanted to slap him.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Telling Room?

I would have given the story idea to a different author.

Any additional comments?

I love foodie stories. I hated this author and this book. My personal nightmare would be sitting next to this self-obsessed hack of a writer at a dinner party.

Tried too hard

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

A story without the overuse of cliche and giant words that were more about the author's ego than the story. I didn't finish it.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

He sounded like a 1950s used car salesman trying too hard.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Telling Room?

Not scenes, the story seemed intriguing, I just could handle the overwriting and over-narrating.