-
The Magic Barrel
- Narrated by: Shelley Berman, David Cromer, Marge Kotlisky, Naama Potok, Malcolm Rothman, Jensen Wheeler
- Length: 27 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
The Magic Barrel
Buy for $5.42
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Fixer
- A Novel
- By: Bernard Malamud
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 179
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 156
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 153
Set in Kiev in 1911 during a period of heightened anti-Semitism, the novel tells the story of Yakov Bok, a Jewish handyman blamed for the brutal murder of a young Russian boy. Bok leaves his village to try his luck in Kiev and, after denying his Jewish identity, finds himself working for a member of the anti-Semitic Black Hundreds Society. When the boy is found nearly drained of blood in a cave, the Black Hundreds accuse the Jews of ritual murder.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Technical Problems Need To Ne Resolved
- By REX LANYI on 12-24-20
By: Bernard Malamud
-
The Complete Stories
- By: Bernard Malamud
- Narrated by: Matthew Boston, Steven Cooper, Crystal Sershen, and others
- Length: 27 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 33
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 28
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 28
The volume gathers together fifty-five stories, from "Armistice" (1940) to "Alma Redeemed" (1984), and including the immortal stories from The Magic Barrel and the vivid depictions of the unforgettable Fidelman. It is a varied and generous collection of great examples of the modern short story, which Malamud perfected, and an ideal introduction to the work of this great American writer.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
New Lesson: Audible Is NOT for Short Stories
- By Mitzi on 10-18-15
By: Bernard Malamud
-
The Natural
- A Novel
- By: Bernard Malamud
- Narrated by: Fred Berman
- Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 137
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 121
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 121
The Natural, Bernard Malamud's first novel, published in 1952, is also the first - and some would say still the best - novel ever written about baseball. In it Malamud, usually appreciated for his unerring portrayals of postwar Jewish life, took on very different material - the story of a superbly gifted "natural" at play in the fields of the old daylight baseball era - and invested it with the hardscrabble poetry, at once grand and altogether believable, that runs through all his best work.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Hidden Audio Gem
- By Todd T. Castillo on 08-17-20
By: Bernard Malamud
-
The Assistant
- By: Bernard Malamud
- Narrated by: Richard Davidson
- Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 82
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 74
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 74
Bernard Malamud's second novel, originally published in 1957, is the story of Morris Bober, a grocer in postwar Brooklyn, who "wants better" for himself and his family. First two robbers appear and hold him up; then things take a turn for the better when broken-nosed Frank Alpine becomes his assistant. But there are complications: Frank, whose reaction to Jews is ambivalent, falls in love with Helen Bober; at the same time he begins to steal from the store.
By: Bernard Malamud
-
A New Life: A Novel
- By: Bernard Malamud
- Narrated by: Marc Vietor
- Length: 11 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 9
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 9
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 9
When Sy Levin, a high school teacher beset by alcohol and bad decisions, leaves the city for the Pacific Northwest to start over, it's no surprise that he conjures a vision of the extraordinary new life awaiting him there: "He imagined the pioneers in covered wagons entering this valley for the first time. Although he had lived little in nature Levin had always loved it, and the sense of having done the right thing in leaving New York was renewed in him."
By: Bernard Malamud
-
Dubin's Lives
- A Novel
- By: Bernard Malamud
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 14 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 5
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 4
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 4
Prize-winning biographer William Dubin learns from lives, or thinks he does - those he writes, those he shares, the life he lives. Now in his later middle age, he seeks his own secret self, and the obsession of biography is supplanted by the obsession of love - love for a woman half is age, who has sought an understanding of her life through his books. Dubin's Lives is a rich, subtle book, as well as a moving tale of love and marriage.
By: Bernard Malamud
-
The Fixer
- A Novel
- By: Bernard Malamud
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 179
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 156
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 153
Set in Kiev in 1911 during a period of heightened anti-Semitism, the novel tells the story of Yakov Bok, a Jewish handyman blamed for the brutal murder of a young Russian boy. Bok leaves his village to try his luck in Kiev and, after denying his Jewish identity, finds himself working for a member of the anti-Semitic Black Hundreds Society. When the boy is found nearly drained of blood in a cave, the Black Hundreds accuse the Jews of ritual murder.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Technical Problems Need To Ne Resolved
- By REX LANYI on 12-24-20
By: Bernard Malamud
-
The Complete Stories
- By: Bernard Malamud
- Narrated by: Matthew Boston, Steven Cooper, Crystal Sershen, and others
- Length: 27 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 33
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 28
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 28
The volume gathers together fifty-five stories, from "Armistice" (1940) to "Alma Redeemed" (1984), and including the immortal stories from The Magic Barrel and the vivid depictions of the unforgettable Fidelman. It is a varied and generous collection of great examples of the modern short story, which Malamud perfected, and an ideal introduction to the work of this great American writer.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
New Lesson: Audible Is NOT for Short Stories
- By Mitzi on 10-18-15
By: Bernard Malamud
-
The Natural
- A Novel
- By: Bernard Malamud
- Narrated by: Fred Berman
- Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 137
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 121
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 121
The Natural, Bernard Malamud's first novel, published in 1952, is also the first - and some would say still the best - novel ever written about baseball. In it Malamud, usually appreciated for his unerring portrayals of postwar Jewish life, took on very different material - the story of a superbly gifted "natural" at play in the fields of the old daylight baseball era - and invested it with the hardscrabble poetry, at once grand and altogether believable, that runs through all his best work.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Hidden Audio Gem
- By Todd T. Castillo on 08-17-20
By: Bernard Malamud
-
The Assistant
- By: Bernard Malamud
- Narrated by: Richard Davidson
- Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 82
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 74
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 74
Bernard Malamud's second novel, originally published in 1957, is the story of Morris Bober, a grocer in postwar Brooklyn, who "wants better" for himself and his family. First two robbers appear and hold him up; then things take a turn for the better when broken-nosed Frank Alpine becomes his assistant. But there are complications: Frank, whose reaction to Jews is ambivalent, falls in love with Helen Bober; at the same time he begins to steal from the store.
By: Bernard Malamud
-
A New Life: A Novel
- By: Bernard Malamud
- Narrated by: Marc Vietor
- Length: 11 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 9
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 9
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 9
When Sy Levin, a high school teacher beset by alcohol and bad decisions, leaves the city for the Pacific Northwest to start over, it's no surprise that he conjures a vision of the extraordinary new life awaiting him there: "He imagined the pioneers in covered wagons entering this valley for the first time. Although he had lived little in nature Levin had always loved it, and the sense of having done the right thing in leaving New York was renewed in him."
By: Bernard Malamud
-
Dubin's Lives
- A Novel
- By: Bernard Malamud
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 14 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 5
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 4
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 4
Prize-winning biographer William Dubin learns from lives, or thinks he does - those he writes, those he shares, the life he lives. Now in his later middle age, he seeks his own secret self, and the obsession of biography is supplanted by the obsession of love - love for a woman half is age, who has sought an understanding of her life through his books. Dubin's Lives is a rich, subtle book, as well as a moving tale of love and marriage.
By: Bernard Malamud
-
The Scarlet Letter
- By: Nathaniel Hawthorne
- Narrated by: Kate Petrie
- Length: 6 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,436
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,246
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,244
One of the most important novels in classic literature, Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter tackles the subject of adultery, with the notorious Hester Prynne at the forefront of the scandal in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In the beginning of the novel, Hester is serving time in prison for having a child out of wedlock and is forced to wear a scarlet A on her clothing at all times, so she cannot run from her sin no matter where she goes.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
missing the introductory???
- By Savannah on 05-20-20
-
Goodbye, Columbus
- And Five Short Stories
- By: Philip Roth
- Narrated by: Ramiz Monsef, Jonathan Davis, Robert Fass
- Length: 9 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 5
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3
Goodbye, Columbus is the story of Neil Klugman and pretty, spirited Brenda Patimkin. Neil comes from poor Newark, while Brenda is of suburban Short Hills. On one summer break, they meet and dive into an affair that is as much about social class and suspicion as it is about love. The novella is accompanied by five short stories that range in tone from the iconoclastic to the astonishingly tender.
By: Philip Roth
-
Gilead (Oprah's Book Club)
- By: Marilynne Robinson
- Narrated by: Tim Jerome
- Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 2,999
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,230
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 2,225
In 1956, toward the end of Reverend John Ames's life, he begins a letter to his young son, an account of himself and his forebears. Ames is the son of an Iowan preacher and the grandson of a minister who, as a young man in Maine, saw a vision of Christ bound in chains and came west to Kansas to fight for abolition: He "preached men into the Civil War", then, at age 50, became a chaplain in the Union Army, losing his right eye in battle.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
A book for dreaming over
- By Penelope Wisner on 04-18-05
-
Humboldt's Gift
- By: Saul Bellow
- Narrated by: Christopher Hurt
- Length: 18 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 229
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 156
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 155
For years, they were the best of friends: the grand, erratic Humboldt and the ambitious young Charlie. But now Humboldt has died a failure, and Charlie's success-ridden life has taken various turns for the worse. Then Humboldt acts from the grave to change Charlie's life: he has left Charlie something in his will.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Great Book, Great Reader
- By Scott on 05-10-08
By: Saul Bellow
-
Crazy Brave
- A Memoir
- By: Joy Harjo
- Narrated by: Joy Harjo
- Length: 4 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 812
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 709
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 711
In this transcendent memoir, grounded in tribal myth and ancestry, music and poetry, Joy Harjo, one of our leading Native American voices, details her journey to becoming a poet. Born in Oklahoma, Harjo grew up learning to dodge an abusive stepfather by finding shelter in her imagination, a deep spiritual life, and connection with the natural world. She attended an Indian arts boarding school, where she nourished an appreciation for painting, music, and poetry; gave birth while still a teenager; and struggled on her own as a single mother, eventually finding her poetic voice.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Highly recommend
- By Firedancer on 06-29-19
By: Joy Harjo
-
The Years
- By: Annie Ernaux
- Narrated by: Anna Bentinck
- Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 194
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 172
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 173
The Years is a personal narrative of the period of 1941 to 2006 told through the lens of memory, impressions past and present - even projections into the future - photos, books, songs, radio, television, and decades of advertising and headlines, contrasted with intimate conflicts and written notes from six decades of diaries. Local dialect, words of the time, slogans, brands, and names for ever-proliferating objects are given a voice here. The voice we recognize as the author's continually dissolves and re-emerges.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Mixed Feelings
- By Elin VanD on 05-10-20
By: Annie Ernaux
-
The Wapshot Chronicle
- By: John Cheever
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 11 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 129
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 110
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 109
Based in part on Cheever's adolescence in New England, the novel follows the destinies of the impecunious and wildly eccentric Wapshots of St. Botolphs, a quintessential Massachusetts fishing village. Here are the stories of Captain Leander Wapshot, venerable sea dog and would-be suicide; of his licentious older son, Moses; and of Moses' adoring and errant younger brother, Coverly.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Beautiful 1950s Great Expectations-like Novel
- By Darwin8u on 05-31-13
By: John Cheever
-
Dusk
- And Other Stories
- By: James Salter
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, LJ Ganser, David Ledoux, and others
- Length: 4 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 20
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 15
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 15
First published nearly a quarter-century ago and one of the very few short-story collections to win the PEN/Faulkner Award, this is American fiction at its most vital - each narrative a masterpiece of sustained power and seemingly effortless literary grace.
By: James Salter
-
The Secrets We Kept
- A Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick
- By: Lara Prescott
- Narrated by: Carlotta Brentan, Cynthia Farrell, Mozhan Marnò, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 4,491
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,971
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 3,959
At the height of the Cold War, two secretaries are pulled out of the typing pool at the CIA and given the assignment of a lifetime. Their mission: to smuggle Doctor Zhivago out of the USSR, where no one dare publish it, and help Pasternak's magnum opus make its way into print around the world. Glamorous and sophisticated Sally Forrester is a seasoned spy who has honed her gift for deceit all over the world - using her magnetism and charm to pry secrets out of powerful men. Irina is a complete novice, and is under Sally's tutelage....
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Eh...it was ok.
- By Nunya on 09-06-19
By: Lara Prescott
-
Gimpel the Fool and Other Stories
- By: Isaac Bashevis Singer
- Narrated by: Theodore Bikel
- Length: 2 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 71
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 48
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 48
These 4 stories are infused with the wit and imagination, the humor and wisdom, that characterizes all of Isaac Bashevis Singer's work. Theodore Bikel reads these wise and funny tales in classic Yiddish storyteller cadence, injecting special warmth and resonance. The tales include "Gimpel the Fool," "Esther Kreindel the Second," "The Spinoza of Market Street," and "The Black Wedding."
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Incredible narration
- By Frances on 01-10-19
-
Inside, Outside
- By: Herman Wouk
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 25 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 165
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 150
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 151
Israel David Goodkind is a minor bureaucrat in the Nixon White House, killing empty office time by writing the story of four generations of his large, sprawling Russian Jewish immigrant family. As he recounts his brief stint in show business, his torrid affair with a showgirl, and his encounters with a hassled and distracted President Nixon, Goodkind also witnesses historical events firsthand - the Watergate scandal, the Yom Kippur War - and eventually finds his way back to his Jewish faith.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
One of the greatest storytellers!
- By Dwight on 12-11-18
By: Herman Wouk
-
Mr. Sammler's Planet
- By: Saul Bellow
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 10 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 25
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 20
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 20
Mr. Artur Sammler is, above all, a man who has lasted, from the civilized pleasures of English life in the 1920s and 30s through the war and death camps in Poland. Moving now through the chaotic and dangerous streets of New York's Upper West Side, Mr. Sammler is attentive to everything, and appalled by nothing. He brings the same dispassionate curiosity to the activities of a black pickpocket on an uptown bus, the details of his niece Angela's sex life, and his daughter's lunacy as he does to the extraordinary theories of one Dr. V. Govinda Lal on the use we are to make of the moon.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
ASTONISHING
- By madeline grunbaum on 01-25-22
By: Saul Bellow
Publisher's summary
From the author of The Natural comes a classic short story about a young rabbinical student and his fateful encounter with an enigmatic matchmaker. A co-production with the National Jewish Theater.
Recorded before a live audience at Chicago’s Guest Quarters Suite Hotel in July 1992.
Adapted and Directed by Arnold Aprill
Producing Director Susan Albert Loewenberg
Shelley Berman as Salzman
David Cromer as Leo Finkle
Marge Kotlisky as Mrs. Salzman
Naama Potok as Lily Hirschorn
Malcolm Rothman as The Narrator
Jensen Wheeler as Stella
Radio Producer: Robert Neuhaus
Recording Engineer: Larry Rock
More from the same
Related to this topic
-
Maggie-Now
- A Novel
- By: Betty Smith
- Narrated by: Nicola Barber
- Length: 13 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 57
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 49
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 49
In Brooklyn's unforgiving urban jungle, Maggie Moore is torn between answering her own needs and catering to the desirous men who dominate her life. Confronted by her quarrelsome Irish immigrant father, the feckless lover who may become her husband, and others, Maggie must learn to navigate a cycle of loss, separation, and hope as she forges her own path toward happiness.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
no unabridged
- By sally on 08-03-21
By: Betty Smith
-
Tomorrow Will Be Better
- By: Betty Smith
- Narrated by: Nicola Barber
- Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 112
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 99
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 101
Tomorrow Will Be Better tells the story of Margy Shannon, a shy but joyfully optimistic young woman just out of school who lives with her parents and witnesses how a lifetime of hard work, poverty, and pain has worn them down. Her mother's resentment toward being a housewife and her father's inability to express his emotions result in a tense home life where Margy has no voice. Unable to speak up against her overbearing mother, Margy takes refuge in her dreams of a better life.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Heartfelt and Heart-wrenchingly Real!
- By M. Ryder on 02-16-22
By: Betty Smith
-
Lady Oracle
- By: Margaret Atwood
- Narrated by: Lorelei King
- Length: 11 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 89
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 81
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 80
From fat girl to thin, from red hair to mud brown, from London to Toronto, from Polish count to radical husband - Joan Foster is utterly confused by her life of multiple identities. She decides to escape to an Italian hill town to take stock of her life. But first, she must organize her own death.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A Feminist Romp
- By annkpowers on 07-02-22
By: Margaret Atwood
-
Youngblood Hawke
- By: Herman Wouk
- Narrated by: Nick Sullivan
- Length: 41 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 271
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 235
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 230
Arthur Youngblood Hawke, an ex-Navy man moves from rural Kentucky to New York to assault the citadel of New York publishing with his first novel, an oversized manuscript that becomes an instant success. Toasted by critics and swept along on a tide of popularity, he gives himself over to the lush life that gilds artistic success. Love comes with an affair with an older married woman and an unfulfilled flame with his editor, while wealth pours in with the publication of his second novel, and participation in real-estate developments.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
More than a good yarn
- By Arken on 10-24-18
By: Herman Wouk
-
The Folded Leaf
- By: William Maxwell
- Narrated by: Mark Boyett
- Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 69
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 61
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 61
Here is a classic novel from one of our most honored writers - the author of such acclaimed works as So Long, See You Tomorrow and All the Days and Nights. The Folded Leaf is the serenely observed yet deeply moving story of two boys finding one another in the Midwest of the 1920s, when childhood lasted longer than it does today and even adults were more innocent of what life could bring.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Midwestern Misfits
- By David on 03-17-15
By: William Maxwell
-
Exit Betty
- By: Grace Livingston Hill
- Narrated by: Anne Hancock
- Length: 5 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 89
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 77
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 77
Soon-to-be heiress Betty Stanhope is a runaway bride, but not for the usual reasons - she didn't flee because of a change of heart. Reluctant about the wedding at the outset, the dutiful Betty reaches the altar to find that her groom is a different man altogether and someone she's dreaded most of her life! Before the wedding can proceed, she is taken to a room to recover from her fainting spell.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
AMAZING
- By Peggy Palmer on 02-15-18
-
Maggie-Now
- A Novel
- By: Betty Smith
- Narrated by: Nicola Barber
- Length: 13 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 57
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 49
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 49
In Brooklyn's unforgiving urban jungle, Maggie Moore is torn between answering her own needs and catering to the desirous men who dominate her life. Confronted by her quarrelsome Irish immigrant father, the feckless lover who may become her husband, and others, Maggie must learn to navigate a cycle of loss, separation, and hope as she forges her own path toward happiness.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
no unabridged
- By sally on 08-03-21
By: Betty Smith
-
Tomorrow Will Be Better
- By: Betty Smith
- Narrated by: Nicola Barber
- Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 112
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 99
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 101
Tomorrow Will Be Better tells the story of Margy Shannon, a shy but joyfully optimistic young woman just out of school who lives with her parents and witnesses how a lifetime of hard work, poverty, and pain has worn them down. Her mother's resentment toward being a housewife and her father's inability to express his emotions result in a tense home life where Margy has no voice. Unable to speak up against her overbearing mother, Margy takes refuge in her dreams of a better life.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Heartfelt and Heart-wrenchingly Real!
- By M. Ryder on 02-16-22
By: Betty Smith
-
Lady Oracle
- By: Margaret Atwood
- Narrated by: Lorelei King
- Length: 11 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 89
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 81
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 80
From fat girl to thin, from red hair to mud brown, from London to Toronto, from Polish count to radical husband - Joan Foster is utterly confused by her life of multiple identities. She decides to escape to an Italian hill town to take stock of her life. But first, she must organize her own death.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A Feminist Romp
- By annkpowers on 07-02-22
By: Margaret Atwood
-
Youngblood Hawke
- By: Herman Wouk
- Narrated by: Nick Sullivan
- Length: 41 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 271
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 235
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 230
Arthur Youngblood Hawke, an ex-Navy man moves from rural Kentucky to New York to assault the citadel of New York publishing with his first novel, an oversized manuscript that becomes an instant success. Toasted by critics and swept along on a tide of popularity, he gives himself over to the lush life that gilds artistic success. Love comes with an affair with an older married woman and an unfulfilled flame with his editor, while wealth pours in with the publication of his second novel, and participation in real-estate developments.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
More than a good yarn
- By Arken on 10-24-18
By: Herman Wouk
-
The Folded Leaf
- By: William Maxwell
- Narrated by: Mark Boyett
- Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 69
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 61
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 61
Here is a classic novel from one of our most honored writers - the author of such acclaimed works as So Long, See You Tomorrow and All the Days and Nights. The Folded Leaf is the serenely observed yet deeply moving story of two boys finding one another in the Midwest of the 1920s, when childhood lasted longer than it does today and even adults were more innocent of what life could bring.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Midwestern Misfits
- By David on 03-17-15
By: William Maxwell
-
Exit Betty
- By: Grace Livingston Hill
- Narrated by: Anne Hancock
- Length: 5 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 89
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 77
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 77
Soon-to-be heiress Betty Stanhope is a runaway bride, but not for the usual reasons - she didn't flee because of a change of heart. Reluctant about the wedding at the outset, the dutiful Betty reaches the altar to find that her groom is a different man altogether and someone she's dreaded most of her life! Before the wedding can proceed, she is taken to a room to recover from her fainting spell.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
AMAZING
- By Peggy Palmer on 02-15-18
-
The Beautiful and Damned
- By: F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Narrated by: William Dufris
- Length: 13 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 918
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 746
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 751
Published in 1922, Fitzgerald's second novel chronicles the relationship of Anthony Patch, Harvard-educated, aspiring aesthete, and his beautiful wife, Gloria, as they await to inherit his grandfather's fortune. A devastating satire of the nouveaux rich and New York's nightlife, of reckless ambition and squandered talent, it is also a shattering portrait of a marriage fueled by alcohol and wasted by wealth. The Beautiful and Damned, Fitzgerald wrote to Zelda in 1930, "was all true."
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
i loved it
- By Emily on 01-20-05
-
The Godmothers
- A Novel
- By: Camille Aubray
- Narrated by: Lisa Flanagan, Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 13 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 745
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 661
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 656
Meet the Godmothers: Filomena is a clever and resourceful war refugee with a childhood secret, who comes to America to wed Mario, the family's favored son. Amie, a beautiful and dreamy French girl from upstate New York, escapes an abusive husband after falling in love with Johnny, the oldest of the brothers. Lucy, a tough-as-nails Irish nurse, ran away from a strict girls' home and marries Frankie, the sensuous middle son. And the glamorous Petrina, the family's only daughter, graduates with honors from Barnard College despite a past trauma that nearly caused a family scandal.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Easy Enjoyable Read
- By Bunny on 06-23-21
By: Camille Aubray
-
The Recognitions
- By: William Gaddis
- Narrated by: Nick Sullivan
- Length: 47 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 219
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 175
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 176
Wyatt Gwyon's desire to forge is not driven by larceny but from love. Exactingly faithful to the spirit and letter of the Flemish masters, he produces uncannily accurate "originals" - pictures the painters themselves might have envied. In an age of counterfeit emotion and taste, the real and fake have become indistinguishable; yet Gwyon's forgeries reflect a truth that others cannot touch - cannot even recognize.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Breathtaking, Dizzying, Stimulating, Funny
- By andrew on 11-17-10
By: William Gaddis
-
The Wapshot Chronicle
- By: John Cheever
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 11 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 129
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 110
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 109
Based in part on Cheever's adolescence in New England, the novel follows the destinies of the impecunious and wildly eccentric Wapshots of St. Botolphs, a quintessential Massachusetts fishing village. Here are the stories of Captain Leander Wapshot, venerable sea dog and would-be suicide; of his licentious older son, Moses; and of Moses' adoring and errant younger brother, Coverly.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Beautiful 1950s Great Expectations-like Novel
- By Darwin8u on 05-31-13
By: John Cheever
-
Martin Eden
- By: Jack London
- Narrated by: Andrew Garman
- Length: 14 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 205
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 179
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 181
Martin Eden, Jack London’s semiautobiographical novel, is about a struggling young writer. It is considered by many to be the author’s most mature work. Personifying London’s own dreams of education and literary fame as a young man in San Francisco, Martin Eden’s impassioned but ultimately ineffective battle to overcome his bleak circumstances makes him one of the most memorable and poignant characters Jack London ever created.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
My favorite Jack London book.
- By j daly on 11-26-14
By: Jack London
-
The Magician of Lublin
- By: Isaac Bashevis Singer
- Narrated by: Larry Keith
- Length: 7 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 69
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 51
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 50
The Magician can dazzle the crowds with his sleight of hand, climb to any height, open any lock. Fearlessly, he does death-defying tricks in theaters all over Poland. At home, his sweet Jewish wife waits for him to return from the city. In the city, his adoring mistresses wait for him to return from home. He holds the key to all hearts, but his own is beset with confusion.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Complex Masterpiece
- By Evan on 09-11-08
-
Lucy Gayheart
- By: Willa Cather
- Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
- Length: 5 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 36
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 30
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 30
At the age of eighteen, Lucy Gayheart heads for Chicago to study music. She is beautiful and impressionable and ardent, and these qualities attract the attention of Clement Sebastian, an aging but charismatic singer who exercises all the tragic, sinister fascination of a man who has renounced life only to turn back to seize it one last time. Out of their doomed love affair—and Lucy's fatal estrangement from her origins—Willa Cather creates a novel that is as achingly lovely as a Schubert sonata.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Dazzlingly sad
- By Ionthepage on 04-24-22
By: Willa Cather
-
The Secret Life of Sunflowers
- By: Marta Molnar, Dana Marton
- Narrated by: Kendra Murray
- Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 807
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 744
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 744
When Hollywood auctioneer Emsley Wilson finds her famous grandmother's diary while cleaning out her New York brownstone, the pages are full of surprises. The first surprise is, the diary isn't her grandmother's. It belongs to Johanna Bonger, Vincent van Gogh's sister-in-law.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Nothing like a expected…
- By LOVETOQUILT on 05-06-23
By: Marta Molnar, and others
-
Main Street (Annotated): 100th Anniversary Edition
- By: Sinclair Lewis
- Narrated by: Kitty Hendrix
- Length: 19 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 69
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 61
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 61
A biting satire that countered the American myth of wholesome small-town life with a depiction of narrow-minded provincialism, it was to some degree based on Lewis's own experience of growing on Sauk Centre, Minnesota. Set in mid-1910s, it depicts the struggles of Carol Kennicott, a city girl, as she tries to adapt to small town life, having left her librarian job and St. Paul, Minnesota to marry Dr. Will Kennicott of Gopher Prairie. Dismayed by the town’s drabness and the conforming, petty inhabitants, Carol optimistically sets out to improve the town.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
What Are Your Assumptions About Yourself & Others
- By Benny Fife on 02-06-20
By: Sinclair Lewis
-
Winter Dreams
- By: F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Narrated by: B. Jay Kaplan
- Length: 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 53
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 45
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 48
Winter Dreams is a story of friendship, love and betrayal by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Classic Fitzgerald
- By rshedd on 02-04-19
-
Who Is Vera Kelly?
- By: Rosalie Knecht
- Narrated by: Elisabeth Rodgers
- Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 180
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 157
-
Story3.5 out of 5 stars 156
New York City, 1962. Vera Kelly is struggling to make rent and blend into the underground gay scene in Greenwich Village. She's working night shifts at a radio station when her quick wits, sharp tongue, and technical skills get her noticed by a recruiter for the CIA. Next thing she knows she's in Argentina, tasked with wiretapping a congressman and infiltrating a group of student activists in Buenos Aires. When a betrayal leaves her stranded in the wake of a coup, Vera learns the Cold War makes for strange and unexpected bedfellows.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
not a whole lot of spycraft just a good story
- By Kirra Krussman on 01-19-19
By: Rosalie Knecht
-
Sanshiro
- Penguin Classics
- By: Natsume Soseki, Haruki Murakami, Jay Rubin
- Narrated by: Andrew Koji
- Length: 7 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 33
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 31
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 31
One of Soseki's most beloved works of fiction, the novel depicts the 23-year-old Sanshiro leaving the sleepy countryside for the first time in his life to experience the constantly moving 'real world' of Tokyo, its women and university. In the subtle tension between our appreciation of Soseki's lively humour and our awareness of Sanshiro's doomed innocence, the novel comes to life. Sanshiro is also penetrating social and cultural commentary.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
This story had no point.
- By icelandicponies on 12-30-21
By: Natsume Soseki, and others