The President and the Frog

A Novel

By: Carolina De Robertis

Narrated by: Carolina De Robertis

Length: 5 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

PEN/Jean Stein Book Award Nominee

An incandescent novel - political, mystical, timely, and heartening - about the power of memory, and the pursuit of justice, from the acclaimed author of Cantoras.

“A joy to read. Playful and profound, unearthly yet deeply rooted, this sublime and gripping novel is above all about hope: that within the world's messy pain there is still room for transformation and healing.” (Madeline Miller, New York Times best-selling author of Circe)

At his modest home on the edge of town, the former president of an unnamed Latin American country receives a journalist in his famed gardens to discuss his legacy and the dire circumstances that threaten democracy around the globe. Once known as the Poorest President in the World, his reputation is the stuff of myth: a former guerilla who was jailed for inciting revolution before becoming the face of justice, human rights, and selflessness for his nation. Now, as he talks to the journalist, he wonders if he should reveal the strange secret of his imprisonment: While held in brutal solitary confinement, he survived, in part, by discussing revolution, the quest for dignity, and what it means to love a country, with the only creature who ever spoke back - a loud-mouth frog.

As engrossing as it is innovative, vivid, moving, and full of wit and humor, The President and the Frog explores the resilience of the human spirit and what is possible when danger looms. Ferrying us between a grim jail cell and the president's lush gardens, the tale reaches beyond all borders and invites us to reimagine what it means to lead, to dare, and to dream.

©2021 Carolina De Robertis (P)2021 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, 2022

PEN/Jean Stein Book Award, 2022

One of BookRiot’s 24 Must-Read New Books of Spring and Summer 2021

One of Book Slut’s Most Anticipated Books for the Rest of 2021

One of The Millions’ Most Anticipated Books for the Second-Half of 2021

One of Jacobin Magazine’s 2021 Beach Reads

One of Chicago Review of Book’s Must-Read Books of August

One of Alta’s 14 New Books for August

One of Ms. Magazine's August 2021 Reads for the Rest of Us

“Exceptional...[The President and the Frog] is a hopeful, entertaining paean to language, justice and perseverance.” (Kevin Canfield, San Francisco Chronicle)

“The President and the Frog is a story about stories, and how to remember the seeds we can be even in the bleakest times. There is such lucid tenderness in the book, but it is also wild, and funny. As we move through time, we return again and again to love, to growth, but through struggle, and madness, and yes, magnanimous conversations with a frog. This book and Carolina De Robertis’s vision are a beautiful, shattered dance.” (Tommy Orange, author of There There)

“A moving, deeply felt novel, especially in the president’s excruciating (and sometimes humorous) encounters with his strangely healing frog. De Robertis daringly invites us to imagine a man’s Promethean struggle to wrest control of his broken psyche under the most dire circumstances possible.” (Michael Greenberg, The New York Times Book Review)

definitely recommended

Loved it. Compelling. I will be recommending it to the most discerning readers I know

A must-read for every person

This is such delightful book! De Robertis did not disappoint. I wasn't sure what to expect, given its subject matter, but I knew from previous experience of reading her books that the prose was going to be lyrical and vivid. What I didn't expect was how deeply personal The President and The Frog was going to be for me. It felt like it was written specifically for me during a time I was -- like many of us -- thinking a lot about what politics meant, what leadership can give rise to, whether individuals have any agency in a country's future. I know this all sounds like political philosophy and the book is surely a philosophical book, but it's also approachable, digestable, and tender. Every word radiates out love. I couldn't stop listening to it.

I fell in love with the president, his realistic, rational but still somehow utopian vision, his love for the earth and its likeness for God, his compassion for the interviewer, his friendship with the hysterical frog, who made me laugh and weep at the same time. This book should be in everyone's reading list! Highly recommend for anyone with an open mind and an open heart.

Carolina's voice is a wonderful companion should you chose to listen to this book as you take your daily walk or have some alone time in the car. Highly recommend!

Really hated the frogs voice

I love this writer but this story was so hard to get through, more so because I really disliked the voice of the frog.