The Partly Cloudy Patriot

By: Sarah Vowell

Narrated by: Sarah Vowell, Conan O'Brien, Seth Green, Stephen Colbert

Length: 5 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's summary

In The Partly Cloudy Patriot, Sarah Vowell travels through the American past and, in doing so, investigates the dusty, bumpy roads of her own life. In this insightful and funny collection of personal stories Vowell - widely hailed for her inimitable narratives on public radio's This American Life - ponders a number of curious questions: Why is she happiest when visiting the sites of bloody struggles like Salem or Gettysburg? Why do people always inappropriately compare themselves to Rosa Parks? Why is a bad life in sunny California so much worse than a bad life anywhere else? What is it about the Zen of foul shots? And, in the title piece, why must doubt and internal arguments haunt the sleepless nights of the true patriot?

Her essays confront a wide range of subjects, themes, icons, and historical moments: Ike, Teddy Roosevelt, and Bill Clinton; Canadian Mounties and German filmmakers; Tom Cruise and Buffy the Vampire Slayer; twins and nerds; the Gettysburg Address, the State of the Union, and George W. Bush's inauguration.

The result is a teeming and engrossing audiobook, capturing Vowell's memorable wit and her keen social commentary.

This audiobook is read by Sarah Vowell, Conan O'Brien, Seth Green, Stephen Colbert, David Cross, Paul Begala, Michael Chabon, and Norman Lear.

©2002 Sarah Vowell (P)2002 Simon & Schuster Inc. All Rights Reserved. AUDIOWORKS is an imprint of Simon & Schuster Audio Division, Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Critic reviews

"This is a humorous, insightful, and informative look at one individual's sense of patriotism." (Booklist)
"Droll, intelligent, and persuasive." (Entertainment Weekly)

Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful

Heard an interview on NPR. Decided I wanted to read more. I was not disappointed. High recommendation.

know who you're listening to

It is important that, before you buy this book, you acquaint yourself with Sarah Vowell's singular voice. Having fallen in love with her on This American Life over the last few years, it would be impossible for me to hear anyone else read this series of stories, but I understand that it's easy to have a difficult time listening to her if it's your first time. To me, she sounds like an old friend, who's so excited about history that I'm engrossed in her stories.

Great Book, Bad Music

This was a great listen. Her stories are fun and interesting and it is a good blend of history and personal anectdotes. Although she often lets her personal politics shade the text, the narrative is fun.
The only thing I didn't like were the strange and sometimes long musical interludes. Some were fun, but most were just annoying.

Be forewarned, this book isn't for Red State-ers.

I do love Sarah Vowell. I think I prefer her on audio. I’ve now listened to two of her books on audio, read one in print, and she’s funnier in her own voice (and it doesn’t hurt that she has a funny voice. Before you commit to listening to her on audio I suggest you check her out from This American Life or somewhere because I know some people find her voice very annoying.) Another caveat: I’ve seen complaints about her political leanings when people who read her books weren’t expecting that. Since I agree with her, I don’t care about those, and since I know she’s an NPR-regular, I also wasn’t the least bit surprised that she leans left, but for those otherwise unaware, be forewarned.

That said, she is just about the biggest history buff there is. She’s also a lover of politics, but mostly I suspect because she knows that every event, in just a few minutes, will become history. This isn’t quite as cohesive a collection as Assassination Vacation or The Wordy Shipmates, her other two books that I have read. In particular the chapter about Pop-A-Shot seemed out of place. Also I’m forgiving the Tom Cruise chapter because it was just so funny. I get that the theme of all of these essays was What It Means To Be American, but since the vast majority of them are about history, politics, or personal memoir (with a good dollop of both history and politics thrown in), the occasional digressions into pop culture stick out. I enjoyed them, but they didn’t meld quite as well into a whole as the other books I’ve read.

This one does date a little. It was published in 2003, and both September 11, 2001, and the 2000 presidential election figure strongly. The material hasn’t become outdated or inaccurate, but the strength of her political views seems a little raw and now, 7 years later, with George W. Bush out of office, her outrage just doesn’t resonate. She does have some excellent points about Al Gore. She has a handful of guest stars read quotes in her book, such as Steven Colbert, Seth Green, Conan O’Brien, Norman Lear, and David Cross. I did not catch exactly who did which voices, but I appreciate very much that the men who did both George W. Bush and Al Gore did do subtle imitations of their diction and cadence, but they did not in any regard move into caricature. I think it was a good idea for her to use guest voices. Sarah’s voice is so unique, that to hear her quoting these politicians with whom we’re all so familiar, would be really weird. It doesn’t bother me when she quotes some students in New Hampshire, but I do think it would be weird to hear those well-known people’s words coming out of her mouth. I also appreciate her taking advantage of the medium of the audiobook. So many authors (or publishers via paid narrators) simply read the book, and that’s it. They seem to ignore the fact that this is in fact a different medium than a printed book. It has disadvantages (no pictures) and advantages (you can have guest voices!) over print books, and one should use the advantages since we have to live with the disadvantages.

Speaking of, Sarah Vowell also got They Might Be Giants to compose a couple of songs for the book as well as play the background music between segments. I loved it! I recently saw them in concert for the second time, and had I known I could have been the only person ever to yell out a song request for “It Could Be Worse”, from an anecdote where Sarah sometimes reminds herself of things like how a bad day for her is still better than the day Kennedy was shot (for Kennedy). Her irreverence for history is actually an offshoot of her reverence for it. Because she respects history so much, she’s not willing to accept at face value things we learned from stuffy high school history teachers wearing mostly brown (her characterization, not mine), and instead wants to explore on her own, and thinks we can only fully appreciate what happened when we know the whole story – the bad along with the good. She respects the Nixon library for having a Watergate display (even if it is a dimly lit small room) and she reminds us that Lincoln had a high, squeaky voice. I know I keep focusing on the parts of the book related to history as opposed to the amusing bits about her cooking Thanksgiving dinner for the first time and visiting with her sister and nephew, but that’s largely because Sarah does it herself – she drags her sister and nephew off to North Dakota and finds a large state park exhibit addressing Theodore Roosevelt’s time spent there. She talks about her first real job in California – working for a seller of antiquarian maps. History is such an integral part of Ms. Vowell’s being that it infuses every part of her.

I thoroughly enjoyed this audiobook. As I love, I learned useless trivia, plus it was amusing while it taught which is priceless. While I wasn’t laughing out loud (which is really just fine while out walking in your neighborhood), I did break out in a silly grin from time to time. I will certainly get her older books on audio too, and I am very much looking forward to her next one, which is about Hawai’i.

Her voice is superb

It wouldn't be her story without her voice, and what a story it is. It was like having a good friend or sister in the kitchen with me, sharing stories, telling funny antidotes, and giving one helluva perspective from someone behind the scenes that had this inside scoop, all while I did the dishes or folded the laundry!

Of course, her inside scoop wasn't anything she just happened upon. It was from sometimes living it, and other times taking an uncanny intrest in history like you never learned in school. It comes from hours of devoted, labor-of-love, passionate research and devoting her vacations to traveling where history happened--which to her is, of course, the ideal vacation. It's fun to listen to someone so passionate about history, yet humble, personal, and full of humor too.

Like any dear visitor, I was so sad when it was time to say good-bye. I never wanted the book or the visit to end. So glad I finally listened to this, as I've been a long-time fan of Sarah's contributions on This American Life. I can't wait to listen to her other books, through her own voice.

If you love Sarah Vowell, you must read this!

Let me admit that I think Sarah Vowell is one of the funniest, wittiest, most intelligent writers around today. This book of short vignettes is an absolute gem. The Swiss (who are very reserved on trains or busses) give me funny looks as I laugh out loud while savoring Sarah Vowell's clever turn-of-phrase. Unfamiliar Fishes is my favorite Vowell book, but this one may usurp Assassination Vacation as my second favorite.

Outstanding.

This is one of the best Audible books I have ever purchased. Vowell's insights are sharp and witty, and at times even poignant. Her delivery is always right on the money (and they are, after all, her stories). My favorites are "Pop-a-shot" and the story about people who compare themselves to Rosa Parks. Still, this whole book is a winner. GET THIS AUDIBLE BOOK NOW!

loved it

I found Sarah Vowell funny and relatable. Great blend of political, historical and pop culture observations.

Not her best, but still entertaining

As a big fan of her books, I was disappointed by this book. While it was funny and witty as all her books are, it just didn't hold my interest like other ones have. Assassination Vacation remains my favourite.

Also, as a Canadian, I was extremely disappointed on her section on Canadian history. Unlike her usually nuanced analysis, she completely glazed over some of the more atrocious acts towards native Canadians that have occurred, and made it sound as if we have a pristine history. Furthermore, some of her commentary of our "conformity" was just plain wrong. We pride ourselves on multiculturalism, and allowing people to come to this country and not have to conform. Being able to work together does not mean we have a lack of individuality. I would hope for a better researched commentary from her.

I remain a fan of her books, however I would suggest looking at some of her other works over this one!

Sarah Vowell is a genius.

Both funny and contemplative, this book captures some of the seemingly inexpressible truths about what it means to be patriotic in a modern, liberal sense of the word. I laughed out loud, but also felt deeply so many of the sentiments that the author expresses. Even the title is apt. Loved this book.