You Have Arrived at Your Destination

Forward collection

By: Amor Towles

Narrated by: David Harbour

Length: 1 hr and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

Audible narration by David Harbour (Stranger Things)

Nature or nurture? Neither. Discover a bold new way to raise a child in this unsettling story of the near future by the New York Times bestselling author of A Gentleman in Moscow.

When Sam’s wife first tells him about Vitek, a twenty-first-century fertility lab, he sees it as the natural next step in trying to help their future child get a “leg up” in a competitive world. But the more Sam considers the lives that his child could lead, the more he begins to question his own relationships and the choices he has made in his life.

Amor Towles’s You Have Arrived at Your Destination is part of Forward, a collection of six stories of the near and far future from out-of-this-world authors. Each piece can be read or listened to in a single thought-provoking sitting.

©2019 Cetology, Inc. (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

"...[David] Harbour’s lively narration makes for a performance that's difficult to stop listening to. The short length works well, and characters crackle with life as Harbour's gruff cadence and occasional spot of humor keep the story engaging. The work will stick with listeners, thanks to its compelling narration and intriguing 'what-if' elements." (AudioFile magazine)

"...a sensational project...." (Spine Magazine)

"This is exactly how I like my techno-anxiety.... Happy bingeing!" (Audible, an October Editors Pick)

You won’t be disappointed!

If you appreciated the outstanding literary quality of A Gentleman in Moscow and Rules of Civility, you will also appreciate this author’s skill with a short story. The story is set just enough in the future to have some edginess while the main character’s struggles are timeless. Towles’ special talent with prose unites those elements to make a gripping and relevant short tale.

Consequences of designer babies

Story is set in the near future. A man and his wife go to a fertility clinic where they are shown 3 computer simulations of the life their future children would have, based on their genetics and parenting profiles of the couple. Nature or nurture. Can any of it be actually controlled?

I need a movie

This is one of those short stories that you need to see made into a movie. Great premise, great main character, shiftiness happening in the background. It all seemed slightly underdeveloped for me. I needed 2-5 more minutes at the end. Absolutely loved the narrator. Perfect for this like Jim Marstens doing the Dresden Files. I read A Gentleman in Moscow in a book club and, while I got it, I hated it (to be fair, people were either a 5/5 or a 2/5, and great discussion from both sides, still worth a read). Needless to say, I was leery of this short story. After reading it, though, I’d like to read more of his, and I’d love to hear more narrations from Harbour.

Forward collection

This is part of the free Forward collection on Amazon . Like some of the other stories in this collection, this was chilling. The concept of genetic engineering and picking your child’s life is scary stuff!

very intriguing

I thought this story was going to go one way but I got surprised as it went along. The thoughts of being able to map out the life of your child is definitely enticing to many. As I saw how the story unfolded it made me reflect on my past life and how I'm a reflection of my parents and think about the direction I'm influencing my child. A great listen.

Captivating

Wow! Thought provoking what's the value of life? Love never fails human connections win

It was OK

The story was fine, food for thought, though not that original. I think I would have enjoyed it more with a different narrator. I ended up feeling like a bystander tuning in and out of a detailed conversation that is becoming frustratingly boring. I may have felt differently with another narrator.

Interesting and Thought-Provoking

Title: You Have Arrived at Your Destination
Author: Annor Towles
Format: Audio
Narrator: David Harbour
Genre: Science Fiction, Fantasy
Standalone: Yes
Part of Series: Book 4 in the Forward Collection
POV: Sam
Steam Level: Clean
4/5

You Have Arrived at Your Destination was an interesting and thought-provoking listen. Exploring genetics and probability when choosing you child and their possible life choices and opportunities based on personality traits was a very interesting take on the nature vs. nurture debate.

Would you?

Would you want to design and build the perfect child? Or would you want that child to live it’s own life?

good story TERRIBLE narration.

the story was good... but the voice actor was monotone, without suitable inflection or emoting & with terrible vocal pacing. Also, I think the dude was running for part, if not all, of recording this... but hey, at least when he he had to voice someone who was drunk in the scene: it was spot on😂