The Fortress of Solitude

Some of the sentences in this book are so well crafted, they actually made me whisper "wow" outloud alone in my car.

I've phoned people to make them listen to a single passage.

The reader has it down pat.

This book isn't a thriller, and sometimes runs a little slow. This isn't a drawback as long as you don't go in expecting a rollercoaster. Listen to this book when you feel like contemplating life in general, and your own life specifically.

This book was fantastic, from the fascinating story to the fabulous writing (I agree with the previous reviewer who was so "wowed" by it), to the reader who managed to capture perfectly the wide range of voices and personalities of the characters. Even though there is some magic realism in the story, I found everything as believable as a memoir. This is a book I'm going to buy in hardcover and give for gifts this Christmas. I'm looking forward to my 23 and 28 year old sons reading it as so much describes their urban schools and the world and people they knew, including the graffiti painters, and the boys who went off into drugs and incarceration and the ones who survived, damaged or resilient, to grow up.

Tackles the complexities of race relations honestly and adroitly, and celebrates the nearly narcotic effect of music and "musicology." Best of all, juxtaposes the relative innocence of the 70s versus the solipsism of subsequent decades. Other reviewers have pointed out the dexterity of the prose. Truly wondrous in spots. And the narration is the best I've come across since joining up, the reader attempting (and nailing) a wide range of dialects, races, ages, and temperments. And at 18 hours, a bargain.

This book is the story of lives, written in a way that allows the listener to become 100% involved with each character. Each sentence is unique, the writing pure poetry. I can't stop listening.

I'm a huge Lethem fan, and I really enjoyed this book but, ..., not as much as others he has written. It's hugely ambitious, unsparing in character development, but I found the whole 'flying thing' distracting to rest of the larger message. Still worth a listen though.

I listened to this book a few months ago, yet it remains with me. I might even listen to it again as there are so many dimensions to Lethem's work. In addition to an interesting plot, the author presents rich information about growing up in Brooklyn, education, grafitti, music, prison life, and neighborhood development. Although it's a long listen, there is much magic in the content and the performance.

Mingus Roode. I love him. When I wasn't listening I was wondering what was happening to him.

This is one of the only books I've ever read/listened to that I felt had no cheesy filler parts. Most books have parts that you can take seriously, and parts where you can tell the writer is filling in or trying to bring things together, you know where you stop hearing the story and you're just watching the writer write feeling a little sorry for him/her. This book was real heart felt story telling all the way through. These characters are real people, even though they aren't.. They could be any one of us is what I mean. Just read it.

The characters are sympathetic and the plot interesting, but the writing couldn't support it - it ended up feeling self-indulgent too often.

I loved the ride this book took me on. It was beautifully written, historically accurate, and incredibly well read by David Aaron Baker. Quite an achievement.

I stuck with this book til the bitter end because I kept thinking there must be a satisfying tying-up of myriad loose ends. But no. The book just didn't seem to have a point. If the writing and narration hadn't been as good as they were, I wouldn't have been able to stick it out. There were some interesting characters, too. But in the end, I felt there needed to be a stronger story line.