American Spirit

A Novel

By: Dan Kennedy

Narrated by: Dan Kennedy

When Matthew, a forty-something media executive, finds his Manhattan job, health, and Connecticut marriage crumbling, he goes native: Drinks in his car. Gives drug-dealing a shot. Looks for direction in light-rock lyrics, takes a free crafting class at the community center, and gets in a fistfight with a meditation instructor. He also tries jogging.

Soon he’s on a stumbling, sideways vision quest that takes him from strip malls to national parks to a Bali medical clinic, from an unlikely romance with a Hollywood agent specializing in hot young vampire roles to extreme RVing with a disgraced Wall Street trader.

In this heroic, hilarious debut novel, Dan Kennedy, a mainstay of the storytelling phenomenon The Moth, gives us an Everyman who takes us to the dark valleys and neon-lit edges of contemporary American life.

©2013 Dan Kennedy (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Borderline annoying

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I think that this story had potential. But I think the author wanted to relate more to the state of the protagonist than to just develop him. It was a little like having your eyes gloss over when an author cares too much about describing a room, or the smell of a drink.

Would you ever listen to anything by Dan Kennedy again?

I often have a bad meal at restaurants and return to give another try.

What three words best describe Dan Kennedy’s performance?

one dimensional

I can’t get enough

… of Matthew and his story.

I’ve read American Spirit at least three times and this was my first listen, downloaded for a road trip into the American West. If you love people- if you ARE a person- if you appreciate absurd humor, especially- get this book.