A Death in the Family

De: James Agee

Narrado por: Lloyd James

Audie Award Nominee, Classic, 2013

Decades after its original publication, James Agee’s last novel seems, more than ever, an American classic. For in his lyrical, sorrowful account of a man’s death and its impact on his family, Agee painstakingly created a small world of domestic happiness and then showed how quickly and casually it could be destroyed.

On a sultry summer night in 1915, Jay Follet leaves his house in Knoxville, Tennessee, to tend to his father, whom he believes is dying. The summons turns out to be a false alarm, but on his way back to his family, Jay has a car accident and is killed instantly. Dancing back and forth in time and braiding the viewpoints of Jay’s wife, brother, and young son, Rufus, Agee creates an overwhelmingly powerful novel of innocence, tenderness, and loss that should be read aloud for the sheer music of its prose.

©1938 1956, 1957 by the James Agee Trust. 1957 by the New Yorker Magazine, Inc. 1985 by Mia Agee (P)2011 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Reseñas de la Crítica

"People I know who read A Death in the Family forty years ago still talk about it. So do I. It is a great book." (Andre Dubus, author of Dancing after Hours)

A rural family struggles with death

Written back in the first half of the 20th century, this slow moving but powerful story tells of a rural family facing a death of one of its members. It starts out very slowly but soon it completely hooked me and I found it hard to put down. Not a whole lot happens but it is nevertheless completely absorbing and true to life. I highly recommend it.

Outstanding!

I had never heard of this author or this book- so glad I stumbled upon it! Moving, thoughtful- a great story told by a fantastic narrator

Beautiful imagery

My favorite book. How Agee describes the inter family relationships, the boy’s experience, the differences in beliefs, I’ve never related to a story more.

Outstanding audiobook.

Excellent story, excellent performance. Narrator nailed the East Tennessean accent without condescension. Very highly recommended.

Wonderfully read!

Incredible story. Wonderfully read. James Agee is amazing. Get it, listen, enjoy!!!! Thank you Audible.

Hauntingly Beautiful

Agee’s descriptions of events and how they affect the characters are almost poetry. His ability to elicit such clear memories and feelings from my childhood and from my actual experiences with death amazed me.

Moved

The most beautiful story I’ve ever read.
Just writing this most basic of reviews puts a lump in my throat.

A great novel beautifully read

I've read this book many times, but hearing it read by such an outstanding narrator was a wonderful experience.

Modern classic

I read this book as a teen, now listening 50 years later. Excellent and highly recommend the audiobook experience. The narrator does an excellent job with dialogue. Many voices, using various inflections—especially for women and children—make for a masterful performance.

A rereading of Death In The Family Sixty years later

Agee’s ability to describe the complex thinking and feelings of his characters is most impressively nuanced. The tragic accidental death in the family seem through the reactions of the members of the the family, oldest to youngest is complex and effectively conceived though Agee’s precise use of language. As an octogenarian, it brought back many of the deaths in my own family. The universality of death is subject of this exceptional novel.