Starry Night

De: Orion Taraban

Narrado por: Orion Taraban

On the evening of July 27th, 1890, Vincent van Gogh, aiming for his heart, shot himself with a revolver. He missed. Today, Vincent van Gogh is considered one of history's most brilliant artists, revered by millions the world over. However, he sold only one painting in his lifetime, spent years in insane asylums, and died penniless in a garret. Haunted by his failures, riddled with addiction, and debilitated by mental illness, van Gogh eventually took his own life.

In this innovative first novel, best-selling author Orion Taraban explores the final days of this tragic figure from the perspective of those most involved: his brother and caretaker, Theo, his friend and physician, Paul Gachet, and Vincent himself.

Take this unique opportunity to see the world through Vincent's eyes. Once you listen to Starry Night, you won't look at life the same way again.

Orion Taraban, Psy.D., is a clinical psychologist in private practice. His YouTube channel (@PsycHacks) has nearly 1 million subscribers and 200 million views, and his many media appearances have established him as a thought leader in popular psychology. He is also the best-selling author of The Value of Others, which examines his model of intersexual relationship dynamics. He currently lives in Napa, California.

©2026 Orion Taraban (P)2026 Orion Taraban

wonderful

I really loved the characters. Perfect short read for anyone, I am hoping to read more from Dr. Taraban

Book report

Worth the almost $5 for an entertaining jaunt through the authors perspective on the state of a tortured artist. The voice acting is enjoyable and displays the authors past as an actor well. The writing has beautiful moments of sincerity especially from the male perspective however the female characters offered are lacking in substance and should have just been excluded imo. See below for further deets…

Chapter 1- setting the scene for a brooding male emotional exposé and even in minuta a critique of female dispositions. A justification of an artist’s tortured states, leading to the inevitability of his nihilistic demise. The writer’s own critique/analysis of the titles painting namesake. A worthy attempt of trying to imagine the main characters mindset was to inspire the piece.
Chapter 2- Vincent’s brothers perspective a beautifully written chapter full of wonderful metaphors and bro-mance.
Chapter 3- perspective of a female child minimizing a young female to banal naïveté.
Chapter 4- Vincent’s friend/collegue/doctor perspective apparently… alludes to an intellectual friendship where competing egos are inevitable but the doc is seemingly aloof to.
Chapter 5- the shortest chapter, only 1min,,of Vincent’s assumed lover/crush. Displaying somewhat of a chip on the shoulder of the author. Showing an inability to elaborate from a female perspective. Admittedly the author cannot escape his maleness this chapter subtly vilifies the feminine influence through a sort of blame. Although the brother and friend must also take some sort of blame for not valuing the main character enough through tangible means to motivate him to stay alive.
Chapter 6- Vincent’s own omniscient perspective. The deepest in content this chapter is almost erotic in tone and palpability. Bc sex sells, right?!… the writing is a string of adjective and nouns descriptive and somewhat limited bc the main character was a visual artist not a writer however sprinkled here and there are beautiful moments of written art trying to convey the indescribable “pure perspective” <->… “raindrops like phoenix fire”. The author does well to attempt describing man’s relationship to the divine through the process of slow death by self inflicted wounds. It’s as if the self inflicted pain is the only way to feel the beauty of the divinity of life. A feeble attempt is made to describe the paradox of reality. Though the theme of genius in insanity is made well. Author makes many comparisons of prescribed religion vs divinity in the natural world. Over all the premise seems to be free will is only confirmed when one makes the choice to die without caring whom else it harms. Also man’s’ justification of addiction to reaffirm free will through self prescribed choices of happiness even in death. Recognition that in the end the character choose his own suffering or torture in order to feel alive.

spec-freaking-tacular, my dudes

After listening to the audio book, I immediately purchased a print copy. The last chapter alone would be worth it for the poetic glimpse inside the mind of a artist, a man gone mad, and at the same time the most rational among us. I would have purchased the physical copy for the singular line about churches and forests. I am not much of a fan of French culture or history, nor of Van Gogh's art generally, with specific exceptions. I am, however, a fan of Dr. Taraban's writing on this subject.

Godspeed, Doc. Well done.

poetry

Orion, thank you so much for all you do and sharing the story of one of the world’s greatest artists. The final chapter; your measured cadence moved me to tears. Please continue to write. God bless you, Orion.

Beautiful and heartbreaking.

Memorable and captivating. Thoroughly enjoyed. Orion did an amazing job not only creating this work, but also preforming it for the listener. Looking forward to more.