-
Absurdistan
- Narrated by: Adam Grupper
- Length: 12 hrs and 30 mins
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Absurdistan
Buy for $24.35
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Lake Success
- A Novel
- By: Gary Shteyngart
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey, Soneela Nankani
- Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 574
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 517
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 512
Narcissistic, hilariously self-deluded, and divorced from the real world as most of us know it, hedge-fund manager Barry Cohen oversees $2.4 billion in assets. Deeply stressed by an SEC investigation and by his three-year-old son’s diagnosis of autism, he flees New York on a Greyhound bus in search of a simpler, more romantic life with his old college sweetheart. Meanwhile, his super-smart wife, Seema - a driven first-generation American who craved the picture-perfect life that comes with wealth - has her own demons to face.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Really can't stand Arthur Morey's reading
- By Anne on 12-11-18
By: Gary Shteyngart
-
The Russian Debutante’s Handbook
- By: Gary Shteyngart
- Narrated by: Adam Grupper
- Length: 15 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 82
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 72
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 73
Best-selling author Gary Shteyngart’s exquisite fiction is met with a level of critical acclaim reserved for the very best in the field. In this startlingly provocative work, Russian immigrant Vladimir Girshkin searches for love and self-identity while interacting with a quirky set of acquaintances.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Don't Let the Title Fool You
- By Loretta R. Cooper on 01-24-14
By: Gary Shteyngart
-
Victory City
- A Novel
- By: Salman Rushdie
- Narrated by: Sid Sagar
- Length: 11 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 132
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 112
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 112
In the wake of an unimportant battle between two long-forgotten kingdoms in fourteenth-century southern India, a nine-year-old girl has a divine encounter that will change the course of history. After witnessing the death of her mother, the grief-stricken Pampa Kampana becomes a vessel for a goddess, who begins to speak out of the girl’s mouth. Granting her powers beyond Pampa Kampana’s comprehension, the goddess tells her that she will be instrumental in the rise of a great city called Bisnaga—“victory city”—the wonder of the world.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Rushdie never fails to engage.
- By Tom on 02-23-23
By: Salman Rushdie
-
Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim
- By: David Sedaris
- Narrated by: David Sedaris
- Length: 6 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 7,534
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 5,014
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 5,008
In his newest collection of essays, David Sedaris lifts the corner of ordinary life, revealing the absurdity teeming below its surface. His world is alive with obscure desires and hidden motives, a world where forgiveness is automatic and an argument can be the highest form of love. Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim is another unforgettable collection from one of the wittiest and most original writers at work today.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Sedaris is the gay Mark Twain.
- By Steve on 06-02-04
By: David Sedaris
-
Trust (Pulitzer Prize Winner)
- By: Hernan Diaz
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, Jonathan Davis, Mozhan Marnò, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,834
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,617
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 1,617
Even through the roar and effervescence of the 1920s, everyone in New York has heard of Benjamin and Helen Rask. He is a legendary Wall Street tycoon; she is the daughter of eccentric aristocrats. Together, they have risen to the very top of a world of seemingly endless wealth—all as a decade of excess and speculation draws to an end. But at what cost have they acquired their immense fortune? This is the mystery at the center of Bonds, a successful 1937 novel that all of New York seems to have read. Yet there are other versions of this tale of privilege and deceit.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Before Purchasing
- By JLDLOfficial on 08-13-22
By: Hernan Diaz
-
Pnin
- By: Vladimir Nabokov
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 5 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 162
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 129
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 129
One of the best-loved of Nabokov's novels, Pnin features his funniest and most heart-rending character. Professor Timofey Pnin is a haplessly disoriented Russian emigre precariously employed on an American college campus in the 1950s. Pnin struggles to maintain his dignity through a series of comic and sad misunderstandings, all the while falling victim both to subtle academic conspiracies and to the manipulations of a deliberately unreliable narrator.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Why not leave their private sorrows to people?
- By Darwin8u on 01-13-20
By: Vladimir Nabokov
-
Lake Success
- A Novel
- By: Gary Shteyngart
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey, Soneela Nankani
- Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 574
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 517
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 512
Narcissistic, hilariously self-deluded, and divorced from the real world as most of us know it, hedge-fund manager Barry Cohen oversees $2.4 billion in assets. Deeply stressed by an SEC investigation and by his three-year-old son’s diagnosis of autism, he flees New York on a Greyhound bus in search of a simpler, more romantic life with his old college sweetheart. Meanwhile, his super-smart wife, Seema - a driven first-generation American who craved the picture-perfect life that comes with wealth - has her own demons to face.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Really can't stand Arthur Morey's reading
- By Anne on 12-11-18
By: Gary Shteyngart
-
The Russian Debutante’s Handbook
- By: Gary Shteyngart
- Narrated by: Adam Grupper
- Length: 15 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 82
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 72
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 73
Best-selling author Gary Shteyngart’s exquisite fiction is met with a level of critical acclaim reserved for the very best in the field. In this startlingly provocative work, Russian immigrant Vladimir Girshkin searches for love and self-identity while interacting with a quirky set of acquaintances.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Don't Let the Title Fool You
- By Loretta R. Cooper on 01-24-14
By: Gary Shteyngart
-
Victory City
- A Novel
- By: Salman Rushdie
- Narrated by: Sid Sagar
- Length: 11 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 132
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 112
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 112
In the wake of an unimportant battle between two long-forgotten kingdoms in fourteenth-century southern India, a nine-year-old girl has a divine encounter that will change the course of history. After witnessing the death of her mother, the grief-stricken Pampa Kampana becomes a vessel for a goddess, who begins to speak out of the girl’s mouth. Granting her powers beyond Pampa Kampana’s comprehension, the goddess tells her that she will be instrumental in the rise of a great city called Bisnaga—“victory city”—the wonder of the world.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Rushdie never fails to engage.
- By Tom on 02-23-23
By: Salman Rushdie
-
Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim
- By: David Sedaris
- Narrated by: David Sedaris
- Length: 6 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 7,534
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 5,014
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 5,008
In his newest collection of essays, David Sedaris lifts the corner of ordinary life, revealing the absurdity teeming below its surface. His world is alive with obscure desires and hidden motives, a world where forgiveness is automatic and an argument can be the highest form of love. Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim is another unforgettable collection from one of the wittiest and most original writers at work today.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Sedaris is the gay Mark Twain.
- By Steve on 06-02-04
By: David Sedaris
-
Trust (Pulitzer Prize Winner)
- By: Hernan Diaz
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, Jonathan Davis, Mozhan Marnò, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,834
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,617
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 1,617
Even through the roar and effervescence of the 1920s, everyone in New York has heard of Benjamin and Helen Rask. He is a legendary Wall Street tycoon; she is the daughter of eccentric aristocrats. Together, they have risen to the very top of a world of seemingly endless wealth—all as a decade of excess and speculation draws to an end. But at what cost have they acquired their immense fortune? This is the mystery at the center of Bonds, a successful 1937 novel that all of New York seems to have read. Yet there are other versions of this tale of privilege and deceit.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Before Purchasing
- By JLDLOfficial on 08-13-22
By: Hernan Diaz
-
Pnin
- By: Vladimir Nabokov
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 5 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 162
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 129
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 129
One of the best-loved of Nabokov's novels, Pnin features his funniest and most heart-rending character. Professor Timofey Pnin is a haplessly disoriented Russian emigre precariously employed on an American college campus in the 1950s. Pnin struggles to maintain his dignity through a series of comic and sad misunderstandings, all the while falling victim both to subtle academic conspiracies and to the manipulations of a deliberately unreliable narrator.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Why not leave their private sorrows to people?
- By Darwin8u on 01-13-20
By: Vladimir Nabokov
-
The Sellout
- A Novel
- By: Paul Beatty
- Narrated by: Prentice Onayemi
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 3,874
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,505
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 3,494
A biting satire about a young man's isolated upbringing and the race trial that sends him to the Supreme Court, Paul Beatty's The Sellout showcases a comic genius at the top of his game. It challenges the sacred tenets of the United States Constitution, urban life, the civil rights movement, the father-son relationship, and the holy grail of racial equality: the black Chinese restaurant.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Appreciated it, but didn't like it
- By Eugenia on 04-14-16
By: Paul Beatty
-
Infinite Jest
- By: David Foster Wallace
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 56 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,640
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,197
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 3,205
A gargantuan, mind-altering comedy about the Pursuit of Happiness in America set in an addicts' halfway house and a tennis academy, and featuring the most endearingly screwed-up family to come along in recent fiction, Infinite Jest explores essential questions about what entertainment is and why it has come to so dominate our lives; about how our desire for entertainment affects our need to connect with other people; and about what the pleasures we choose say about who we are.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Removing Endnotes Does NOT Equal Unabridged!
- By Darwin8u on 04-11-12
-
Birnam Wood
- A Novel
- By: Eleanor Catton
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 12 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 309
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 243
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 242
A landslide has closed the Korowai Pass on New Zealand’s South Island, cutting off the town of Thorndike and leaving a sizable farm abandoned. The disaster presents an opportunity for Birnam Wood, an undeclared, unregulated, sometimes-criminal, sometimes-philanthropic guerrilla gardening collective that plants crops wherever no one will notice. For years, the group has struggled to break even. To occupy the farm at Thorndike would mean a shot at solvency at last. But the enigmatic American billionaire Robert Lemoine also has an interest in the place.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Outstanding thriller w/ exceptional character development
- By Bradley T. Collins on 04-21-23
By: Eleanor Catton
-
Moloka’i
- By: Alan Brennert
- Narrated by: Anne Noelani Miyamoto
- Length: 17 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,287
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,800
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,791
The powerful debut novel from Alan Brennert, Moloka’i tells the story of Rachel Kalama, a seven-year-old Hawaiian girl who contracts leprosy and is quarantined on the island of Moloka’i during the 1890s. Separated from her family and forced to grow up in the leper colony of Kalaupapa, Rachel experiences intense isolation. But she remains strong, finding moments of joy, and even love. Rich in Hawaiian history, this novel proves itself a stellar piece of historical fiction.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Outstanding Book!
- By David on 08-23-12
By: Alan Brennert
-
The Sentence
- By: Louise Erdrich
- Narrated by: Louise Erdrich
- Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,408
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,138
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,123
Louise Erdrich's latest novel, The Sentence, asks what we owe to the living, the dead, to the reader and to the book. A small independent bookstore in Minneapolis is haunted from November 2019 to November 2020 by the store's most annoying customer. Flora dies on All Souls' Day, but she simply won't leave the store. Tookie, who has landed a job selling books after years of incarceration that she survived by reading "with murderous attention", must solve the mystery of this haunting.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Addictive and surprising
- By Amazon Customer on 11-25-21
By: Louise Erdrich
-
Stories of Your Life and Others
- By: Ted Chiang
- Narrated by: Abby Craden, Todd McLaren
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,741
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,287
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3,296
Stories of Your Life and Others presents characters who must confront sudden change-the inevitable rise of automatons or the appearance of aliens-while striving to maintain some sense of normalcy. In the amazing and much-lauded title story (the basis for the 2016 movie Arrival), a grieving mother copes with divorce and the death of her daughter by drawing on her knowledge of alien languages and non-linear memory recollection.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Amazing collection of short stories
- By Carolina on 09-15-14
By: Ted Chiang
-
The Kite Runner
- By: Khaled Hosseini
- Narrated by: Khaled Hosseini
- Length: 12 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 19,663
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 13,553
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 13,558
Why we think it’s a great listen: Never before has an author’s narration of his fiction been so important to fully grasping the book’s impact and global implications. Taking us from Afghanistan in the final days of its monarchy to the present, The Kite Runner is the unforgettable story of the friendship between two boys growing up in Kabul. Their intertwined lives, and their fates, reflect the eventual tragedy of the world around them.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
A Worhty Read
- By P. C..S. on 08-17-03
By: Khaled Hosseini
-
The Netanyahus
- An Account of a Minor and Ultimately Even Negligible Episode in the History of a Very Famous Family
- By: Joshua Cohen
- Narrated by: Joshua Cohen, David Duchovny, Ethan Herschenfeld
- Length: 8 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 644
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 568
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 562
Corbin College, not quite upstate New York, winter 1959-1960: Ruben Blum, a Jewish historian—but not an historian of the Jews—is co-opted onto a hiring committee to review the application of an exiled Israeli scholar specializing in the Spanish Inquisition. When Benzion Netanyahu shows up for an interview, family unexpectedly in tow, Blum plays the reluctant host to guests who proceed to lay waste to his American complacencies. Mixing fiction with nonfiction, the campus novel with the lecture, The Netanyahus is a wildly inventive comedy of blending, identity, and politics.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Phillip Roth would certainly listen!
- By Martin on 01-17-22
By: Joshua Cohen
-
A Visit from the Goon Squad
- By: Jennifer Egan
- Narrated by: Roxana Ortega
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,143
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 983
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 980
Jennifer Egan’s spellbinding interlocking narratives circle the lives of Bennie Salazar, an aging former punk rocker and record executive, and Sasha, the passionate, troubled young woman he employs. Although Bennie and Sasha never discover each other’s pasts, the listener does, in intimate detail, along with the secret lives of a host of other characters whose paths intersect with theirs, over many years, in locales as varied as New York, San Francisco, Naples, and Africa.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Deep and dazzling novel, brilliantly read!
- By J. W. Coop on 06-29-19
By: Jennifer Egan
-
The Promise
- By: Damon Galgut
- Narrated by: Peter Noble
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 583
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 506
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 502
Haunted by an unmet promise, the Swart family loses touch after the death of their matriarch. Adrift, the lives of the three siblings move separately through the uncharted waters of South Africa; Anton, the golden boy who bitterly resents his life’s unfulfilled potential; Astrid, whose beauty is her power; and the youngest, Amor, whose life is shaped by a nebulous feeling of guilt.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Excellent novel
- By ALG on 11-09-21
By: Damon Galgut
-
The Yiddish Policemen's Union
- A Novel
- By: Michael Chabon
- Narrated by: Peter Riegert
- Length: 12 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,513
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,343
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 1,339
For 60 years Jewish refugees and their descendants have prospered in the federal district of Sitka, a temporary safe haven created in the wake of the Holocaust and the shocking 1948 collapse of the fledgling state of Israel. The Jews of the Sitka District have created their own little world in the Alaskan panhandle, a vibrant and complex frontier city that moves to the music of Yiddish. But now the district is set to revert to Alaskan control, and their dream is coming to an end.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Didn't finish...
- By Ann E O'Connor on 10-16-17
By: Michael Chabon
-
Middlesex
- By: Jeffrey Eugenides
- Narrated by: Kristoffer Tabori
- Length: 21 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 11,121
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 6,805
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 6,837
In the spring of 1974, Calliope Stephanides, a student at a girls' school in Grosse Pointe, finds herself drawn to a chain-smoking, strawberry-blonde classmate with a gift for acting. The passion that furtively develops between them - along with Callie's failure to develop physically - leads Callie to suspect that she is not like other girls. In fact, she is not really a girl at all.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Anything but middle.
- By Michael on 05-04-03
Publisher's summary
Named as one of the New York Times Year’s Ten Best upon its publication, Gary Shteyngart’s Absurdistan is a biting, poignant satire of American-style democracy and the American Dream.
After returning to Russia to attend his father’s funeral, 30-year-old Misha is subsequently denied a visa when he attempts to re-enter the United States. What follows is a series of misadventures through the Eastern Bloc in which Misha runs afoul of crooked politicians, businessmen, and bureaucracies all seemingly determined to keep him from his new home country.
More from the same
What listeners love about Absurdistan
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall2 out of 5 stars
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars
-
Story1 out of 5 stars
- N. R. Gawlak
- 03-03-14
Major Let Down
I thought Shteyngart was brilliant after listening to "Super Sad, True Love Story". My opinion dipped slightly with "The Russian Debutante's Handbook", but it was still pretty good. "Absurdistan", however, was just awful. Drifting plots and meandering story lines are fine with me if the writing is good, and the characters are "real", even if they are hard to love. This novel had neither good writing or interesting human beings as characters...forget liking them. If the author aimed for satire, he missed. But for a few neatly twisted phrases that brought a smile to my lips...very few... there was nothing funny...for me. Its saving grace, if anything can save it, was that it seemed fairly original. I managed to get through it , because of that quality, I think. And the narrator did a good job with what he had.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall1 out of 5 stars
-
Performance1 out of 5 stars
-
Story1 out of 5 stars
- Harrold
- 09-18-11
Just plain awful
I bought this audio book because it was on New York Times bestseller and was praised, but it is just awful, depressing and I can not figure out why anyone would like to read or listen to this. It lakes fun is just downright pathetic.
1 person found this helpful
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
The Russian Debutante’s Handbook
- By: Gary Shteyngart
- Narrated by: Adam Grupper
- Length: 15 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 82
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 72
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 73
Best-selling author Gary Shteyngart’s exquisite fiction is met with a level of critical acclaim reserved for the very best in the field. In this startlingly provocative work, Russian immigrant Vladimir Girshkin searches for love and self-identity while interacting with a quirky set of acquaintances.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Don't Let the Title Fool You
- By Loretta R. Cooper on 01-24-14
By: Gary Shteyngart
-
Super Sad True Love Story
- A Novel
- By: Gary Shteyngart
- Narrated by: Ali Ahn, Adam Grupper
- Length: 13 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 1,004
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 681
-
Story3.5 out of 5 stars 692
Gary Shteyngart, author of The Russian Debutante’s Handbook, creates a compelling reality in this tale about an illiterate America in the not-too-distant future. Lenny Abramov may just be penning the world’s last diary. Which is good, because while falling in love with a rather unpleasant woman and witnessing the fall of a great empire, Lenny has a lot to write about.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Dystopia Now
- By Ryan on 09-19-10
By: Gary Shteyngart
-
Lake Success
- A Novel
- By: Gary Shteyngart
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey, Soneela Nankani
- Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 574
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 517
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 512
Narcissistic, hilariously self-deluded, and divorced from the real world as most of us know it, hedge-fund manager Barry Cohen oversees $2.4 billion in assets. Deeply stressed by an SEC investigation and by his three-year-old son’s diagnosis of autism, he flees New York on a Greyhound bus in search of a simpler, more romantic life with his old college sweetheart. Meanwhile, his super-smart wife, Seema - a driven first-generation American who craved the picture-perfect life that comes with wealth - has her own demons to face.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Really can't stand Arthur Morey's reading
- By Anne on 12-11-18
By: Gary Shteyngart
-
Our Country Friends
- A Novel
- By: Gary Shteyngart
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 12 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 532
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 452
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 450
In the rolling hills of upstate New York, a group of friends and friends-of-friends gathers in a country house to wait out the pandemic. Over the next six months, new friendships and romances will take hold, while old betrayals will emerge, forcing each character to reevaluate whom they love and what matters most. The unlikely cast of characters includes a Russian-born novelist, his Russian-born psychiatrist wife, their precocious child obsessed with K-pop, a struggling Indian American writer, a wildly successful Korean American app developer, a global dandy with three passports.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Beautifully written, painful, but very, very moving
- By Jim on 11-08-21
By: Gary Shteyngart
-
Little Failure
- A Memoir
- By: Gary Shteyngart
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 12 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 324
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 277
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 284
After three acclaimed novels - The Russian Debutante's Handbook, Absurdistan, and Super Sad True Love Story - Gary Shteyngart turns to memoir in a candid, witty, deeply poignant account of his life so far.
Shteyngart shares his American immigrant experience, moving back and forth through time and memory with self-deprecating humor, moving insights, and literary bravado. The result is a resonant story of family and belonging that feels epic and intimate and distinctly his own. Provocative, hilarious, and inventive, Little Failure reveals a deeper vein of emotion in Gary Shteyngart' s prose.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
did not do much for me
- By Max on 04-27-14
By: Gary Shteyngart
-
Motherless Brooklyn
- By: Jonathan Lethem
- Narrated by: Geoffrey Cantor
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,401
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,245
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 1,241
From America's most inventive novelist, Jonathan Lethem, comes this compelling and compulsive riff on the classic detective novel. Lionel Essrog is Brooklyn's very own Human Freakshow, an orphan whose Tourettic impulses drive him to bark, count, and rip apart language in startling and original ways. Together with three veterans of the St. Vincent's Home for Boys, he works for small-time mobster Frank Minna's limo service cum detective agency. Life without Frank, the charismatic King of Brooklyn, would be unimaginable.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
You're Not the Only Freak Show in Town!
- By Dave on 05-01-14
By: Jonathan Lethem
-
The Russian Debutante’s Handbook
- By: Gary Shteyngart
- Narrated by: Adam Grupper
- Length: 15 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 82
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 72
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 73
Best-selling author Gary Shteyngart’s exquisite fiction is met with a level of critical acclaim reserved for the very best in the field. In this startlingly provocative work, Russian immigrant Vladimir Girshkin searches for love and self-identity while interacting with a quirky set of acquaintances.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Don't Let the Title Fool You
- By Loretta R. Cooper on 01-24-14
By: Gary Shteyngart
-
Super Sad True Love Story
- A Novel
- By: Gary Shteyngart
- Narrated by: Ali Ahn, Adam Grupper
- Length: 13 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 1,004
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 681
-
Story3.5 out of 5 stars 692
Gary Shteyngart, author of The Russian Debutante’s Handbook, creates a compelling reality in this tale about an illiterate America in the not-too-distant future. Lenny Abramov may just be penning the world’s last diary. Which is good, because while falling in love with a rather unpleasant woman and witnessing the fall of a great empire, Lenny has a lot to write about.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Dystopia Now
- By Ryan on 09-19-10
By: Gary Shteyngart
-
Lake Success
- A Novel
- By: Gary Shteyngart
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey, Soneela Nankani
- Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 574
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 517
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 512
Narcissistic, hilariously self-deluded, and divorced from the real world as most of us know it, hedge-fund manager Barry Cohen oversees $2.4 billion in assets. Deeply stressed by an SEC investigation and by his three-year-old son’s diagnosis of autism, he flees New York on a Greyhound bus in search of a simpler, more romantic life with his old college sweetheart. Meanwhile, his super-smart wife, Seema - a driven first-generation American who craved the picture-perfect life that comes with wealth - has her own demons to face.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Really can't stand Arthur Morey's reading
- By Anne on 12-11-18
By: Gary Shteyngart
-
Our Country Friends
- A Novel
- By: Gary Shteyngart
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 12 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 532
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 452
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 450
In the rolling hills of upstate New York, a group of friends and friends-of-friends gathers in a country house to wait out the pandemic. Over the next six months, new friendships and romances will take hold, while old betrayals will emerge, forcing each character to reevaluate whom they love and what matters most. The unlikely cast of characters includes a Russian-born novelist, his Russian-born psychiatrist wife, their precocious child obsessed with K-pop, a struggling Indian American writer, a wildly successful Korean American app developer, a global dandy with three passports.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Beautifully written, painful, but very, very moving
- By Jim on 11-08-21
By: Gary Shteyngart
-
Little Failure
- A Memoir
- By: Gary Shteyngart
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 12 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 324
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 277
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 284
After three acclaimed novels - The Russian Debutante's Handbook, Absurdistan, and Super Sad True Love Story - Gary Shteyngart turns to memoir in a candid, witty, deeply poignant account of his life so far.
Shteyngart shares his American immigrant experience, moving back and forth through time and memory with self-deprecating humor, moving insights, and literary bravado. The result is a resonant story of family and belonging that feels epic and intimate and distinctly his own. Provocative, hilarious, and inventive, Little Failure reveals a deeper vein of emotion in Gary Shteyngart' s prose.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
did not do much for me
- By Max on 04-27-14
By: Gary Shteyngart
-
Motherless Brooklyn
- By: Jonathan Lethem
- Narrated by: Geoffrey Cantor
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,401
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,245
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 1,241
From America's most inventive novelist, Jonathan Lethem, comes this compelling and compulsive riff on the classic detective novel. Lionel Essrog is Brooklyn's very own Human Freakshow, an orphan whose Tourettic impulses drive him to bark, count, and rip apart language in startling and original ways. Together with three veterans of the St. Vincent's Home for Boys, he works for small-time mobster Frank Minna's limo service cum detective agency. Life without Frank, the charismatic King of Brooklyn, would be unimaginable.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
You're Not the Only Freak Show in Town!
- By Dave on 05-01-14
By: Jonathan Lethem
Related to this topic
-
Lifted by the Great Nothing
- By: Karim Dimechkie
- Narrated by: Neil Shah
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 48
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 46
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 46
Max doesn't remember his mother, who was murdered by burglars before they emigrated from Beirut to New Jersey. He lives with his father, Rasheed, who is enamored of his concept of American culture - baseball and barbeques - and tries to shed his Lebanese heritage completely.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Excellent
- By Cheyenne on 06-13-15
By: Karim Dimechkie
-
Guapa
- By: Saleem Haddad
- Narrated by: Fajer Al-Kaisi
- Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 127
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 115
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 113
Rasa spends his days translating for Western journalists and pining for the nights when he can sneak his lover, Taymour, into his room. One night Rasa's grandmother - the woman who raised him - catches them in bed together. The following day Rasa is consumed by the search for his best friend, Maj, a fiery activist and drag queen star of the underground bar Guapa, who has been arrested by the police.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Guapa
- By Mah Maass on 08-25-16
By: Saleem Haddad
-
The Wangs vs. the World
- By: Jade Chang
- Narrated by: Nancy Wu
- Length: 14 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 453
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 418
-
Story3.5 out of 5 stars 416
Charles Wang is mad at America. A brash, lovable immigrant businessman who built a cosmetics empire and made a fortune, he's just been ruined by the financial crisis. Now all Charles wants is to get his kids safely stowed away so that he can go to China and attempt to reclaim his family's ancestral lands - and his pride. Outrageously funny and full of charm, The Wangs vs. the World is an entirely fresh look at what it means to belong in America - and how going from glorious riches to (still name-brand) rags brings one family together in a way money never could.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Everything Or Nothing
- By Sara on 10-25-16
By: Jade Chang
-
Caramelo
- By: Sandra Cisneros
- Narrated by: Sandra Cisneros
- Length: 15 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 74
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 62
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 61
Lala Reyes’ grandmother is descended from a family of renowned rebozo, or shawl-makers. The striped (caramelo) is the most beautiful of all, and the one that makes its way, like the family history it has come to represent, into Lala’s possession. The novel opens with the Reyes’ annual car trip - a caravan overflowing with children, laughter, and quarrels - from Chicago to “the other side”, Mexico City. It is there, each year, that Lala hears her family’s stories, separating the truth from the “healthy lies” that have ricocheted from one generation to the next.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Love, family, history, and fantasy, Caramelo
- By Michele on 08-07-20
By: Sandra Cisneros
-
Tar Baby
- By: Toni Morrison
- Narrated by: Desiree Coleman
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 295
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 250
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 254
Jadine Childs is a Black fashion model with a white patron, a white boyfriend, and a coat made out of ninety perfect sealskins. Son is a Black fugitive who embodies everything she loathes and desires. As Morrison follows their affair, which plays out from the Caribbean to Manhattan and the deep South, she charts all the nuances of obligation and betrayal between Blacks and whites, masters and servants, and men and women.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
So good that I'm writing my first Audible review!
- By BL on 12-10-11
By: Toni Morrison
-
A Woman's Worth
- By: Tracy Price-Thompson
- Narrated by: various
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 134
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 98
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 98
In Kenya, when a young American man falls in love with the sophisticated daughter of an African chief, their marriage is strong. But tradition will soon put their union to the supreme test. Gripping and soulful, A Woman's Worth is a tale of cultural divisions, emotional wounds, and a love that struggles to transcend them.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Awesome
- By Amazon Customer on 09-23-09
-
Lifted by the Great Nothing
- By: Karim Dimechkie
- Narrated by: Neil Shah
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 48
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 46
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 46
Max doesn't remember his mother, who was murdered by burglars before they emigrated from Beirut to New Jersey. He lives with his father, Rasheed, who is enamored of his concept of American culture - baseball and barbeques - and tries to shed his Lebanese heritage completely.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Excellent
- By Cheyenne on 06-13-15
By: Karim Dimechkie
-
Guapa
- By: Saleem Haddad
- Narrated by: Fajer Al-Kaisi
- Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 127
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 115
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 113
Rasa spends his days translating for Western journalists and pining for the nights when he can sneak his lover, Taymour, into his room. One night Rasa's grandmother - the woman who raised him - catches them in bed together. The following day Rasa is consumed by the search for his best friend, Maj, a fiery activist and drag queen star of the underground bar Guapa, who has been arrested by the police.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Guapa
- By Mah Maass on 08-25-16
By: Saleem Haddad
-
The Wangs vs. the World
- By: Jade Chang
- Narrated by: Nancy Wu
- Length: 14 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 453
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 418
-
Story3.5 out of 5 stars 416
Charles Wang is mad at America. A brash, lovable immigrant businessman who built a cosmetics empire and made a fortune, he's just been ruined by the financial crisis. Now all Charles wants is to get his kids safely stowed away so that he can go to China and attempt to reclaim his family's ancestral lands - and his pride. Outrageously funny and full of charm, The Wangs vs. the World is an entirely fresh look at what it means to belong in America - and how going from glorious riches to (still name-brand) rags brings one family together in a way money never could.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Everything Or Nothing
- By Sara on 10-25-16
By: Jade Chang
-
Caramelo
- By: Sandra Cisneros
- Narrated by: Sandra Cisneros
- Length: 15 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 74
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 62
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 61
Lala Reyes’ grandmother is descended from a family of renowned rebozo, or shawl-makers. The striped (caramelo) is the most beautiful of all, and the one that makes its way, like the family history it has come to represent, into Lala’s possession. The novel opens with the Reyes’ annual car trip - a caravan overflowing with children, laughter, and quarrels - from Chicago to “the other side”, Mexico City. It is there, each year, that Lala hears her family’s stories, separating the truth from the “healthy lies” that have ricocheted from one generation to the next.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Love, family, history, and fantasy, Caramelo
- By Michele on 08-07-20
By: Sandra Cisneros
-
Tar Baby
- By: Toni Morrison
- Narrated by: Desiree Coleman
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 295
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 250
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 254
Jadine Childs is a Black fashion model with a white patron, a white boyfriend, and a coat made out of ninety perfect sealskins. Son is a Black fugitive who embodies everything she loathes and desires. As Morrison follows their affair, which plays out from the Caribbean to Manhattan and the deep South, she charts all the nuances of obligation and betrayal between Blacks and whites, masters and servants, and men and women.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
So good that I'm writing my first Audible review!
- By BL on 12-10-11
By: Toni Morrison
-
A Woman's Worth
- By: Tracy Price-Thompson
- Narrated by: various
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 134
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 98
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 98
In Kenya, when a young American man falls in love with the sophisticated daughter of an African chief, their marriage is strong. But tradition will soon put their union to the supreme test. Gripping and soulful, A Woman's Worth is a tale of cultural divisions, emotional wounds, and a love that struggles to transcend them.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Awesome
- By Amazon Customer on 09-23-09
-
The Kite Runner
- By: Khaled Hosseini
- Narrated by: Khaled Hosseini
- Length: 12 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 19,663
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 13,553
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 13,558
Why we think it’s a great listen: Never before has an author’s narration of his fiction been so important to fully grasping the book’s impact and global implications. Taking us from Afghanistan in the final days of its monarchy to the present, The Kite Runner is the unforgettable story of the friendship between two boys growing up in Kabul. Their intertwined lives, and their fates, reflect the eventual tragedy of the world around them.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
A Worhty Read
- By P. C..S. on 08-17-03