Hitch-22

A Memoir

By: Christopher Hitchens

Narrated by: Christopher Hitchens

Length: 17 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

Over the course of his 60 years, Christopher Hitchens has been a citizen of both the United States and the United Kingdom. He has been both a socialist opposed to the war in Vietnam and a supporter of the U.S. war against Islamic extremism in Iraq.

He has been both a foreign correspondent in some of the world's most dangerous places and a legendary bon vivant with an unquenchable thirst for alcohol and literature. He is a fervent atheist, raised as a Christian, by a mother whose Jewish heritage was not revealed to him until her suicide.

In other words, Christopher Hitchens contains multitudes. He sees all sides of an argument. And he believes the personal is political. This is the story of his life, lived large.

©2010 Christopher Hitchens (P)2010 Hachette

Critic reviews

"Hitchens also proves to be more than a capable reader; his wit, erudition, and passionate unbelief could not have been conveyed as compellingly by a surrogate. Highly recommended for all general collections." (Library Journal on God Is Not Great)

"As narrator, he contributes a pleasantly moderated voice and a listener-friendly British accent." (AudioFile Magazine on God Is Not Great)

A nice insight...

Would you consider the audio edition of Hitch-22 to be better than the print version?

Couldn't say. I must say of the books of his that I did read first, I really enjoyed the audio version better.

What other book might you compare Hitch-22 to and why?

Apples and oranges.

Which character – as performed by Christopher Hitchens – was your favorite?

Himself, since it was a memoir.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Hitchens always makes me laugh. He has a self-effacing British style that is not really humble. A great wit and unique thinker that is missed.

Any additional comments?

There are a few parts of this book that are mildly tedious, but his life is worth understanding, and the book does provide some insight to his writing.

A fascinating look into a brilliant man

Any additional comments?

Hitch's indelible wit and intellect come to life in this book. From moving tales of his mother's suicide to amusing anecdotes about friends, Hitch provides an intimate look into one of the world's most interesting lives and minds.

Amazing Story.

How fascinating to listen to the life story of a person who lived so differently from me. From a youth in the Communist movement to risking everything while covering the wars of the 80s and 90s. I realize I have much more to learn about this time from my own youth when I didn't bother to pay attention to the world around me. The only complaint I have is that it was sometimes difficult to follow him either because of an obscure reference or his quickness to move onto his next point, but If you have listened to him speak before this should be no surprise.

Great Stuff

Fascinating intellectual journey. But he swallows his words. It was hard to listen to. I still recommend.

Great book for a Hitch fan

If like me, Hitch is one of the best friends that you never met, then this book is for you!

Hitchens On Hitchens

This memoir is wonderful in many respects, especially Mr Hitchens' accounts of his mother and father. While I'm not always in agreement with everything he says, especially about the Iraq war, it does not stop me from appreciating his well thought out views.
It is not lost on one that some of the issues Hitchens grapples with are political and ideological fallouts created by the very country that Hitchens himself is a citizen of i.e Great Britain. So much of the unrest and misery that we see today is a direct result of the British divide and rule policies implemented just about wherever they had a presence. And those divisions now have become problems for the free world, when in reality, they were sown by them in the first instance. Regardless, this doesn't take away from the fact that Christopher Hitchens is a marvellous writer and is always engaging.
One technical issue with this audiobook is that there are too many level changes in the narration. I am surprised Audible can just put out audiobooks with no consideration given to ensuring the recordings are properly compressed and mastered.
Audible would really do well to at least get their audio recordings processed properly so that the words remain clear and the lower passages have better definition.
This aspect marred my enjoyment of listening to this purchase, and it is such a basic issue that someone at Audible should be put in charge of ensuring that listening levels are done properly utilizing services offered by pro audio engineers and possibly mastering engineers. Otherwise, it's a great listen and would be made much more enjoyable if the technical issue of audio level changes were addressed.

Brilliant & nuanced, audio needs compression

The only thing this brilliant memoir needs is for Hitchens' reading to be passed through a program like the Levelator™ to compress the dynamic range. It's impossible to set a comfortable listening level because if you set it for Hitchens' amplitude highs (he tends to punch his words for emphasis, rather than the more easy-on-the-ears frequency modulation) then his mumbling ends of sentences are inaudible in all but the quietest contexts. If you set the levels for the mumbling, then his punches blow out your speakers. This makes this wonderful memoir impossible to listen to while traveling, which is when my receptors are most open to detail and nuance.
Hitchens reads without affect, which is refreshing. There is no attempt to "perform" the text. Rather, he just reads his own writing, which is warm, excoriating, fresh, and always surprising . Too bad about the WAY to big dynamic range. A simple application of any software compressor to the whole program would fix this.

Better Than I Could Have Hoped For

Being one of my hero’s, literarily and intellectually, this was absolutely thrilling to ride shotgun while Hitch takes you along one of the most interesting autobiographical journey’s you’ll ever go on. He was truly a national treasure and is dearly missed.

A giant among men.

You cannot listen to Hitchens just once. You will be compelled to repeat all his books many times. So much content and substance is best absorbed with time between to reflect.

Fantastic

True to form... love him or hate him Hitchens strikes again with his rare and invigorating brilliance, sincerity, and passion.