• Cool Hand Luke

  • By: Donn Pearce
  • Narrated by: Mark Hammer
  • Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (171 ratings)

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Cool Hand Luke  By  cover art

Cool Hand Luke

By: Donn Pearce
Narrated by: Mark Hammer
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Publisher's summary

Based in part on Donn Pearce’s own experiences working on a Florida road gang, this classic story of Cool Hand Luke, the defiant survivor who refused to be defeated by the forces of corrupt authority, is earthy, sensitively written, and revealing.

©1965 Donn Pearce (P)1991 Recorded Books, LLC

What listeners say about Cool Hand Luke

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Like the movie but not

If you decide to get the book please try to put the movie out of your mind. I was almost halfway thru when I decided to start from the beginning and just enjoy the story and the wonderful narrator. The performance is excellent. He gives each and every character a distinct voice full of personality and unique accents. The scene where George Kennedy has a fight with Luke just doesn't happen in the book. And I missed a third of this wonderful performance waiting and trying to match up the movie and book. That's when I started over and glad I did.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Outstanding Narrator and a Very Good Story

The narrator really makes this story come to life. I've never seen the movie, so I had no preconceived ideas about the book. Listening to it, I felt like I was a fellow prisoner enduring all the privations and emotions as the characters. I can certainly empathize with the deeper messages portrayed in the story.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Cool Hand Luke

This was one of my mother's favorite movies. we watched it together several times. The book was better than the movie.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

love the book, movie and narration

this is a great story. I know the movie from my childhood and was happy to listen. I really like this narrator too. he was great in the Forest Gump recording.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Detail and depth

For most of us who have seen the movie, this story provides the detail and depth that was not possible in the movie.  Reading the book, as much as I like, Paul Newman I don’t think I would have cast him in the role based on Mr. Pearce’s book. Pearce’s Luke is not the wistful rebel of popular culture.  The book’s Luke is a more more tragic and damaged figure, and the end is even more troubling. I think the movie resolves in a sort of redemptive note, and in the book it reaches a depth of despair that could not have been achieved in  90 minutes. The book establishes a sense of place both in Florida, and in Europe that provides a deep background for the setting in the story. As prominent popular culture as it is the movie in does not really do justice to the book.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

OMG better than movie

Yhe story, the language, the dialogue. alll simply stunning. i am gobsmacked. i had no idea that the origins of this classic movie deserves to be revered as a literary classic. The narration is no mere narration. It is a one-voice dramatic masterpiece.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • HJ
  • 12-09-23

I’ve read it, watched it, and now…

I’ve listened to it. By far this was my favorite of the three. The narration is one of the best I have ever listened to. Every character different but each with his own passion and soul. I suggest you do the trifecta as I have but if you don’t, the listen must be the one.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Similarity and Unsimilarity of the Movie

I like the descriptions of the life of the prisoners. I waiting for the tag line that never arrived. I kept putting Steve McQueen I. The place of Paul Newman. It was the first time I felt Paul Newman actually acted. I liked the movie better.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

More than a book, an experience!

Wow! This was more than a book. This actually had me feeling that I was there excellent on all fronts.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great Story, Amazing Narration

Don Pearce has created an American classic. and the narration brings the story to life. recommended read. couldn't put it down.

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