Doxology

A Novel

By: Nell Zink

Narrated by: Eileen Stevens

A Recommended Book of 2019 from Vulture and Esquire

Pam, Daniel, and Joe might be the worst punk band on the Lower East Side. Struggling to scrape together enough cash and musical talent to make it, they are waylaid by surprising arrivals—a daughter for Pam and Daniel, a solo hit single for Joe. As the ‘90s wane, the three friends share in one another’s successes, working together to elevate Joe’s superstardom and raise baby Flora.

On September 11, 2001, the city’s unfathomable devastation coincides with a shattering personal loss for the trio. In the aftermath, Flora comes of age, navigating a charged political landscape and discovering a love of the natural world. Joining the ranks of those fighting for ecological conservation, Flora works to bridge the wide gap between powerful strategists and ordinary Americans, becoming entangled ever more intimately with her fellow activists along the way. And when the country faces an astonishing new threat, Flora’s family will have no choice but to look to the past—both to examine wounds that have never healed, and to rediscover strengths they have long forgotten.

At once an elegiac takedown of today’s political climate and a touching invocation of humanity’s goodness, Doxology offers daring revelations about America’s past and possible future that could only come from Nell Zink, one of the sharpest novelists of our time.

Retro-hippie earth mother, '80s hipster dad...

and a rock god babysitter.

This story did not go where I expected it would when I first started listening. These punk band wannabe, Lower-East-Side social dropouts are far from stereotypical misanthropes. In fact, they’re not misanthropes at all, they’re kind and thoughtful and really uncool at heart. And while I would have openly welcomed a straightforward Gen-X take on things like 9/11 and Trump, it’s not that either. There’s a lot of nuance, and some truly inspired perspective coming from the Baby Boomer and Millennial characters too (something that narrator Eileen Stevens captures perfectly!). It’s multigenerational and sweeping, but at the same time super focused on this one small group of characters—a story about a family making its way in the world that reflects the recent past and present day in a totally fresh way.

Fresh

I loved this book because it felt fresh, contemporary, and relevant. The voice is vibrant, energetic. The prose is entertaining. I loved the character of Flora and the epic story of her family revolving around a punk rock star who once babysat her. I never knew what to expect next. Once again, this book is fresh. I highly recommend it.

Didn’t like the ending.

The story was good. Held my interest the whole time. I think the ending was horrible. Left the listener hanging.

Extraordinary

It took a few minutes to get used the the reader. After that I was part of the story, till the end. It is about new beginnings, always taking place in the present. Feels like the essence of Hannah Arendt's THE ORIGINS OF TOTALITARIANISM.

rock and roll, 9/11, and politics

I really enjoyed the characters, and I was glad 4 the starts and stops and happy and sad endings that I encountered. there was one slow part in the book and that was Flora's college career... if I hadn't had so many chapters remaining I may have just stopped. it was a very slow-moving and confusing. perhaps I should have been a separate essay or something. it did little to tell us more about Florida and even less to make us like flora more. in the end I felt like it was a story of pack of rather spoiled kids. .. though some of the kids were adults. but I liked that each character seemed to pretty much get what they deserve and then some and I mean that in a good way this was. not a feel bad book.

Where's the plot?

Half way through was as far as i got. Way too much narration describing one setting or event after another, with very little dialogue or strong storyline.

Good if it had been split up into at least two

This book started out pretty good. It was interesting and I liked the story, being a music aficionado myself. I also have worked with people with disabilities, so reading about someone obviously on the spectrum who also performed music and had a decent life (with very believable job and personality), was fun. SPOILER ALERT...But I believe another reader also said that the story went downhill when he died. I couldn't get into the other characters after that, as believable as they also were. I guess Joe held the other characters together. I love seeing when a kid in a story grows up, but I think that whole part would have been better served in a part two in a series perhaps. This was well written and usually interesting, but I couldn't continue at the point when the daughter grew up. Also, there were too many whole political and news mentions, considering it was more a contemporary fiction/women's fiction. I tried and almost got through the whole thing but did not finish it. Maybe I will return to it when I'm able.

Narration was so troubling I couldn't finish!

So, I admit that I have only listed to 3 hours of this book but, honestly, that's all I could take. The narrator is very difficult to listen to. Way too much vocal fry, the cadence is awkward and her inflection is just annoying (for lack of a better term).
Since I have only listened to the first 1/4 of the book, I can only review that. (maybe it gets better?) I found the writing a bit tough to wade through, it felt clumsy while trying hard to be clever. The story itself was OK.
This is one of a few books I had to stop listening to because the narration was awful. I would suggest going the old school route on this one and actually reading it yourself.

So hard to listen to

This was the hardest book to listen to. I kept waiting for it to get interesting and when I thought it finally was it soon fizzled out and went back to boring. Maybe it’s better being read than listened to but I hated it.

3 1/2 hours to go; what is this?

This book . . . I don't get it. It could be the writing; the performing; a combination. The performer does a good job with differentiating the various characters, but I'm not sure if her reading makes the book "read" like this ongoing narration of lists or if it's the writing itself that does that. (Another really weird oddity of the performer is her reading of the name Daniel. Literally, no joke, half the time she reads that name it sounds like she's pronouncing the male name "Daniel" and the other half of the time it absolutely sounds like she's saying "Danielle". It's really annoying). Sometimes this book sounds like it's supposed to be a music reviewer's take on a couple and their life. It just has too much cutesy attempts at description and metaphor and simile; and the dialogue (when there is, which is rare compared to the endless reciting of life recounted in the form of listings) is all loaded with sarcasm, again, in seemingly some way the author is attempting to be colorful and creative. But in the end, I have no idea what this book was/is achieving. I still have to listen to 3 1/2 more hours of this!! (I HAVE to finish what i start). I thought this was supposed to be a story about friendship with a minor rock star. But once that part of the story seems to end, it's this minor league attempt at making statements about politics, environmentalism, sexual identity, Ethiopia, and on and on and on of nothingness. Read/listen at your own risk. Again, what is this????