Christodora

A Novel

By: Tim Murphy

Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell, Christa Lewis, Suzanne Elise Freeman, Prentice Onayemi, Thom Rivera, Kyla Garcia, Will Damron

Length: 17 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

In this vivid and compelling novel, Tim Murphy follows a diverse set of characters whose fates intertwine in an iconic building in Manhattan's East Village, the Christodora.

The Christodora is home to Milly and Jared, a privileged young couple with artistic ambitions. Their neighbor, Hector, a Puerto Rican gay man who was once a celebrated AIDS activist but is now a lonely addict, becomes connected to Milly and Jared's lives in ways none of them can anticipate. Meanwhile, Milly and Jared's adopted son Mateo grows to see the opportunity for both self-realization and oblivion that New York offers.

As the junkies and protesters of the 1980s give way to the hipsters of the 2000s and they, in turn, to the wealthy residents of the crowded, glass-towered city of the 2020s, enormous changes rock the personal lives of Milly and Jared and the constellation of people around them.

Moving kaleidoscopically from the Tompkins Square Riots and attempts by activists to galvanize a true response to the AIDS epidemic, to the New York City of the future, Christodora recounts the heartbreak wrought by AIDS, illustrates the allure and destructive power of hard drugs, and brings to life the ever-changing city itself.

©2016 Tim Murphy (P)2016 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"It's said that any ensemble cast is only as strong as its weakest member, and in this audio performance, there's not a weak link to be found. Each narrator in the group brings something unique and enjoyable to the production.... Thought-provoking, precise, complex, and real, Christodora's narrators are a glorious reflection of the novel itself." ( AudioFile)

Exceptional book

I highly recommend this book, full of so much factual information about difficult times in our country. I couldn't put it down. A must read/ listen.

Shifting Narrators Distract Rather Than Enhance

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

The novel tracks a group of characters from the early 1980s to the present as they navigate the rise of AIDS, the hazards of drugs, and the gentrification of the East Village in New York City. Having lived through this period in New York, I was impressed by the accuracy of the details and the characters' experience of these challenges. The novel is structured by sections of the book jumping back and forward in time. It's as if the author didn't trust himself to use a straight chronology. It wasn't confusing; it just seemed unnecessary and a false way to build suspense, of which there wasn't much otherwise.

As for the narration: A different reader would narrate the sections dominated by one of the characters, even though the novel is never written in the first person point of view. I thought that was a disaster. Some of the narrators were exceptional, especially the actor -- who I cannot name since it wasn't apparent on the app -- who read the sections featuring Mateo. But some of the narrators were annoying, with a self-conscious drawl to their reading. They did not seem lost in their characters but seemed always to be calling attention to themselves, like bad actors on stage who do a lot of "business."

The producers of the audio book should have had more faith in the power of an excellent reader. Loyal audio book listeners like myself are amazed by how great readers can inhabit all the characters, whatever the age or gender. Narrators also seem to understand each scene and character better and better as the novel goes on. When you jump around from narrator to narrator, though, the readers never have the chance to become fully absorbed in the novel. Instead they seem to seize their chance to shine -- to the detriment of the reader having an absorbing, engaging experience.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Christodora?

Readers of the book should be aware that there is "inappropriate" behavior on the part of the characters -- the novel is about people who take drugs and have unprotected sex in New York City, after all! That did not bother me, though I did have to turn down the volume in the car as I drove into the supermarket parking lot, for instance. ;)

Would you listen to another book narrated by the narrators?

I will try to find the names of those narrators I did like and seek out their work. But ... oooh! There were some narrators I really actively disliked. I would actually abandon listening to the book during their sections and read the book on my Kindle. (I must be Jeff Bezos's dream Amazon/Audible customer.)

Could you see Christodora being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

I could envision this as a HBO series! I don't think stars should be in the roles at all, but new, authentic actors found.

Any additional comments?

There are so many positive reviews here for this audio book. I realize I must seem like a cranky minority. I have even wondered if the reviews here are from friends of the many readers hired to do the audio book! In any case, I do hope the audio book producers steer clear from these multiple-reader efforts and allow one great reader to commit themselves to the book and its characters, and bring a good novel like this one to life.

a wonderful intertwined multigeneration listen

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

No spoilers in this section

I really enjoyed this listen. All things equal, I tend to shy away from multiple narrator books as I usually find them overdone and distracting. This has multiple narrators and I think it worked well. To best of my memory, they only switch per chapter. So when female character A is the POV of a chapter it is in their native voice. But that same voice says things for the other characters that in other chapters have their own narrator. If that makes sense. I guess it is easier to say that there are no conversations where multiple narrators are talking to each other. All narrators are at least good, most very good and a few (Mateo, Izzy and Millie) being great.

So to the book. It is a mildly sprawling tale (say from 1985 to 2020) with a building (the name of the book) the sort of glue to it all. But really the building is only one glue. The AIDS epidemic and the communities it impacted is another. The art world, to a lesser degree, is another glue. Also drugs - *NOTE - I would have to assume some of this would be very hard to listen to if one were a recovering drug addict, especially heroin.

But it is a tale of some families and memorable characters. They love, hate, hurt, lose, and love.

Any additional comments?

I became very involved in this book, which for many of us is the goal. If a book draws me in more than a podcast or music . . . every day is just a little bit better for it. This book was one of those that had me finding ways to listen more.

best book I've imbibed this year!

this book handles the topics of AIDS, addiction, mental illness, tough friendships, and difficult familial relationships with such tenderness and creativity. It also has a perfect ending, so leaves you with a complete and satisfied feeling when you are through. narrators were stellar!

endings become beginnings

This was a fascinating book on many levels, but was disappointing that the author left a glaring story line unexplored because it isn't politically correct. Yet, I would recommend this book to anyone.

engaging and fun

A fast, engaging listen, despite the overall length. The way the audio is performed makes the time hops and flashbacks easy to manage and orient to. The story is well written and complex enough to hook my attention, and I enjoyed it very much

Really didn't expect it to be this good.

Books with multiple characters and time frames often turn into mush at some point and are hard to follow, contrived or boring. This one is different. I wasn't sure about it for the first few hours, but then instead of deteriorating, it got terrific. A number of the characters are so real I thought about them when I wasn't listening. Definitely 5-stars for this accomplishment.

The narrators stayed in the background for me. I didn't pay attention to them at all but was purely focused on the story line. That's sort of amazing. The differences when a cast narrates can often be distracting and it was not at all the case. Another 5 stars here.

I think this is really a book about understanding and acceptance. I didn't find it to be depressing at all. Rather, I found it to be a terrific explanation of why people sometimes do what they do. And even when you don't agree with the behavior, you can at least see how they arrived at it. No, it's not neat and tidy. But neither is life.

All in all a good book, but back & forth moments

What made the experience of listening to Christodora the most enjoyable?

The narrators made the experience great. I was really able to get into each character and immediately knew who was talking on most of them. The grittiness portrayed in the lives of the characters was both the draw and what made me want to stop listening at times. It was so amazingly graphic that it made me uncomfortable, which I supposed was the point at some times of the story.

What did you like best about this story?

I enjoyed the reality of this story. It is sad that lives can be so messed up, and it is obvious that it doesn't matter who intervenes and what opportunities are presented. Drugs affect all types of people from all walks of life no matter how "successful" you are in the eyes of society.

What does the narrators bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The entire drug and HIV/AIDS life and the amazing struggle that is experienced and the daily horror. I was a teenager during the 80's when AIDS epidemic first broke out, and I was totally unaware of all that went on behind the scenes of trying to bring testing and new drugs to the forefront. It was a joy to learn how these brave people went to war to make AIDS NOT a death sentence in my lifetime. THEY WON!!

If you could rename Christodora, what would you call it?

Absolutely nothing - I LOVE that name!!

Any additional comments?

I would suggest that if anyone is like me and had moments where you couldn't handle some of the graphic nature of the sex (and there were times where it seemed like that was all the book was about), I say keep going, b/c I now find my mind wandering back to this book even though I have listened to another title and am in the middle of another one! It stays with you...most definitely!

Compelling saga-generations span AIDS age from NYC

A wonderful, compelling story spanning the 1980s to the near-future centered on an actual building in NYC's Alphabet City (or is it now the East Village?) Lives are gentrified like neighborhoods with extremely well-developed characters including artists, writers, health-services workers, AIDS activists, and a Basquiat-like figure. Expertly narrated, kudos all around. Only criticism is that at some brief points the story seems to veer towards a kind of "Return of the Secaucus 7" for Gen X'ers, but thankfully this is fleeting as the lives of the characters and their relationships draws the reader in more deeply. I will be thinking about this terrific novel for a long time.

Captivating

Utterly captivating . The characters are unique, human and alive. The historical events are compelling. The multiple narrators work fabulously. You know that feeling when a great book is over.