-
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
- Narrated by: Jeff Woodman, Barbara Caruso, Richard Ferrone
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $21.49
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The History of Love
- By: Nicole Krauss
- Narrated by: George Guidall, Barbara Caruso, Julia Gibson, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nicole Krauss' first novel, Man Walks Into a Room, was shortlisted for the Los Angeles Times Book Award and her short fiction has been collected in Best American Short Stories. Now The History of Love proves Krauss is among our finest and freshest literary voices.
-
-
Like Garcia-Marquez on Anti-Pschyotics
- By Jane on 10-14-08
By: Nicole Krauss
-
Everything Is Illuminated
- By: Jonathan Safran Foer
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With only a yellowing photograph in hand, a young man—also named Jonathan Safran Foer—sets out to find the woman who might or might not have saved his grandfather from the Nazis. Accompanied by an old man haunted by memories of the war, an amorous dog named Sammy Davis, Junior, Junior, and the unforgettable Alex, a young Ukrainian translator who speaks in a sublimely butchered English, Jonathan is led on a quixotic journey over a devastated landscape and into an unexpected past.
-
-
Astounding reading
- By bookworm123abc on 02-10-23
-
Eating Animals
- By: Jonathan Safran Foer
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jonathan Safran Foer spent much of his teenage and college years oscillating between omnivore and vegetarian. But on the brink of fatherhood - facing the prospect of having to make dietary choices on a child's behalf - his casual questioning took on an urgency His quest for answers ultimately required him to visit factory farms in the middle of the night, dissect the emotional ingredients of meals from his childhood, and probe some of his most primal instincts about right and wrong.
-
-
Surprisingly Even-Handed
- By Natalie on 10-27-11
-
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
- By: Mark Haddon
- Narrated by: Jeff Woodman
- Length: 6 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fifteen-year-old Christopher Boone has Asperger's Syndrome, a condition similar to autism. He doesn't like to be touched or meet new people, he cannot make small talk, and he hates the colors brown and yellow. He is a math whiz with a very logical brain who loves solving puzzles that have definite answers.
-
-
A Different View of the World
- By Alan on 05-19-04
By: Mark Haddon
-
Here I Am
- A Novel
- By: Jonathan Safran Foer
- Narrated by: Ari Fliakos
- Length: 16 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How do we fulfill our conflicting duties as father, husband, and son; wife and mother; child and adult? Jew and American? How can we claim our own identities when our lives are linked so closely to others’? These are the questions at the heart of Jonathan Safran Foer’s first novel in eleven years—a work of extraordinary scope and heartbreaking intimacy. Unfolding over four tumultuous weeks in present-day Washington, D.C., Here I Am is the story of a fracturing family in a moment of crisis.
-
-
Wonderful novel marred by imperfect narration
- By Sara23 on 09-30-16
-
The Kite Runner
- By: Khaled Hosseini
- Narrated by: Khaled Hosseini
- Length: 12 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
A Worhty Read
- By P. C..S. on 08-17-03
By: Khaled Hosseini
-
The History of Love
- By: Nicole Krauss
- Narrated by: George Guidall, Barbara Caruso, Julia Gibson, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nicole Krauss' first novel, Man Walks Into a Room, was shortlisted for the Los Angeles Times Book Award and her short fiction has been collected in Best American Short Stories. Now The History of Love proves Krauss is among our finest and freshest literary voices.
-
-
Like Garcia-Marquez on Anti-Pschyotics
- By Jane on 10-14-08
By: Nicole Krauss
-
Everything Is Illuminated
- By: Jonathan Safran Foer
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With only a yellowing photograph in hand, a young man—also named Jonathan Safran Foer—sets out to find the woman who might or might not have saved his grandfather from the Nazis. Accompanied by an old man haunted by memories of the war, an amorous dog named Sammy Davis, Junior, Junior, and the unforgettable Alex, a young Ukrainian translator who speaks in a sublimely butchered English, Jonathan is led on a quixotic journey over a devastated landscape and into an unexpected past.
-
-
Astounding reading
- By bookworm123abc on 02-10-23
-
Eating Animals
- By: Jonathan Safran Foer
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jonathan Safran Foer spent much of his teenage and college years oscillating between omnivore and vegetarian. But on the brink of fatherhood - facing the prospect of having to make dietary choices on a child's behalf - his casual questioning took on an urgency His quest for answers ultimately required him to visit factory farms in the middle of the night, dissect the emotional ingredients of meals from his childhood, and probe some of his most primal instincts about right and wrong.
-
-
Surprisingly Even-Handed
- By Natalie on 10-27-11
-
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
- By: Mark Haddon
- Narrated by: Jeff Woodman
- Length: 6 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fifteen-year-old Christopher Boone has Asperger's Syndrome, a condition similar to autism. He doesn't like to be touched or meet new people, he cannot make small talk, and he hates the colors brown and yellow. He is a math whiz with a very logical brain who loves solving puzzles that have definite answers.
-
-
A Different View of the World
- By Alan on 05-19-04
By: Mark Haddon
-
Here I Am
- A Novel
- By: Jonathan Safran Foer
- Narrated by: Ari Fliakos
- Length: 16 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How do we fulfill our conflicting duties as father, husband, and son; wife and mother; child and adult? Jew and American? How can we claim our own identities when our lives are linked so closely to others’? These are the questions at the heart of Jonathan Safran Foer’s first novel in eleven years—a work of extraordinary scope and heartbreaking intimacy. Unfolding over four tumultuous weeks in present-day Washington, D.C., Here I Am is the story of a fracturing family in a moment of crisis.
-
-
Wonderful novel marred by imperfect narration
- By Sara23 on 09-30-16
-
The Kite Runner
- By: Khaled Hosseini
- Narrated by: Khaled Hosseini
- Length: 12 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
A Worhty Read
- By P. C..S. on 08-17-03
By: Khaled Hosseini
-
Ain't Burned All the Bright
- By: Jason Reynolds
- Narrated by: Jason Reynolds, Nile Bullock, Tatum Marylin Hall, and others
- Length: 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Prepare yourself for something unlike anything: A smash-up of art and text for teens that viscerally captures what it is to be Black. In America. Right Now. Written by #1 New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Jason Reynolds.
-
-
Breathing. smiling. reflecting.
- By Sabrina Dent on 03-23-24
By: Jason Reynolds
-
Lessons in Chemistry
- A Novel
- By: Bonnie Garmus
- Narrated by: Miranda Raison, Bonnie Garmus, Pandora Sykes
- Length: 11 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it’s the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel–prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with—of all things—her mind. True chemistry results.
-
-
Making my 3 adult daughters read this
- By Teresa H. on 04-07-22
By: Bonnie Garmus
-
Remarkably Bright Creatures
- A Novel
- By: Shelby Van Pelt
- Narrated by: Marin Ireland, Michael Urie
- Length: 11 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After Tova Sullivan’s husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she’s been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago. Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine but wouldn’t dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors—until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova.
-
-
Hidden gem, incredible narration!
- By Christine T on 05-17-22
By: Shelby Van Pelt
-
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
- A Novel
- By: Taylor Jenkins Reid
- Narrated by: Alma Cuervo, Julia Whelan, Robin Miles
- Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one in the journalism community is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now? Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband, David, has left her, and her career has stagnated.
-
-
Glucose Gluttony
- By W Perry Hall on 03-17-18
-
Demon Copperhead
- A Novel
- By: Barbara Kingsolver
- Narrated by: Charlie Thurston
- Length: 21 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia, Demon Copperhead is the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father’s good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival. Relayed in his own unsparing voice, Demon braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses.
-
-
Wow! It’s a Masterpiece
- By Billy on 10-25-22
-
The Book Thief
- By: Markus Zusak
- Narrated by: Allan Corduner
- Length: 13 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's just a small story really, about, among other things, a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery. Set during World War II in Germany, Markus Zusak's groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster girl living outside of Munich. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can't resist: books.
-
-
Glad I took a chance.
- By Robert on 08-20-11
By: Markus Zusak
-
The Goldfinch
- By: Donna Tartt
- Narrated by: David Pittu
- Length: 32 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Goldfinch is a haunted odyssey through present-day America and a drama of enthralling force and acuity. It begins with a boy. Theo Decker, a 13-year-old New Yorker, miraculously survives an accident that kills his mother. Abandoned by his father, Theo is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. Bewildered by his strange new home on Park Avenue, disturbed by schoolmates who don't know how to talk to him, and tormented above all by his unbearable longing for his mother, he clings to one thing that reminds him of her: a small, mysteriously captivating painting that ultimately draws Theo into the underworld of art.
-
-
Boy, am I in the minority on this one.
- By Bonny on 11-04-13
By: Donna Tartt
-
Beloved
- By: Toni Morrison
- Narrated by: Toni Morrison
- Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sethe was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. Sethe has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe’s new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved.
-
-
Author-read Books
- By John R Williford on 07-14-06
By: Toni Morrison
-
All the Light We Cannot See
- A Novel
- By: Anthony Doerr
- Narrated by: Zach Appelman
- Length: 16 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Marie-Laure lives with her father in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where he works as the master of its thousands of locks. When she is six, Marie-Laure goes blind and her father builds a perfect miniature of their neighborhood so she can memorize it by touch and navigate her way home. When she is 12, the Nazis occupy Paris and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great-uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel.
-
-
Afraid to Write a "Less-Than-Positive" Review
- By Elizabeth on 08-06-14
By: Anthony Doerr
-
East of Eden
- By: John Steinbeck
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 25 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This sprawling and often brutal novel, set in the rich farmlands of California's Salinas Valley, follows the intertwined destinies of two families - the Trasks and the Hamiltons - whose generations helplessly reenact the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel.
-
-
Why have I avoided this Beautiful Book???
- By Kelly on 03-25-17
By: John Steinbeck
-
The Power of One
- By: Bryce Courtenay
- Narrated by: Humphrey Bower
- Length: 21 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Born in a South Africa divided by racism and hatred, this one small boy will come to lead all the tribes of Africa. Through enduring friendships with Hymie and Gideon, Peekay gains the strength he needs to win out. And in a final conflict with his childhood enemy, the Judge, Peekay will fight to the death for justice.
-
-
Compelling story lifted higher by the narration
- By Bob on 05-14-09
By: Bryce Courtenay
-
Main Street
- By: Sinclair Lewis
- Narrated by: Barbara Caruso
- Length: 19 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Widely hailed as a milestone in American literature, Sinclair Lewis' Main Street vividly describes a country on the verge of massive change, with traditional values being threatened by progress. The novel's heroine, Carol Milford, is a highly educated, ambitious woman who plans to join a newly enlightened society. But after marrying a small-town doctor, she finds herself trapped in the role of a dutiful wife. Carol's desires for social change conflict with the security of her comfortable married life, as she struggles to understand the cost of conformity...and rebellion. As relevant today as it was upon its 1920 publication, Main Street is both a masterful piece of writing and a fascinating microcosm of America's social evolution.
-
-
Delightful reading of an excellent book
- By Steve Bird on 06-14-05
By: Sinclair Lewis
Publisher's summary
Nine-year-old Oskar Schell is a precocious Francophile who idolizes Stephen Hawking and plays the tambourine extremely well. He's also a boy struggling to come to terms with his father's death in the World Trade Center attacks. As he searches New York City for the lock that fits a mysterious key his father left behind, Oskar discovers much more than he could have imagined.
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is a masterfully imagined novel from an author Time hails as "a certified wunderkind".
Critic reviews
- 2005 Audie Award Nominee, Multi-Voiced Performance
"Piercing and so funny." (The Bookseller)
"[Oskar's] first-person narration of his journey is arrestingly beautiful, and readers won't soon forget him." (Booklist)
"Jonathan Safran Foer's second novel is everything one hoped it would be: ambitious, pyrotechnic, riddling, and above all...extremely moving. An exceptional achievement." (Salman Rushdie)
"Brilliant....Unafraid to show his traumatized characters' constant groping for emotional catharsis, Foer demonstrates once again that he is one of the few contemporary writers willing to risk sentimentalism in order to address great questions of truth, love, and beauty." (Publishers Weekly)
Featured Article: 50+ Undying Quotes About Life from Acclaimed Authors
Though it's hard to argue with Merriam-Webster, we all know that life means something more than the standard dictionary definition—or, at least, we want it to. If you're searching for insights into the meaning of life, or words of inspiration to make your life more meaningful, there's no better source than authors of great works of literature. From Shakespeare to Alice Walker, from Jane Austen to Saul Bellow, iconic authors have a lot to say about life.
More from the same
Related to this topic
-
Tell the Wolves I’m Home
- A Novel
- By: Carol Rifka Brunt
- Narrated by: Amy Rubinate
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
1987. There’s only one person who has ever truly understood fourteen-year-old June Elbus, and that’s her uncle, the renowned painter Finn Weiss. Shy at school and distant from her older sister, June can only be herself in Finn’s company; he is her godfather, confidant, and best friend. So when he dies, far too young, of a mysterious illness her mother can barely speak about, June’s world is turned upside down. But Finn’s death brings a surprise acquaintance into June’s life - someone who will help her to heal....
-
-
worst protagonist ever
- By Danica on 12-19-14
-
The Magician's Assistant
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Karen Ziemba
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When a gay Los Angeles magician named Parsifal dies suddenly, he leaves behind his heartbroken assistant, Sabine, and a secret past that leads her to Nebraska and a father she never knew he had.
-
-
Patchett Has It
- By Pamela Harvey on 06-10-08
By: Ann Patchett
-
Boy, Snow, Bird
- By: Helen Oyeyemi
- Narrated by: Susan Bennett, Carra Patterson
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the winter of 1953, Boy Novak arrives by chance in a small town in Massachusetts, looking, she believes, for beauty - the opposite of the life she' s left behind in New York. She marries a local widower and becomes stepmother to his winsome daughter, Snow Whitman. A wicked stepmother is a creature Boy never imagined she' d become, but elements of the familiar tale of aesthetic obsession begin to play themselves out when the birth of Boy' s daughter, Bird, who is dark-skinned, exposes the Whitmans as light-skinned African Americans passing for white.
-
-
For Literary Lovers
- By M. Shipe on 04-25-14
By: Helen Oyeyemi
-
Love Walked In
- By: Marisa de los Santos
- Narrated by: Jennifer Ikeda
- Length: 11 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Award-winning poet Marisa de los Santos crafts an irresistibly touching debut novel. Love Walked In is a contemporary tale, steeped in nostalgic, cinematic charm, of love in all its forms. Unapologetically idealistic about love, Cornelia Brown appears to catch the break of a lifetime when the dashing Martin Grace, her own personal Cary Grant, comes strolling into her life. But it is Martin's connection to 11-year-old Clare Hobbes that touches Cornelia's heart in ways she never imagined.
-
-
Dreadful audio quality
- By Marenghi on 09-16-11
-
God-Shaped Hole
- A Novel
- By: Tiffanie DeBartolo
- Narrated by: Rachael Warren
- Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Beatrice Trixie Jordan replies to a personal ad, she meets Jacob Grace, a charming, effervescent 30-something free-spirit writer passionately seeking life. He possesses his own turns of phrase and ways of thinking and feeling that dissonantly harmonize with Trixie's off-center vision. As they rollercoaster through the joys and furies of their wrenching romance, they try to come to terms with the hurt brought about by both of their distant fathers who, in different ways, forsook them.
-
-
To see a fortune teller or not to see one...
- By Renee on 08-08-18
-
Nearly Normal
- Surviving the Wilderness, My Family and Myself
- By: Cea Sunrise Person
- Narrated by: Cea Sunrise Person
- Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In her best-selling memoir North of Normal, Cea wrote with grace about her unconventional childhood - her early years living in a tipi in Alberta with her pot-smoking, free-loving counterculture family. But her struggles do not end when she leaves her family at the age of 13 to become a model. Honest and daring, Nearly Normal reveals the many ways that Cea's unconventional childhood continues to reverberate through the years.
-
-
This one is just not for me
- By Pamela Plimpton on 03-15-19
-
Tell the Wolves I’m Home
- A Novel
- By: Carol Rifka Brunt
- Narrated by: Amy Rubinate
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
1987. There’s only one person who has ever truly understood fourteen-year-old June Elbus, and that’s her uncle, the renowned painter Finn Weiss. Shy at school and distant from her older sister, June can only be herself in Finn’s company; he is her godfather, confidant, and best friend. So when he dies, far too young, of a mysterious illness her mother can barely speak about, June’s world is turned upside down. But Finn’s death brings a surprise acquaintance into June’s life - someone who will help her to heal....
-
-
worst protagonist ever
- By Danica on 12-19-14
-
The Magician's Assistant
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Karen Ziemba
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When a gay Los Angeles magician named Parsifal dies suddenly, he leaves behind his heartbroken assistant, Sabine, and a secret past that leads her to Nebraska and a father she never knew he had.
-
-
Patchett Has It
- By Pamela Harvey on 06-10-08
By: Ann Patchett
-
Boy, Snow, Bird
- By: Helen Oyeyemi
- Narrated by: Susan Bennett, Carra Patterson
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the winter of 1953, Boy Novak arrives by chance in a small town in Massachusetts, looking, she believes, for beauty - the opposite of the life she' s left behind in New York. She marries a local widower and becomes stepmother to his winsome daughter, Snow Whitman. A wicked stepmother is a creature Boy never imagined she' d become, but elements of the familiar tale of aesthetic obsession begin to play themselves out when the birth of Boy' s daughter, Bird, who is dark-skinned, exposes the Whitmans as light-skinned African Americans passing for white.
-
-
For Literary Lovers
- By M. Shipe on 04-25-14
By: Helen Oyeyemi
-
Love Walked In
- By: Marisa de los Santos
- Narrated by: Jennifer Ikeda
- Length: 11 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Award-winning poet Marisa de los Santos crafts an irresistibly touching debut novel. Love Walked In is a contemporary tale, steeped in nostalgic, cinematic charm, of love in all its forms. Unapologetically idealistic about love, Cornelia Brown appears to catch the break of a lifetime when the dashing Martin Grace, her own personal Cary Grant, comes strolling into her life. But it is Martin's connection to 11-year-old Clare Hobbes that touches Cornelia's heart in ways she never imagined.
-
-
Dreadful audio quality
- By Marenghi on 09-16-11
-
God-Shaped Hole
- A Novel
- By: Tiffanie DeBartolo
- Narrated by: Rachael Warren
- Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Beatrice Trixie Jordan replies to a personal ad, she meets Jacob Grace, a charming, effervescent 30-something free-spirit writer passionately seeking life. He possesses his own turns of phrase and ways of thinking and feeling that dissonantly harmonize with Trixie's off-center vision. As they rollercoaster through the joys and furies of their wrenching romance, they try to come to terms with the hurt brought about by both of their distant fathers who, in different ways, forsook them.
-
-
To see a fortune teller or not to see one...
- By Renee on 08-08-18
-
Nearly Normal
- Surviving the Wilderness, My Family and Myself
- By: Cea Sunrise Person
- Narrated by: Cea Sunrise Person
- Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In her best-selling memoir North of Normal, Cea wrote with grace about her unconventional childhood - her early years living in a tipi in Alberta with her pot-smoking, free-loving counterculture family. But her struggles do not end when she leaves her family at the age of 13 to become a model. Honest and daring, Nearly Normal reveals the many ways that Cea's unconventional childhood continues to reverberate through the years.
-
-
This one is just not for me
- By Pamela Plimpton on 03-15-19
-
If You Find This Letter
- My Journey to Find Purpose Through Hundreds of Letters to Strangers
- By: Hannah Brencher
- Narrated by: Jorjeana Marie
- Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fresh out of college, Hannah Brencher moved to New York and found a city full of people who knew where they were going and what they were doing. Lonely and depressed, she noticed a woman who looked like she felt the same way on the subway. Hannah did something strange - she wrote the woman a letter. When she realized that it made her feel better, she started writing and leaving love notes all over the city - in doctors' offices, in coat pockets, in library books, and in bathroom stalls.
-
-
A Love Letter to Dreamers
- By Daryl on 09-19-15
By: Hannah Brencher
-
Everything Is Illuminated
- By: Jonathan Safran Foer
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With only a yellowing photograph in hand, a young man—also named Jonathan Safran Foer—sets out to find the woman who might or might not have saved his grandfather from the Nazis. Accompanied by an old man haunted by memories of the war, an amorous dog named Sammy Davis, Junior, Junior, and the unforgettable Alex, a young Ukrainian translator who speaks in a sublimely butchered English, Jonathan is led on a quixotic journey over a devastated landscape and into an unexpected past.
-
-
Astounding reading
- By bookworm123abc on 02-10-23
-
What Happened to My Sister
- A Novel
- By: Elizabeth Flock
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nine-year-old Carrie Parker and her mother, Libby, are making a fresh start in the small town of Hartsville, North Carolina, ready to put their turbulent past behind them. Violence has shattered their family and left Libby nearly unable to cope. And while Carrie once took comfort in her beloved sister, Emma, her mother has now forbidden even the mention of her name. When Carrie meets Ruth, Honor, and Cricket Chaplin, these three generations of warmhearted women seem to have the loving home Carrie has always dreamed of. But as Carrie and Cricket become fast friends, neither can escape the pull of their families' secrets.
-
-
Breathtaking
- By Pink Amy on 03-11-24
By: Elizabeth Flock
-
The Good Luck of Right Now
- By: Matthew Quick
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
- Length: 7 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For 38 years, Bartholomew Neil has lived with his mother. When she gets sick and dies, he has no idea how to be on his own. His redheaded grief counselor, Wendy, says he needs to find his flock and leave the nest. But how does a man whose whole life has been grounded in his mom, Saturday Mass, and the library learn how to fly? Bartholomew thinks he's found a clue when he discovers a "Free Tibet" letter from Richard Gere hidden in his mother's underwear drawer. In her final days, Mom called him Richard - there must be a cosmic connection.
-
-
AMAZING
- By JoAnn on 02-17-14
By: Matthew Quick
-
Bright Lights, Big City
- By: Jay McInerney
- Narrated by: Daniel Passer
- Length: 5 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The tragicomedy of a young man in New York City, a writer, never named, who works as a fact-checker for a prestigious magazine. He struggles with the reality of his mother's death, alienation, and the seductive pull of drugs and a vibrant nightlife.
-
-
Curiously, mundanely real
- By Amber on 01-07-12
By: Jay McInerney
-
Never Change
- By: Elizabeth Berg
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Berg
- Length: 7 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A self-anointed spinster at 51, Myra Lipinski is reasonably content with her quiet life, her dog, Frank, and her career as a visiting nurse. But everything changes when Chip Reardon, the golden boy she adored in high school, is assigned as her new patient. Choosing to forgo treatment for an incurable illness, Chip has returned to his New England hometown to spend what time he has left. Now, Myra and Chip find themselves engaged in a poignant redefinition of roles, and a complicated dance of memory, ambivalence, and longing.
-
-
sweet story and lovely writing
- By LVG on 07-21-22
By: Elizabeth Berg
-
The Hour I First Believed
- A Novel
- By: Wally Lamb
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 25 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When high-school teacher Caelum Quirk and his wife, Maureen, move to Littleton, Colorado, they both get jobs at Columbine High School. In April 1999, while Caelum is away, Maureen finds herself in the library at Columbine, cowering in a cabinet and expecting to be killed. Miraculously, she survives. But when Caelum and Maureen flee to an illusion of safety on the Quirk family's Connecticut farm, they discover that the effects of chaos are not easily put right.
-
-
excellent all around yarn
- By G. on 01-10-09
By: Wally Lamb
-
The Leaving
- By: Tara Altebrando
- Narrated by: Karissa Vacker
- Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Eleven years ago, six kindergartners went missing without a trace. After all that time, the people left behind moved on, or tried to, until today. Today five of those kids returned. But as details of the disappearance begin to unfold, no one is prepared for the truth. This unforgettable novel with its rich characters, high stakes, and plot twists will leave listeners breathless.
-
-
Plot Twist
- By Josh F. on 01-07-21
By: Tara Altebrando
-
The Night Ocean
- By: Paul La Farge
- Narrated by: Elisabeth Rodgers
- Length: 13 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Marina Willett, MD, has a problem. Her husband, Charlie, has become obsessed with H. P. Lovecraft, in particular with one episode in the legendary horror writer's life: In the summer of 1934, the "old gent" lived for two months with a gay teenage fan named Robert Barlow, at Barlow's family home in central Florida. What were the two of them up to? Were they friends - or something more? Just when Charlie thinks he's solved the puzzle, a new scandal erupts, and he disappears.
-
-
Frustratingly Uneven Due to Clumsy Plot Structure
- By Adam on 06-15-17
By: Paul La Farge
-
The Name of the Star
- Shades of London, Book 1
- By: Maureen Johnson
- Narrated by: Nicola Barber
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The day Louisiana teenager Rory Deveaux arrives in London marks a memorable occasion. For Rory, it’s the start of a new life at a London boarding school. But for many, this will be remembered as the day a series of brutal murders broke out across the city - gruesome crimes mimicking the horrific work of Jack the Ripper in the autumn of 1888. Soon “Rippermania” takes hold of modern-day London, and the police are left with few leads and no witnesses. Except one. Rory spotted the man police believe to be the prime suspect.
-
-
Paranormal Ripper-Related YA
- By Amy on 08-05-14
By: Maureen Johnson
-
Second Hand Heart
- By: Catherine Ryan Hyde
- Narrated by: Khristine Hvam, Anthony Bowden
- Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Vida is only 19, but she knows a lot about dying. Her weak heart has kept her on the edge of death her whole life. It hasn't been much of a life. Thanks to her overprotective mother, Vida's only friend is Esther, an elderly Holocaust survivor who lives upstairs. Vida's heart is finally about to give out unless she can get a donor heart in time. Richard is 36 and blissfully married until he gets the call that his beloved wife has died in a car accident. His world falls to pieces.
-
-
Worst one yet
- By SAL on 06-23-16
-
Strong Motion
- By: Jonathan Franzen
- Narrated by: Scott Aiello
- Length: 20 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Louis Holland arrives in Boston in a spring of ecological upheaval (a rash of earthquakes on the North Shore) and odd luck: the first one kills his grandmother. Louis tries to maintain his independence, but falls in love with a Harvard seismologist whose discoveries about the earthquakes' cause complicate everything.
-
-
Compelling Story, Ridiculous Narrator
- By DianeReads on 02-28-16
By: Jonathan Franzen
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Everything Is Illuminated
- By: Jonathan Safran Foer
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With only a yellowing photograph in hand, a young man—also named Jonathan Safran Foer—sets out to find the woman who might or might not have saved his grandfather from the Nazis. Accompanied by an old man haunted by memories of the war, an amorous dog named Sammy Davis, Junior, Junior, and the unforgettable Alex, a young Ukrainian translator who speaks in a sublimely butchered English, Jonathan is led on a quixotic journey over a devastated landscape and into an unexpected past.
-
-
Astounding reading
- By bookworm123abc on 02-10-23
-
Eating Animals
- By: Jonathan Safran Foer
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jonathan Safran Foer spent much of his teenage and college years oscillating between omnivore and vegetarian. But on the brink of fatherhood - facing the prospect of having to make dietary choices on a child's behalf - his casual questioning took on an urgency His quest for answers ultimately required him to visit factory farms in the middle of the night, dissect the emotional ingredients of meals from his childhood, and probe some of his most primal instincts about right and wrong.
-
-
Surprisingly Even-Handed
- By Natalie on 10-27-11
-
Here I Am
- A Novel
- By: Jonathan Safran Foer
- Narrated by: Ari Fliakos
- Length: 16 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How do we fulfill our conflicting duties as father, husband, and son; wife and mother; child and adult? Jew and American? How can we claim our own identities when our lives are linked so closely to others’? These are the questions at the heart of Jonathan Safran Foer’s first novel in eleven years—a work of extraordinary scope and heartbreaking intimacy. Unfolding over four tumultuous weeks in present-day Washington, D.C., Here I Am is the story of a fracturing family in a moment of crisis.
-
-
Wonderful novel marred by imperfect narration
- By Sara23 on 09-30-16
-
We Are the Weather
- By: Jonathan Safran Foer
- Narrated by: Jonathan Safran Foer
- Length: 5 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In We Are the Weather, Jonathan Safran Foer explores the central global dilemma of our time in a surprising, deeply personal, and urgent new way. Some people reject the fact, overwhelmingly supported by scientists, that our planet is warming because of human activity. But do those of us who accept the reality of human-caused climate change truly believe it? If we did, surely we would be roused to act on what we know.
-
-
Disappointing
- By Max Dennison on 12-09-19
-
The Truth about Alice
- By: Jennifer Mathieu
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld, Graham Halstead, Ali Ahn, and others
- Length: 5 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Everyone knows Alice slept with two guys at one party. When Healy High star quarterback Brandon Fitzsimmons dies in a car crash, it was because he was sexting with Alice. Ask anybody. Rumor has it Alice Franklin is a slut. It's written all over the "slut stall" in the girls' bathroom: "Alice had sex in exchange for math test answers" and "Alice got an abortion last semester." After Brandon dies, the rumors start to spiral out of control.
-
-
Surprised but I liked it!
- By Yikes on 11-11-15
By: Jennifer Mathieu
-
We Are the Ants
- By: Shaun David Hutchinson
- Narrated by: Gibson Frazier
- Length: 9 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Henry Denton has spent years being periodically abducted by aliens. Then the aliens give him an ultimatum: The world will end in 144 days, and all Henry has to do to stop it is push a big red button. Only he isn't sure he wants to. After all, life hasn't been great for Henry. His mom is a struggling waitress held together by a thin layer of cigarette smoke. His brother is a jobless dropout who just knocked someone up. His grandmother is slowly losing herself to Alzheimer's.
-
-
Evocative and moving
- By S. Yates on 06-17-17
-
Everything Is Illuminated
- By: Jonathan Safran Foer
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With only a yellowing photograph in hand, a young man—also named Jonathan Safran Foer—sets out to find the woman who might or might not have saved his grandfather from the Nazis. Accompanied by an old man haunted by memories of the war, an amorous dog named Sammy Davis, Junior, Junior, and the unforgettable Alex, a young Ukrainian translator who speaks in a sublimely butchered English, Jonathan is led on a quixotic journey over a devastated landscape and into an unexpected past.
-
-
Astounding reading
- By bookworm123abc on 02-10-23
-
Eating Animals
- By: Jonathan Safran Foer
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jonathan Safran Foer spent much of his teenage and college years oscillating between omnivore and vegetarian. But on the brink of fatherhood - facing the prospect of having to make dietary choices on a child's behalf - his casual questioning took on an urgency His quest for answers ultimately required him to visit factory farms in the middle of the night, dissect the emotional ingredients of meals from his childhood, and probe some of his most primal instincts about right and wrong.
-
-
Surprisingly Even-Handed
- By Natalie on 10-27-11
-
Here I Am
- A Novel
- By: Jonathan Safran Foer
- Narrated by: Ari Fliakos
- Length: 16 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How do we fulfill our conflicting duties as father, husband, and son; wife and mother; child and adult? Jew and American? How can we claim our own identities when our lives are linked so closely to others’? These are the questions at the heart of Jonathan Safran Foer’s first novel in eleven years—a work of extraordinary scope and heartbreaking intimacy. Unfolding over four tumultuous weeks in present-day Washington, D.C., Here I Am is the story of a fracturing family in a moment of crisis.
-
-
Wonderful novel marred by imperfect narration
- By Sara23 on 09-30-16
-
We Are the Weather
- By: Jonathan Safran Foer
- Narrated by: Jonathan Safran Foer
- Length: 5 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In We Are the Weather, Jonathan Safran Foer explores the central global dilemma of our time in a surprising, deeply personal, and urgent new way. Some people reject the fact, overwhelmingly supported by scientists, that our planet is warming because of human activity. But do those of us who accept the reality of human-caused climate change truly believe it? If we did, surely we would be roused to act on what we know.
-
-
Disappointing
- By Max Dennison on 12-09-19
-
The Truth about Alice
- By: Jennifer Mathieu
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld, Graham Halstead, Ali Ahn, and others
- Length: 5 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Everyone knows Alice slept with two guys at one party. When Healy High star quarterback Brandon Fitzsimmons dies in a car crash, it was because he was sexting with Alice. Ask anybody. Rumor has it Alice Franklin is a slut. It's written all over the "slut stall" in the girls' bathroom: "Alice had sex in exchange for math test answers" and "Alice got an abortion last semester." After Brandon dies, the rumors start to spiral out of control.
-
-
Surprised but I liked it!
- By Yikes on 11-11-15
By: Jennifer Mathieu
-
We Are the Ants
- By: Shaun David Hutchinson
- Narrated by: Gibson Frazier
- Length: 9 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Henry Denton has spent years being periodically abducted by aliens. Then the aliens give him an ultimatum: The world will end in 144 days, and all Henry has to do to stop it is push a big red button. Only he isn't sure he wants to. After all, life hasn't been great for Henry. His mom is a struggling waitress held together by a thin layer of cigarette smoke. His brother is a jobless dropout who just knocked someone up. His grandmother is slowly losing herself to Alzheimer's.
-
-
Evocative and moving
- By S. Yates on 06-17-17
-
Almost Perfect
- By: Brian Katcher
- Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne
- Length: 10 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Everyone has that one line they swear they’ll never cross, the one thing they say they’ll never do. We draw the line. Maybe we even believe it. Sage Hendricks was my line. Logan Witherspoon befriends Sage Hendricks at a time when he no longer trusts or believes in people. He's drawn to Sage, with her constant smile and sexy voice, and his feelings for her grow so strong that he can’t resist kissing her. Sage finally discloses a big secret: She was born a boy. Enraged, frightened, and feeling betrayed, Logan lashes out at her.
-
-
Takes teen angst to a new level
- By Melanie on 06-08-12
By: Brian Katcher
-
Being Jazz
- My Life as a (Transgender) Teen
- By: Jazz Jennings
- Narrated by: Jazz Jennings
- Length: 4 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jazz Jennings is one of the youngest and most prominent voices in the national discussion about gender identity. At the age of five, Jazz transitioned to life as a girl, with the support of her parents. A year later her parents allowed her to share her incredible journey in her first Barbara Walters interview, aired at a time when the public was much less knowledgeable about or accepting of the transgender community.
-
-
Powerful and Enlightening.
- By Skye on 06-21-16
By: Jazz Jennings
-
Jack of Hearts (And Other Parts)
- By: L. C. Rosen
- Narrated by: Drew Caiden
- Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jack has a lot of sex - and he's not ashamed of it. While he's sometimes ostracized and gossip constantly rages about his sex life, Jack always believes that "it could be worse". But then, the worse unexpectedly strikes: When Jack starts writing a teen sex-advice column for an online site, he begins to receive creepy and threatening love letters that attempt to force Jack to curb his sexuality and personality. Now, it's up to Jack and his best friends to uncover the stalker - before their love becomes dangerous.
-
-
Where's Shaggy?
- By Keith G on 02-18-20
By: L. C. Rosen
-
Lily and the Octopus
- By: Steven Rowley
- Narrated by: Michael Urie
- Length: 8 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When you listen to Lily and the Octopus, you will be taken on an unforgettable ride. The magic of this novel is in the listening, and we don't want to spoil it by giving away too many details. We can tell you that this is a story about that special someone: the one you trust, the one you can't live without. For Ted Flask, that someone special is his aging companion, Lily, who happens to be a dog.
-
-
OMG WHY!!???!??? last hour redeemed the first 7
- By Cynda on 03-21-18
By: Steven Rowley
-
Nickel and Dimed
- On (Not) Getting By in America
- By: Barbara Ehrenreich
- Narrated by: Cristine McMurdo-Wallis
- Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This engrossing piece of undercover reportage has been a fixture on the New York Times best seller list since its publication. With nearly a million copies in print, Nickel and Dimed is a modern classic that deftly portrays the plight of America's working-class poor.
-
-
Good concept, but poor execution.
- By Marco Forcone on 08-24-04
-
This Book Is Gay
- By: Juno Dawson, David Levithan
- Narrated by: Christopher Solimene
- Length: 6 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lesbian. Bisexual. Queer. Transgender. Straight. Curious. This book is for everyone, regardless of gender or sexual preference. This book is for anyone who's ever dared to wonder. This book is for you. There's a long-running joke that after "coming out", a lesbian, gay guy, bisexual, or trans person should receive a membership card and instruction manual. This is that instruction manual. You're welcome.
-
-
Parents of younger teens should read it first
- By angela on 03-07-18
By: Juno Dawson, and others
-
Celestial Bodies
- By: Jokha Alharthi, Marilyn Booth - translator
- Narrated by: Laurence Bouvard
- Length: 8 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the village of al-Awafi in Oman, we encounter three sisters: Mayya, who marries after a heartbreak; Asma, who marries from a sense of duty; and Khawla, who chooses to refuse all offers and await a reunion with the man she loves, who has emigrated to Canada. These three women and their families, their losses and loves, unspool beautifully against a backdrop of a rapidly changing Oman, a country evolving from a traditional, slave-owning society into its complex present. Through the sisters, we glimpse a society in all its degrees.
-
-
Great story, horrible narration
- By Kasia Travis on 11-18-20
By: Jokha Alharthi, and others
-
Sold
- By: Patricia McCormick
- Narrated by: Justine Eyre
- Length: 3 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lakshmi is a thirteen-year-old girl who lives with her family in a small hut on a mountain in Nepal. Though she is desperately poor, her life is full of simple pleasures, like playing hopscotch with her best friend from school and having her mother brush her hair by the light of an oil lamp. But when the harsh Himalayan monsoons wash away all that remains of the family's crops, Lakshmi's stepfather says she must leave home and take a job to support her family.
-
-
Perfectly Haunting....
- By Theodore on 01-13-13
-
And Tango Makes Three
- By: Justin Richardson, Peter Parnell
- Narrated by: Neil Patrick Harris
- Length: 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the zoo there are all kinds of animal families. But Tango's family is not like any of the others.
-
-
Lovely true story
- By Cindy Rice on 06-30-15
By: Justin Richardson, and others
-
In Love
- A Memoir of Love and Loss
- By: Amy Bloom
- Narrated by: Amy Bloom
- Length: 4 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Amy Bloom began to notice changes in her husband, Brian: He retired early from a new job he loved; he withdrew from close friendships; he talked mostly about the past. Suddenly, it seemed there was a glass wall between them, and their long walks and talks stopped. Their world was altered forever when an MRI confirmed what they could no longer ignore: Brian had Alzheimer’s disease.
-
-
A helpful,healing memoir
- By Helen on 03-31-22
By: Amy Bloom
-
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (Revised Edition)
- By: Jesse Andrews
- Narrated by: Thomas Mann, RJ Cyler, full cast
- Length: 6 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Up until senior year, Greg has maintained total social invisibility. He only has one friend, Earl, and together they spend their time - when not playing video games and avoiding Earl's terrifying brothers - making movies, their own versions of Coppola and Herzog cult classics. Greg would be the first one to tell you his movies are f*@$ing terrible, but he and Earl don't make them for other people. Until Rachel.
-
-
Disclaimer: This Indie Book not for Everyone
- By FanB14 on 08-11-15
By: Jesse Andrews
-
The God of Small Things
- By: Arundhati Roy
- Narrated by: Sneha Mathan
- Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Likened to the works of Faulkner and Dickens when it was first published 20 years ago, this extraordinarily accomplished debut novel is a brilliantly plotted story of forbidden love and piercing political drama, centered on the tragic decline of an Indian family in the state of Kerala, on the southernmost tip of India. Armed only with the invincible innocence of children, the twins Rahel and Esthappen fashion a childhood for themselves in the shade of the wreck that is their family.
-
-
Worthy Booker winner!
- By Saman on 08-10-17
By: Arundhati Roy
What listeners say about Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Unhappy shopper
- 02-10-14
One of the best I've listened to in a long time
What did you like best about this story?
The simple premise was well executed with interesting perspectives from different and complex characters.
Any additional comments?
Brought back memories of 911.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Julie
- 03-08-12
One of my favorite listens!
I laughed. I cried- a lot. Great narrators. Amazing story. I wanted to listen to it before I saw the movie- which I still haven't seen. I love the relationship between the grandparents. This is a must listen for anyone who likes emotional stories.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Buyer
- 07-21-13
Maintains Interest
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
I rent audio books to break up my long commute. This book was entertaining and captured my interest from beginning to end. An inappropriate child and odd family dynamic keep you wanting to know what happens next. The unfiltered thoughts of an unemotional, intellegent child give a dark but true view of the world.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Dayna
- 09-01-20
Short listed: FAVORITES
Endearing. Heartbreaking. Hopeful. Beautiful story. Wonderfully narrated. It’s a favorite - from about the 4th chapter in I knew it would be.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
- Jen
- 07-18-22
Not quite what I thought
not what I expected in this story. a little too heavy on the sexual talk and heavy language from a kid.
this 11 yr old boy is trying to cope with losing his Dad and I see that throughout this story, but I'm not sure if read it again.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
- Christopher
- 05-16-05
Life from the eyes of a child
Jonathan Safron Foer excels at the audiobook format. The way he writes is meant to be interpreted by a reader like a dramatic script since very often he plays with how the words appear on the page-- repetition, quotations, lists, and more actually work better in the audible format.
Here is a story of a precocious young boy travelling who is on a quest to find the owner of a key he found in his deceased father's closet. His only clue is the word "Black", so he sets out to ask every person surnamed Black in NYC if they know anything about the key. Don't be fooled by the lighthearted plot-- this story is heartwrenching, and it deals with wounds that may not have healed since it is in the aftermath of 9/11. As usual, Foer creates numerous side characters that are as unique as they are loveable, and this alone makes the book worth it.
Nevertheless, I would recommend starting with Foer's other book, Everything is Illuminated, first. This one deals with another heavy subject-- Nazi terror-- but is more hopeful, sweeping, and moving overall.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
32 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- David
- 02-27-14
Franz Kafka, Neil Gaiman, Isaac Bashevis Singer
Half an hour into the book I thought I was in for a tedious slog. Oskar, the more than precocious little boy who is the main character, wore me out fairly quickly with his wide-eyed naivete and remarkable imagination. This seemed like a writer who was trying way too hard. Gradually it became clear that it was Oskar who was trying way too hard, and the pain and confusion which were driving him were brought artfully into focus by some really brilliant writing. Still, Oskar's story by itself would not have sustained the book and, for me, the growing beauty of the narrative began to blossom with the entrance of his grandfather and grandmother, each relating his/her own journey in a continuous, Rashomon-like shift of perspectives. As things progress, these three points of view begin to construct a kind of hall of mirrors which finally can only be resolved by accepting all of them as true.
For me the book finally became poetry, not of word, though the use of language is often exquisite, but of narrative detail. Some readers have had problems with the far fetched elements of the story--a man who loses spoken language one word at a time until the only word he has left is "I" and then loses that as well. A man who, each day after the death of his wife, drives a new nail into the bed he built for her and shared with her, until the thing weighs so much that he must construct a column to support the floor beneath it--and cannot say why he does it. These are brilliant and profound poetic images which accumulate through the course of the book and resist a one for one interpretation of "meaning." They mean what they do-to-you as you encounter them and let them under your skin. They are improbable and entirely true.
Most reviewers seem most taken by Oskar but, perhaps because I am older than the average, I was most deeply affected by the grandmother and grandfather. I found their narratives deeply moving and evocative of the struggle we so often have with intimacy and being known by those closest to us. I recommend the book most enthusiastically to those who have loved or almost loved for many years and are still struggling to get it right.
Incidentally, the book actually has very little to do with 9/11 but a great deal to do with loss, healing and our amazing capacity to rediscover things we think we have lost forever. It lifted my spirits and made my heart swell.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
22 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Angie
- 05-04-08
Amazing
I think that this is one of the best books I have ever read. This book and The Book Thief are amazing stories of love and loss and heartbreak and very important historical events seen through the eyes of children. I read this book first and now have listened to it. The only thing that is lost is that in the book you get to see pages from Oskar's journals "Stuff that Has Happened to Me" It is the story of a family set at the time of about a year after Septmber 11. Oskar is 9 and having a hard time dealing with the death of his father. His mother is having a hard time dealing with him and her own grief. This is also the story of his grandmother and grandfather. It is an excellent family drama and I loved it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- J Ruggles Lentz
- 05-11-07
beautiful and thought provoking
An affective translation of an unusually produced book to audio. The pacing of the narrative voice brings as much meaning to the words spoken as the silences between them.
One can not help but have both viseral and emotional reactions to this most human of stories. I laughed out loud. Tears ran down my face. I thought deeply about my own losses and of the expectations I have of those most close to me.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- James Pidel
- 11-03-16
A must read.
Would you consider the audio edition of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close to be better than the print version?
I think in particular this book for many perhaps would be a better read in the printed version as there are aspects of the book that could not be in the audio version. However, I would hope for those people that prefer audio that would not stop them from listening to this book. It is to good a story to miss.
Who was your favorite character and why?
All characters are well developed. The story in its entirety is beyond the norm. This is simply one of the best books I have ever read.
Have you listened to any of the narrators’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
A plus, plus
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
This is a book that defies being able to listen to or read without without feeling strong emotion by any thoughtful reader.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!