Jerusalem

By: Alan Moore

Narrated by: Simon Vance

Length: 60 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

Winner, 2017 APA Audie Awards - Best Male Narrator

Fierce in its imagining and stupefying in its scope, Jerusalem is the tale of everything, told from a vanished gutter.

In the epic novel Jerusalem, Alan Moore channels both the ecstatic visions of William Blake and the theoretical physics of Albert Einstein through the hardscrabble streets and alleys of his hometown of Northampton, UK. In the half a square mile of decay and demolition that was England's Saxon capital, eternity is loitering between the firetrap housing projects. Embedded in the grubby amber of the district's narrative, among its saints, kings, prostitutes, and derelicts, a different kind of human time is happening, a soiled simultaneity that does not differentiate between the petrol-colored puddles and the fractured dreams of those who navigate them.

Employing a kaleidoscope of literary forms and styles that range from brutal social realism to extravagant children's fantasy, from modern stage drama to the extremes of science fiction, Jerusalem's dizzyingly rich cast of characters includes the living, the dead, the celestial, and the infernal in an intricately woven tapestry that presents a vision of an absolute and timeless human reality in all of its exquisite, comical, and heartbreaking splendor.

In these minutes lurk demons from the second-century Book of Tobit and angels with golden blood who reduce fate to a snooker tournament. Vagrants, prostitutes, and ghosts rub shoulders with Oliver Cromwell; Samuel Beckett; James Joyce's tragic daughter, Lucia; and Buffalo Bill, among many others. There is a conversation in the thunderstruck dome of St. Paul's Cathedral, childbirth on the cobblestones of Lambeth Walk, an estranged couple sitting all night on the cold steps of a Gothic church front, and an infant choking on a cough drop for 11 chapters. An art exhibition is in preparation, and above the world a naked old man and a beautiful dead baby race along the Attics of the Breath toward the heat death of the universe.

An opulent mythology for those without a pot to piss in, through the labyrinthine streets and minutes of Jerusalem tread ghosts that sing of wealth, poverty, and our threadbare millennium. They discuss English as a visionary language from John Bunyan to James Joyce, hold forth on the illusion of mortality post-Einstein, and insist upon the meanest slum as Blake's eternal holy city.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©2016 Alan Moore (P)2016 Recorded Books

Brand New Gnostic Text!

"The dead came back from Jerusalem, where they found not what they sought. They prayed me let them in and besought my word, and thus I began my teaching."

Jerusalem

What can I actually say about this book? My first impressions were that Moore was influenced by Chaucer and Alighieri. But as I continued through his magical landscape of realism, it dawned on me who the main character actually was: the Burroughs. Not the physical place but the living, breathing point in a dimension defined as time if time is considered through eternalism, or the philosophy of time that states past/present/future is one in the same and we, as limited dimensional beings see it as linear and in our need to measure it, alter it. While characters may have seemed at times random, unnecessary, or mentioned and forgotten, they served as perfect vehicles to breathe life into the behemoth that contains all.

Truly Unique

I don’t often write reviews. But this book is so unique and so eye-opening I felt I wanted to share my experience. If you are looking for a book with a storyline that has a very strong thread this isn’t the book for you. If you want a book that makes you question and think about what is reality, what is time, what is good, what is evil, what is love, what is hate, this might be for you. The writing is superb, the narration magnificent.

At times I was confused and lost my way but some twist always brought me intensely back to this unique universe. This is not a universe of magic or reason. This universe has its monsters and heroes but they are always in shades of gray and the author explores each from its own point of view.

It is a book I will visit again. I often listened twice to a passage because some aspect made me question a belief and I lost myself in a new revelation.

I like great stories and action but I also like books and authors that have deep empathy and examine the details of their thoughts. This book made me think and surprised me just about every chapter.

Like the PDF that comes with the work it begs to be examined. For me it was and will be effort well spent.

Worth the Effort

There's so much here to love and some parts are frustratingly difficult to even listen to, but the whole is a truly awesome accomplishment.

Gorgeous psychedelic experience

I absolutely loved being whisked away, either being educated or entranced, usually both at the same time.

I only wish there were 6 more books

Absolutely EPIC

Masterfully written and will be used in future literature classes someday I predict. Bravo Alan, Bravo!

Ultimately Worth It

There is no doubt that Moore is utterly brilliant. As many other reviewers have noted though, heavy editing was sorely needed. A great majority of the book felt like being cornered by an incessant drunk, tripping acid and utterly intoxicated with their own genius and vision. That said, there is great genius in the writing and the vision is so rich and exquisitely detailed one can see (and forgive) how such a faux pas is made. Overall Jerusalem is so thought provoking and all encompassing in its many worlds and layers that it is worth the frequent slogs and occasional bludgeoning. Just surrender to it. You will be swept into an extraordinary world of dazzling intelligence.
The narrator should also be highly commended. For 60 hours he never flags or drones. He treats each word with care and brings a dense hallucinatory story to vivid life as you move through time, history, physics, pain, art, the divine, the awful, and place in a great quest for meaning.
Enjoy!

Long, layered, lyrical

This book has so many stories in it, I can’t summarize it in a review. It’s beautifully, cleverly written, and the performance of the narrator lifts Alan Moore’s gorgeous writing off the flat page and into the wrinkles of your brain.
73 thumbs up.

A Mixed-Bag of Brilliant and Baffling Storytelling

This is a huge story. 61 hours. 600,000 words. The narration is top-notch and will pull you through this monster, despite the fact that you're going to get lost multiple times throughout. The vision that is the creation of this story is mind-numbing, not just for its size and scope, but for its audacity. There is a story here that runs throughout the novel, but it doesn't really have a beginning or an end, and is chopped up so finally that it can be easily lost or missed entirely.

I made it through the whole thing. I enjoyed large parts of it. There were sections I didn't understand and parts that I didn't think we're necessary. As a whole I found it unsatisfying. In bits and pieces I thought it was really interesting and well done. I'm glad that I listen to it, but I imagine I will never revisit it.

epic

it would be too difficult to write a review for this book as it has many tales intertwined under a larger one. The narration was perfect even for the part when Simon Vance had to Basically speak in tongues. It is a huge undertaking for an audio book that made me want to buy a physical copy or even the kindle version just so I could follow along again. Alan Moore at his finest.