-
Our Story Begins
- New and Selected Stories
- Narrated by: Anthony Heald
- Length: 13 hrs and 5 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 $17.90
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
In Pharaoh's Army
- Memories of the Lost War
- By: Tobias Wolff
- Narrated by: Michael Kramer
- Length: 5 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Whether he is evoking the blind carnage of the Tet offensive, the theatrics of his fellow Americans, or the unraveling of his own illusions, Wolff brings to this work the same uncanny eye for detail, pitiless candor, and mordant wit that made This Boy's Life a modern classic.
-
-
Boring Waste of Time
- By Ethan on 08-21-22
By: Tobias Wolff
-
Old School
- By: Tobias Wolff
- Narrated by: Dan Cashman
- Length: 6 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Determined to fit in at his New England prep school, the narrator has learned to mimic the bearing and manners of his adoptive tribe while concealing as much as possible about himself. His final year, however, unravels everything he’s achieved and steers his destiny in directions no one could have predicted.
-
-
listen to this
- By Surf on 11-18-20
By: Tobias Wolff
-
The Rich Brother
- By: Tobias Wolff
- Narrated by: Anthony Heald
- Length: 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A classic tale of brotherly love and rivalry from short story master Tobias Wolff. Pete has always been successful. Happily married with two daughters, he lives a comfortable life in Santa Cruz. Pete is a practical, hardworking man and he enjoys life's monetary pleasures. His younger brother, Donald, is a gaunt, troubled man. Unmarried and without children, Donald earns what little money he has by occasionally painting houses. He's a religious man, unlike Pete, and has spent several years as a member of various Christian groups.
-
-
boaring
- By iamkam on 02-13-24
By: Tobias Wolff
-
A White Bible
- By: Tobias Wolff
- Narrated by: Anthony Heald
- Length: 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Maureen is an English teacher, and she’s had a long day. All she wants is a relaxing night out with friends, a few beers, and maybe the chance to forget the troubles of her past: The gambling ex-husband and the daughter who’d thrown her life away sleeping with married men. But her night—and maybe her life—is thrown off track when she leaves the bar and a man approaches her in the parking lot as she unlocks her car.
-
-
3.5 stars
- By AnitaNotherBook on 12-03-20
By: Tobias Wolff
-
Two Boys and a Girl
- By: Tobias Wolff
- Narrated by: Anthony Heald
- Length: 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Gilbert saw Mary Ann first, but the second time he sees her she is dancing with his best friend, Rafe. The three of them begin hanging out all the time, driving around in the car Rafe got as a present for getting into Yale. But when Rafe goes out of town, Gilbert and Mary Ann keep the tradition going, seeing movies and going on drives...in Rafe's car no less.
By: Tobias Wolff
-
Down to Bone
- By: Tobias Wolff
- Narrated by: Anthony Heald
- Length: 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A son sits at his mother's deathbed, hesitant to leave her side. He leafs through one of her old photo albums, remembering her abusive, estranged father. When a visit to a funeral home turns into a conversation with a beautiful, mysterious woman, he develops a deeper - and perhaps darker - understanding of his relationship with his mother.
-
-
Another Good Short By Tobias
- By kutzkai on 05-25-21
By: Tobias Wolff
-
In Pharaoh's Army
- Memories of the Lost War
- By: Tobias Wolff
- Narrated by: Michael Kramer
- Length: 5 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Whether he is evoking the blind carnage of the Tet offensive, the theatrics of his fellow Americans, or the unraveling of his own illusions, Wolff brings to this work the same uncanny eye for detail, pitiless candor, and mordant wit that made This Boy's Life a modern classic.
-
-
Boring Waste of Time
- By Ethan on 08-21-22
By: Tobias Wolff
-
Old School
- By: Tobias Wolff
- Narrated by: Dan Cashman
- Length: 6 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Determined to fit in at his New England prep school, the narrator has learned to mimic the bearing and manners of his adoptive tribe while concealing as much as possible about himself. His final year, however, unravels everything he’s achieved and steers his destiny in directions no one could have predicted.
-
-
listen to this
- By Surf on 11-18-20
By: Tobias Wolff
-
The Rich Brother
- By: Tobias Wolff
- Narrated by: Anthony Heald
- Length: 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A classic tale of brotherly love and rivalry from short story master Tobias Wolff. Pete has always been successful. Happily married with two daughters, he lives a comfortable life in Santa Cruz. Pete is a practical, hardworking man and he enjoys life's monetary pleasures. His younger brother, Donald, is a gaunt, troubled man. Unmarried and without children, Donald earns what little money he has by occasionally painting houses. He's a religious man, unlike Pete, and has spent several years as a member of various Christian groups.
-
-
boaring
- By iamkam on 02-13-24
By: Tobias Wolff
-
A White Bible
- By: Tobias Wolff
- Narrated by: Anthony Heald
- Length: 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Maureen is an English teacher, and she’s had a long day. All she wants is a relaxing night out with friends, a few beers, and maybe the chance to forget the troubles of her past: The gambling ex-husband and the daughter who’d thrown her life away sleeping with married men. But her night—and maybe her life—is thrown off track when she leaves the bar and a man approaches her in the parking lot as she unlocks her car.
-
-
3.5 stars
- By AnitaNotherBook on 12-03-20
By: Tobias Wolff
-
Two Boys and a Girl
- By: Tobias Wolff
- Narrated by: Anthony Heald
- Length: 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Gilbert saw Mary Ann first, but the second time he sees her she is dancing with his best friend, Rafe. The three of them begin hanging out all the time, driving around in the car Rafe got as a present for getting into Yale. But when Rafe goes out of town, Gilbert and Mary Ann keep the tradition going, seeing movies and going on drives...in Rafe's car no less.
By: Tobias Wolff
-
Down to Bone
- By: Tobias Wolff
- Narrated by: Anthony Heald
- Length: 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A son sits at his mother's deathbed, hesitant to leave her side. He leafs through one of her old photo albums, remembering her abusive, estranged father. When a visit to a funeral home turns into a conversation with a beautiful, mysterious woman, he develops a deeper - and perhaps darker - understanding of his relationship with his mother.
-
-
Another Good Short By Tobias
- By kutzkai on 05-25-21
By: Tobias Wolff
-
The Penguin Book of the Modern American Short Story
- By: John Freeman - editor
- Narrated by: Erin Bennett, Scott Brick, Cassandra Campbell, and others
- Length: 17 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the past 50 years, the American short story has changed dramatically. New voices, forms, and mixtures of genres have brought this unique US genre a thrilling burst of energy. This rich anthology celebrates this avalanche of talent. Beginning in 1970, it culls together a half century of powerful American short stories from all genres, including - for the first time in a literary anthology - science fiction, horror, and fantasy.
-
-
Too dark for my taste
- By Lazy Chicken on 10-03-22
-
Hunters in the Snow
- By: Tobias Wolff
- Narrated by: Anthony Heald
- Length: 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Three friends are leaving the suburbs of Spokane on a hunting trip. Kenny is the prankster, harsh and mean. Frank is laid-back and full of idealism. Tub is overweight, sensitive, and the brunt of everyone's jokes. Searching for tracks in the snow, the trio has little luck until they spot a set of deer prints heading into a nearby farm. Kenny, desperate for a token of their difficult journey, insists that they ask the farmer's permission to hunt on his land.
-
-
Dark and Wild Ride!
- By M. K. Merritt on 12-27-23
By: Tobias Wolff
-
In the Garden of the North American Martyrs
- By: Tobias Wolff
- Narrated by: Anthony Heald
- Length: 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Meticulous, funny, eccentric - Mary has always been mindful of the complex role she plays as a professor of history. Her lectures are carefully written out beforehand; her departmental loyalties ambiguous. She is so careful, in fact, that she began to see herself as flat, dull, and lifeless. The closing of Brandon College, the institution she'd spent more than fifteen years at, changes everything. Forced to find another position, Mary finds herself at an experimental college in rainy Oregon.
-
-
Okay story
- By AnitaNotherBook on 11-15-20
By: Tobias Wolff
-
Bullet in the Brain
- By: Tobias Wolff
- Narrated by: Anthony Heald
- Length: 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Anders is an angry, cynical man. A book critic known for his scathing reviews, he finds any excuse to dismiss, belittle, or insult. This afternoon is no more agitating than the next. Angers finds himself in a long line at the bank, waiting to reach a teller. Even after two men - wearing masks and carrying guns - take control of the building, Anders is unfazed. It's this behavior that lands him with a pistol against his stomach and a man screamingin his face. And when the bank robber, indignant over Anders' behavior, shoots the book critic in the head, his mind floats through the memories of his life, settling on one particular event....
-
-
The Perfect Example
- By Sarah on 08-01-17
By: Tobias Wolff
-
A Swim in a Pond in the Rain
- In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life
- By: George Saunders
- Narrated by: George Saunders, Phylicia Rashad, Nick Offerman, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For the last 20 years, George Saunders has been teaching a class on the Russian short story to his MFA students at Syracuse University. In A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, he shares a version of that class with us, offering some of what he and his students have discovered together over the years. Paired with iconic short stories by Chekhov, Turgenev, Tolstoy, and Gogol, the seven essays in this book are intended for anyone interested in how fiction works and why it’s more relevant than ever in these turbulent times.
-
-
An innovative and fresh listening experience
- By Scott Garrioch on 01-14-21
By: George Saunders
-
Sabrina & Corina
- Stories
- By: Kali Fajardo-Anstine
- Narrated by: full cast
- Length: 7 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Kali Fajardo-Anstine’s magnetic story collection breathes life into her Indigenous Latina characters and the land they inhabit. Against the remarkable backdrop of Denver, Colorado - a place that is as fierce as it is exquisite - these women navigate the land the way they navigate their lives: with caution, grace, and quiet force. In “Sugar Babies,” ancestry and heritage are hidden inside the Earth but tend to rise during land disputes.
-
-
Absolutely wonderful
- By Brady on 05-21-19
-
This Boy's Life
- By: Tobias Wolff
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This book essentially launched the memoir craze that has been going strong ever since. The story is pretty grim: teen-aged Wolff moves with his divorced mother from Florida to Utah to Washington State to escape her violent boyfriend. When she remarries, Wolff finds himself in a bitter battle of wills with his abusive stepfather, a contest in which the two prove to be more evenly matched than might have been supposed.
-
-
Beautiful, unsentimental memoir of youth
- By Darwin8u on 04-27-13
By: Tobias Wolff
-
Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?
- Stories
- By: Raymond Carver
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 7 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With this, his first collection of stories, Raymond Carver breathed new life into the American short story and instantly became both the recognized master of the form and one of our best-loved fiction writers. Carver shows us the humor and tragedy that dwell in the hearts of ordinary people; his stories are the classics of our time.
-
-
Humanity at the Breaking Point
- By Darwin8u on 03-31-19
By: Raymond Carver
-
How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America
- Essays
- By: Kiese Laymon
- Narrated by: Kevin Free
- Length: 3 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Author and essayist Kiese Laymon is one of the most unique, stirring, and powerful new voices in American social and cultural commentary. How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America is a collection of Laymon's essays, touching on subjects ranging from family, race, violence, and celebrity to music, writing, and coming of age in the rural Mississippi Gulf Coast. Laymon's writing is unflinchingly honest, while also being smart, lacerating, and unexpectedly funny.
-
-
I'm Stunned By This Collection
- By Rachel on 10-17-17
By: Kiese Laymon
-
11-22-63
- A Novel
- By: Stephen King
- Narrated by: Craig Wasson
- Length: 30 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On November 22, 1963, three shots rang out in Dallas, President Kennedy died, and the world changed. What if you could change it back? In this brilliantly conceived tour de force, Stephen King - who has absorbed the social, political, and popular culture of his generation more imaginatively and thoroughly than any other writer - takes listeners on an incredible journey into the past and the possibility of altering it.
-
-
I Owe Stephen King An Apology
- By Kelly - Write Well Academy on 04-16-12
By: Stephen King
-
Different Seasons
- By: Stephen King
- Narrated by: Frank Muller
- Length: 20 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Four gripping novellas tied together by the changing of seasons. Hope Springs Eternal - "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption": An unjustly imprisoned convict seeks a strange and startling revenge...the basis for the Best Picture Academy Award nominee The Shawshank Redemption.
-
-
Fantastic!
- By Robert A. Raymond on 02-14-16
By: Stephen King
-
The Liar
- By: Nora Roberts
- Narrated by: January LaVoy
- Length: 16 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Shelby Foxworth lost her husband. Then she lost her illusions.... The man who took her from Tennessee to an exclusive Philadelphia suburb left her in crippling debt. He was an adulterer and a liar, and when Shelby tracks down his safe-deposit box, she finds multiple IDs. The man she loved wasn’t just dead. He never really existed. Shelby takes her three-year-old daughter and heads south to seek comfort in her hometown, where she meets someone new: Griff Lott, a successful contractor.
-
-
not really fast enough can predict script etc
- By Cheryl D. Davidson on 04-17-15
By: Nora Roberts
Publisher's summary
In this potent new collection, the first in over a decade, Wolff displays his mastery over a quarter century, once again proving himself "a writer of the highest order: part storyteller, part philosopher, someone deeply engaged in asking hard questions that take a lifetime to resolve." (Los Angeles Times)
Critic reviews
More from the same
Related to this topic
-
Bullet in the Brain
- By: Tobias Wolff
- Narrated by: Anthony Heald
- Length: 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Anders is an angry, cynical man. A book critic known for his scathing reviews, he finds any excuse to dismiss, belittle, or insult. This afternoon is no more agitating than the next. Angers finds himself in a long line at the bank, waiting to reach a teller. Even after two men - wearing masks and carrying guns - take control of the building, Anders is unfazed. It's this behavior that lands him with a pistol against his stomach and a man screamingin his face. And when the bank robber, indignant over Anders' behavior, shoots the book critic in the head, his mind floats through the memories of his life, settling on one particular event....
-
-
The Perfect Example
- By Sarah on 08-01-17
By: Tobias Wolff
-
Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules (Unabridged Selections)
- By: Edited by David Sedaris
- Narrated by: David Sedaris, Mary-Louise Parker, Cherry Jones
- Length: 2 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules is a collection of short stories, some classic, others impending, selected and introduced by David Sedaris.
-
-
Great stories but only 5 of 17 are included
- By Terri Kirk on 07-13-12
-
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
-
Shadow Show
- All-New Stories in Celebration of Ray Bradbury
- By: Sam Weller - editor, Mort Castle - editor
- Narrated by: George Takei, Edward Herrmann, Kate Mulgrew, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ray Bradbury - peerless storyteller, poet of the impossible, and one of America's most beloved authors - is a literary giant whose remarkable career spanned seven decades. Now 26 of today's most diverse and celebrated authors offer new short works in honor of the master; stories of heart, intelligence, and dark wonder from a remarkable range of creative artists.
-
-
THE MAN WHO FORGOT RAY BRADBURY
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 05-27-17
By: Sam Weller - editor, and others
-
Funerals for Horses
- By: Catherine Ryan Hyde
- Narrated by: Carly Robins
- Length: 5 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ella Ginsberg's brother, Simon, has disappeared. His clothing, shoes, and watch were found abandoned near a freight line track in Central California. His jockey shorts and wallet were never found. The police have no clue, and Simon's wife had no warning that anything was wrong. Ella takes off on foot across much of California and Arizona, thinking she can find Simon using nothing but her knowledge of the way he might think. Her search leads her to the Navajo Nation in Arizona.
-
-
Funerals for Horses
- By Carolyn Ferrell on 03-26-18
-
A Death in Kitchawank, and Other Stories
- By: T. C. Boyle
- Narrated by: T. C. Boyle
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Few authors write with such sheer love of story and language as T. C. Boyle, and that is nowhere more evident than in his inventive, wickedly funny, and always entertaining short stories. Here are 14 new tales previously unpublished in book form. By turns mythic and realistic, farcical and tragic, ironic and moving, Boyle's stories have mapped a wide range of human emotions. The stories here reflect his maturing themes.
-
-
Mixed Bag
- By AuntGert on 09-22-20
By: T. C. Boyle
-
Bullet in the Brain
- By: Tobias Wolff
- Narrated by: Anthony Heald
- Length: 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Anders is an angry, cynical man. A book critic known for his scathing reviews, he finds any excuse to dismiss, belittle, or insult. This afternoon is no more agitating than the next. Angers finds himself in a long line at the bank, waiting to reach a teller. Even after two men - wearing masks and carrying guns - take control of the building, Anders is unfazed. It's this behavior that lands him with a pistol against his stomach and a man screamingin his face. And when the bank robber, indignant over Anders' behavior, shoots the book critic in the head, his mind floats through the memories of his life, settling on one particular event....
-
-
The Perfect Example
- By Sarah on 08-01-17
By: Tobias Wolff
-
Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules (Unabridged Selections)
- By: Edited by David Sedaris
- Narrated by: David Sedaris, Mary-Louise Parker, Cherry Jones
- Length: 2 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules is a collection of short stories, some classic, others impending, selected and introduced by David Sedaris.
-
-
Great stories but only 5 of 17 are included
- By Terri Kirk on 07-13-12
-
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
-
Shadow Show
- All-New Stories in Celebration of Ray Bradbury
- By: Sam Weller - editor, Mort Castle - editor
- Narrated by: George Takei, Edward Herrmann, Kate Mulgrew, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ray Bradbury - peerless storyteller, poet of the impossible, and one of America's most beloved authors - is a literary giant whose remarkable career spanned seven decades. Now 26 of today's most diverse and celebrated authors offer new short works in honor of the master; stories of heart, intelligence, and dark wonder from a remarkable range of creative artists.
-
-
THE MAN WHO FORGOT RAY BRADBURY
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 05-27-17
By: Sam Weller - editor, and others
-
Funerals for Horses
- By: Catherine Ryan Hyde
- Narrated by: Carly Robins
- Length: 5 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ella Ginsberg's brother, Simon, has disappeared. His clothing, shoes, and watch were found abandoned near a freight line track in Central California. His jockey shorts and wallet were never found. The police have no clue, and Simon's wife had no warning that anything was wrong. Ella takes off on foot across much of California and Arizona, thinking she can find Simon using nothing but her knowledge of the way he might think. Her search leads her to the Navajo Nation in Arizona.
-
-
Funerals for Horses
- By Carolyn Ferrell on 03-26-18
-
A Death in Kitchawank, and Other Stories
- By: T. C. Boyle
- Narrated by: T. C. Boyle
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Few authors write with such sheer love of story and language as T. C. Boyle, and that is nowhere more evident than in his inventive, wickedly funny, and always entertaining short stories. Here are 14 new tales previously unpublished in book form. By turns mythic and realistic, farcical and tragic, ironic and moving, Boyle's stories have mapped a wide range of human emotions. The stories here reflect his maturing themes.
-
-
Mixed Bag
- By AuntGert on 09-22-20
By: T. C. Boyle
-
The Current
- A Novel
- By: Tim Johnston
- Narrated by: Sarah Mollo-Christensen
- Length: 14 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the dead of winter, outside a small Minnesota town, state troopers pull two young women and their car from the icy Black Root River. One is found downriver, drowned, while the other is found at the scene - half-frozen but alive. What happened was no accident, and news of the crime awakens the community's memories of another young woman who lost her life in the same river 10 years earlier and whose killer may still live among them.
-
-
Exceeded my expectations in every way
- By MelSA on 02-03-19
By: Tim Johnston
-
The Stand
- By: Stephen King
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 47 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is the way the world ends: with a nanosecond of computer error in a Defense Department laboratory and a million casual contacts that form the links in a chain letter of death. And here is the bleak new world of the day after: a world stripped of its institutions and emptied of 99 percent of its people. A world in which a handful of panicky survivors choose sides - or are chosen.
-
-
My First Completed Stephen King Novel
- By Meaghan Bynum on 02-20-12
By: Stephen King
-
The Last Dead Girl
- By: Harry Dolan
- Narrated by: Michael Kramer
- Length: 12 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On a rainy night in April, a chance encounter on a lonely road draws David into a romance with Jana Fletcher, a beautiful young law student. Jana is an enigma: living in a run-down apartment and sporting a bruise on her cheek that she refuses to explain. David would like to know her secrets, but he lets them lie-until it's too late. When Jana is brutally murdered, the police consider David a prime suspect.
-
-
A great, dark read, appropriate reader too.
- By Karen on 05-01-14
By: Harry Dolan
-
Stories
- All-New Tales
- By: Neil Gaiman - author/editor, Al Sarrantonio - editor, Joe Hill, and others
- Narrated by: Anne Bobby, Jonathan Davis, Katherine Kellgren, and others
- Length: 18 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The best stories pull readers in and keep them turning the pages, eager to discover more—to find the answer to the question: "And then what happened?" The true hallmark of great literature is great imagination, and as Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio prove with this outstanding collection, when it comes to great fiction, all genres are equal.
-
-
Something for Everyone
- By Nicole on 05-24-17
By: Neil Gaiman - author/editor, and others
-
Rabbit, Run
- By: John Updike
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 12 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rabbit, Run is the book that established John Updike as one of the major American novelists of his - or any other - generation. Its hero is Harry “Rabbit” Angstrom, a onetime high-school basketball star who on an impulse deserts his wife and son. He is 26 years old, a man-child caught in a struggle between instinct and thought, self and society, sexual gratification and family duty - even, in a sense, human hard-heartedness, and divine Grace. Though his flight from home traces a zigzag of evasion, he holds to the faith that he is on the right path.
-
-
A Thinking Man's Novel
- By L. Berlyne on 01-12-09
By: John Updike
-
Wonder Boys
- By: Michael Chabon
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 11 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A wildly successful first novel made Grady Tripp a young star, and seven years later he still hasn't grown up. He's now a writing professor in Pittsburgh, plummeting through middle age, stuck with an unfinishable manuscript, an estranged wife, a pregnant girlfriend, and a talented but deeply disturbed student named James Leer.
-
-
A strong, early Chabon (sounds like grading wine)
- By Darwin8u on 03-09-14
By: Michael Chabon
-
Outside Looking In
- A Novel
- By: T. C. Boyle
- Narrated by: Johnathan McClain
- Length: 14 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1943, LSD is synthesized in Basel. Two decades later, a coterie of grad students at Harvard are gradually drawn into the inner circle of renowned psychologist and psychedelic drug enthusiast Timothy Leary. Fitzhugh Loney, a psychology PhD student, and his wife, Joanie, become entranced by the drug’s possibilities such that their “research” becomes less a matter of clinical trials and academic papers and instead turns into a freewheeling exploration of mind expansion, group dynamics, and communal living.
-
-
STORYTELLING AS CONSCIOUSNESS-RAISING
- By Christopher Meeks on 05-25-19
By: T. C. Boyle
-
The Best Horror of the Year, Volume 4
- By: Ellen Datlow - author/editor, Stephen King, Peter Straub
- Narrated by: Meredith Mitchell, Rebecca Mitchell, Michael Healy, and others
- Length: 16 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With tales from Laird Barron, Stephen King, John Langan, Peter Straub, and many others, and featuring Datlow’s comprehensive overview of the year in horror, now, more than ever, The Best Horror of the Year provides the petrifying horror fiction readers have come to expect - and enjoy.
-
-
Only a few decent stories in this bunch.
- By Jerry on 12-06-14
By: Ellen Datlow - author/editor, and others
-
Continental Drift
- By: Russell Banks
- Narrated by: Zach Villa
- Length: 13 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Now available for the first time in audiobook format, a powerful literary classic from one of contemporary fiction's most acclaimed and important writers. Russell Banks' Continental Drift is a masterful novel of hope lost and gained and a gripping, indelible story of fragile lives uprooted and transformed by injustice, disappointment, and the seductions and realities of the American dream.
-
-
Give up and die
- By AI on 12-09-21
By: Russell Banks
-
Fourth of July Creek
- A Novel
- By: Smith Henderson
- Narrated by: MacLeod Andrews, Jenna Lamia
- Length: 15 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After trying to help Benjamin Pearl, an undernourished, nearly feral 11-year-old boy living in the Montana wilderness, social worker Pete Snow comes face-to-face with the boy's profoundly disturbed father, Jeremiah. With courage and caution, Pete slowly earns a measure of trust from this paranoid survivalist itching for a final conflict that will signal the coming End Times. But as Pete's own family spins out of control, Pearl's activities spark the full-blown interest of the FBI, putting Pete at the center of a massive manhunt from which no one will emerge unscathed.
-
-
The Ghost of Tom Joad & the Wrath of Grapes
- By Mel on 06-30-14
By: Smith Henderson
-
Pacific Beat
- By: T. Jefferson Parker
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 14 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ex-cop Jim Weir thought he'd seen it all during his years on the force. That is until he saw the body of his sister Annie, brutally used by a monster in human form, then carelessly discarded. He'd never seen such grief ravage the face of his friend and brother-in-law Ray Cruz, a good cop on the Newport Beach Police Department. When Weir learns that the only witness swore the killer made his escape in a Newport Beach squad car, his disbelief turns to confusion and outrage.
-
-
Bad, bad, bad...
- By Robert E. Orlando on 11-19-14
-
Raven Stole the Moon
- A Novel
- By: Garth Stein
- Narrated by: Jennifer Van Dyck
- Length: 12 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jenna Rosen returns to the place in Alaska where her young son, Bobby, disappeared without a trace two years before. Jenna is determined to lay to rest the aching mystery of his death. But ancient legends may have had a hand in Bobby’s fate, forcing Jenna to sift through her own Native American ancestry to uncover the truth.
-
-
I love this book
- By Em mom of 3 on 08-27-18
By: Garth Stein
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Bullet in the Brain
- By: Tobias Wolff
- Narrated by: Anthony Heald
- Length: 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Anders is an angry, cynical man. A book critic known for his scathing reviews, he finds any excuse to dismiss, belittle, or insult. This afternoon is no more agitating than the next. Angers finds himself in a long line at the bank, waiting to reach a teller. Even after two men - wearing masks and carrying guns - take control of the building, Anders is unfazed. It's this behavior that lands him with a pistol against his stomach and a man screamingin his face. And when the bank robber, indignant over Anders' behavior, shoots the book critic in the head, his mind floats through the memories of his life, settling on one particular event....
-
-
The Perfect Example
- By Sarah on 08-01-17
By: Tobias Wolff
-
The Night in Question
- By: Tobias Wolff
- Narrated by: Anthony Heald
- Length: 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A story of siblings and faith from short-story master Tobias Wolff. Frances has always been protective of her younger brother Frank. The children of a brutal father and a sick, defenseless mother, Frances fought to keep her brother safe. And throughout all of his adult failings – from drug addiction to near-fatal car crashes - she has stood by his side. Now Frank has found religion. Standing in his crisp white shirt and restrictive tie, he's eager to recount last Sunday's sermon to his older sister.
-
-
wonderful story and story teller.
- By Wkndaftrthght on 01-19-23
By: Tobias Wolff
-
Say Yes
- By: Tobias Wolff
- Narrated by: Anthony Heald
- Length: 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ann's friends envy her. None of their husbands even lift a finger to help with the household chores. Ann's husband is different, though. Then a simple hypothetical conversation while they wash and dry the dishes causes Ann to see her husband in a different light - and causes him to rethink the way two people can know each other.
-
-
nearly perfect
- By Jason on 01-10-22
By: Tobias Wolff
-
In the Garden of the North American Martyrs
- By: Tobias Wolff
- Narrated by: Anthony Heald
- Length: 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Meticulous, funny, eccentric - Mary has always been mindful of the complex role she plays as a professor of history. Her lectures are carefully written out beforehand; her departmental loyalties ambiguous. She is so careful, in fact, that she began to see herself as flat, dull, and lifeless. The closing of Brandon College, the institution she'd spent more than fifteen years at, changes everything. Forced to find another position, Mary finds herself at an experimental college in rainy Oregon.
-
-
Okay story
- By AnitaNotherBook on 11-15-20
By: Tobias Wolff
-
Old School
- By: Tobias Wolff
- Narrated by: Dan Cashman
- Length: 6 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Determined to fit in at his New England prep school, the narrator has learned to mimic the bearing and manners of his adoptive tribe while concealing as much as possible about himself. His final year, however, unravels everything he’s achieved and steers his destiny in directions no one could have predicted.
-
-
listen to this
- By Surf on 11-18-20
By: Tobias Wolff
-
Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?
- Stories
- By: Raymond Carver
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 7 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With this, his first collection of stories, Raymond Carver breathed new life into the American short story and instantly became both the recognized master of the form and one of our best-loved fiction writers. Carver shows us the humor and tragedy that dwell in the hearts of ordinary people; his stories are the classics of our time.
-
-
Humanity at the Breaking Point
- By Darwin8u on 03-31-19
By: Raymond Carver
-
Bullet in the Brain
- By: Tobias Wolff
- Narrated by: Anthony Heald
- Length: 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Anders is an angry, cynical man. A book critic known for his scathing reviews, he finds any excuse to dismiss, belittle, or insult. This afternoon is no more agitating than the next. Angers finds himself in a long line at the bank, waiting to reach a teller. Even after two men - wearing masks and carrying guns - take control of the building, Anders is unfazed. It's this behavior that lands him with a pistol against his stomach and a man screamingin his face. And when the bank robber, indignant over Anders' behavior, shoots the book critic in the head, his mind floats through the memories of his life, settling on one particular event....
-
-
The Perfect Example
- By Sarah on 08-01-17
By: Tobias Wolff
-
The Night in Question
- By: Tobias Wolff
- Narrated by: Anthony Heald
- Length: 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A story of siblings and faith from short-story master Tobias Wolff. Frances has always been protective of her younger brother Frank. The children of a brutal father and a sick, defenseless mother, Frances fought to keep her brother safe. And throughout all of his adult failings – from drug addiction to near-fatal car crashes - she has stood by his side. Now Frank has found religion. Standing in his crisp white shirt and restrictive tie, he's eager to recount last Sunday's sermon to his older sister.
-
-
wonderful story and story teller.
- By Wkndaftrthght on 01-19-23
By: Tobias Wolff
-
Say Yes
- By: Tobias Wolff
- Narrated by: Anthony Heald
- Length: 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ann's friends envy her. None of their husbands even lift a finger to help with the household chores. Ann's husband is different, though. Then a simple hypothetical conversation while they wash and dry the dishes causes Ann to see her husband in a different light - and causes him to rethink the way two people can know each other.
-
-
nearly perfect
- By Jason on 01-10-22
By: Tobias Wolff
-
In the Garden of the North American Martyrs
- By: Tobias Wolff
- Narrated by: Anthony Heald
- Length: 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Meticulous, funny, eccentric - Mary has always been mindful of the complex role she plays as a professor of history. Her lectures are carefully written out beforehand; her departmental loyalties ambiguous. She is so careful, in fact, that she began to see herself as flat, dull, and lifeless. The closing of Brandon College, the institution she'd spent more than fifteen years at, changes everything. Forced to find another position, Mary finds herself at an experimental college in rainy Oregon.
-
-
Okay story
- By AnitaNotherBook on 11-15-20
By: Tobias Wolff
-
Old School
- By: Tobias Wolff
- Narrated by: Dan Cashman
- Length: 6 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Determined to fit in at his New England prep school, the narrator has learned to mimic the bearing and manners of his adoptive tribe while concealing as much as possible about himself. His final year, however, unravels everything he’s achieved and steers his destiny in directions no one could have predicted.
-
-
listen to this
- By Surf on 11-18-20
By: Tobias Wolff
-
Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?
- Stories
- By: Raymond Carver
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 7 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With this, his first collection of stories, Raymond Carver breathed new life into the American short story and instantly became both the recognized master of the form and one of our best-loved fiction writers. Carver shows us the humor and tragedy that dwell in the hearts of ordinary people; his stories are the classics of our time.
-
-
Humanity at the Breaking Point
- By Darwin8u on 03-31-19
By: Raymond Carver
-
Cathedral
- By: Raymond Carver
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 7 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is Raymond Carver's third collection of stories, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, including the canonical titular story about blindness and learning to enter the very different world of another. The 12 stories in Cathedral mark a turning point in Carver's work.
-
-
Disaffected performance
- By Tom Broderick on 07-22-17
By: Raymond Carver
-
This Boy's Life
- By: Tobias Wolff
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This book essentially launched the memoir craze that has been going strong ever since. The story is pretty grim: teen-aged Wolff moves with his divorced mother from Florida to Utah to Washington State to escape her violent boyfriend. When she remarries, Wolff finds himself in a bitter battle of wills with his abusive stepfather, a contest in which the two prove to be more evenly matched than might have been supposed.
-
-
Beautiful, unsentimental memoir of youth
- By Darwin8u on 04-27-13
By: Tobias Wolff
-
What We Talk About When We Talk About Love
- By: Raymond Carver
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 3 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In his second collection, including the iconic and much-referenced title story featured in the Academy Award-winning film Birdman, Raymond Carver establishes his reputation as one of the most celebrated short-story writers in American literature. What We Talk About When We Talk About Love is a haunting meditation on love, loss, and companionship, and finding one's way through the dark.
-
-
Great stories, awful performance
- By Victor Capo on 02-14-19
By: Raymond Carver
-
Down to Bone
- By: Tobias Wolff
- Narrated by: Anthony Heald
- Length: 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A son sits at his mother's deathbed, hesitant to leave her side. He leafs through one of her old photo albums, remembering her abusive, estranged father. When a visit to a funeral home turns into a conversation with a beautiful, mysterious woman, he develops a deeper - and perhaps darker - understanding of his relationship with his mother.
-
-
Another Good Short By Tobias
- By kutzkai on 05-25-21
By: Tobias Wolff
-
In Pharaoh's Army
- Memories of the Lost War
- By: Tobias Wolff
- Narrated by: Michael Kramer
- Length: 5 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Whether he is evoking the blind carnage of the Tet offensive, the theatrics of his fellow Americans, or the unraveling of his own illusions, Wolff brings to this work the same uncanny eye for detail, pitiless candor, and mordant wit that made This Boy's Life a modern classic.
-
-
Boring Waste of Time
- By Ethan on 08-21-22
By: Tobias Wolff
-
Hunters in the Snow
- By: Tobias Wolff
- Narrated by: Anthony Heald
- Length: 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Three friends are leaving the suburbs of Spokane on a hunting trip. Kenny is the prankster, harsh and mean. Frank is laid-back and full of idealism. Tub is overweight, sensitive, and the brunt of everyone's jokes. Searching for tracks in the snow, the trio has little luck until they spot a set of deer prints heading into a nearby farm. Kenny, desperate for a token of their difficult journey, insists that they ask the farmer's permission to hunt on his land.
-
-
Dark and Wild Ride!
- By M. K. Merritt on 12-27-23
By: Tobias Wolff
-
Where I'm Calling From
- Selected Stories
- By: Raymond Carver
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 16 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By the time of his early death in 1988, Raymond Carver had established himself as one of the great practitioners of the American short story. Where I'm Calling From, his last collection, encompasses classic stories from Cathedral, What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, and earlier Carver volumes, along with seven new works previously unpublished in book form.
-
-
Love Carver, But Dietz Ruins It With Reading
- By Noirbat on 05-10-18
By: Raymond Carver
-
Short Cuts
- Selected Stories
- By: Raymond Carver, Robert Altman
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 4 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The nine stories and one poem in this volume formed the basis for the astonishingly original film Short Cuts, directed by Robert Altman. Collected altogether in this volume, these stories form a searing and indelible portrait of American innocence and loss. With deadpan humor and enormous tenderness, this is the work of "one of the true contemporary masters" ( The New York Review of Books).
-
-
Or: Please Altman, Like Carver, Please
- By Darwin8u on 03-31-19
By: Raymond Carver, and others
-
The Rich Brother
- By: Tobias Wolff
- Narrated by: Anthony Heald
- Length: 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A classic tale of brotherly love and rivalry from short story master Tobias Wolff. Pete has always been successful. Happily married with two daughters, he lives a comfortable life in Santa Cruz. Pete is a practical, hardworking man and he enjoys life's monetary pleasures. His younger brother, Donald, is a gaunt, troubled man. Unmarried and without children, Donald earns what little money he has by occasionally painting houses. He's a religious man, unlike Pete, and has spent several years as a member of various Christian groups.
-
-
boaring
- By iamkam on 02-13-24
By: Tobias Wolff
-
The Deposition
- By: Tobias Wolff
- Narrated by: Anthony Heald
- Length: 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Burke, a San Francisco lawyer, is defending a woman who has been disabled by a botched surgery. His client has a personal connection to Burke, and the trial happens to be taking place in his Ohio hometown, a place ravaged by fallen industries and greedy corporations. While taking a deposition from a particularly difficult witness, Burke calls for a break and takes a walk around the neighborhood where he grew up. A chance encounter with a beautiful woman sets in motion a series of events that Burke could never have foreseen - and is unlikely to forget.
-
-
Certain
- By Isaiah hawkins on 03-19-22
By: Tobias Wolff
-
The Chain
- By: Tobias Wolff
- Narrated by: Anthony Heald
- Length: 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Gold's daughter is viciously attacked by a neighbor'sdog and barely escapes with her life, Gold's world is torn open. Haunted by the incident and unable to convince local authorities to take action, he agrees to a friend's offer of retaliation. When he feels compelled to return the favor,one bad turn leads to another - and this time, Gold finds the repercussions much worse than he ever could have anticipated.
-
-
Hmmm
- By Krandall/Shivaji on 10-27-22
By: Tobias Wolff
-
Piece by Piece (Unabridged Selections)
- By: Calvin Trillin
- Narrated by: Calvin Trillin
- Length: 3 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This original recording - his first - features Trillin at his most uproarious, reading from his own articles and books. Wonderfully funny and full of surprises, this is a thoroughly satisfying, eminently entertaining, and beautifully crafted collection.
-
-
Wonderful, warm, wry gem.
- By w Stulmaker on 12-26-10
By: Calvin Trillin
What listeners say about Our Story Begins
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
- chris
- 04-11-08
Great
I have very little experience reading Tobias Wolfe. I tried "Old School" a few years back, but got bored with it. However I gave this collection of short stories a shot and am glad I did. What amazes me is how different each story is. Its almost as if a different person wrote each story. They are all very engrossing and have strong characters. I enjoyed this audio and will definitely listen to it again in the future
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
29 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Stone Circle
- 09-19-10
Wonderful stories and a good reader
I loved this book. My only complaint is that they should have included five or ten second gaps between the stories. One story ends and then you immediately hear the title for the next story.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
10 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- AnitaNotherBook
- 12-28-20
3.5 stars to these slice of life short stories
I listened to these stories on audiobook while moving out of my house. I feel they need to be paid careful attention to or else I would miss underlying connections or messages in the story. But I had to clean, organize and sometimes talk to my husband or kids so the amount of focus I could give these stories probably didn't do them justice. I found some of them to be boring or pointless but others were interesting slice of life vignettes. Some of them didn't have endings that were neatly wrapped up but I guess that's how life is in general. Others had twists at the end although I found those to be predictable.
I'm a fan of Tobias Wolff's writing style/tone and I really loved his novel Old School. I didn't like this book of short stories as much as that novel but I also think that reading them (as I did Old School, and got sucked in and finished it in one day, whereas these stories took me weeks to listen to, spread out one by one as I was over there cleaning) would have been a more immersive experience than listening to them so I don't know that it's fair of me to compare.
They were definitely interesting enough to keep listening to and to keep me entertained as I read. I especially enjoyed the story "Down to Bone." It was haunting and stuck with me in a rather depressing way. Some other good ones I'd like to re-read were The Liar and The Other Miller.
Some of these were available individually as part of my Audible Plus subscription so as I listened to them I left a review. The rest were included in the compilation which was also in Audible Plus and so I grouped them all together as one book with all my reviews here in one place. It was nice to listen to them individually and think of each one of its own complete book, so I may go back and listen to some that way again in the future and see if my opinion of them changes when I have more time to focus on them and digest them.
Most of the stories were about boyhood or the military. Some were about marriage or parenting but almost all from a man's/husband's/father's point of view. There were a couple from a woman's point of view or dual perspective with alternating narrators (like Desert Breakdown which I kind of enjoyed). All the man seemed the same- manly men who found it hard to make true connections or find true love and felt they had to be tough to get through life. A common theme was putting on an act or going through the motions of what one feels one should do in life, even though it didn't make them happy.
The ones from the womens' point of view were usually older women who were unhappy as well and most didn't like being mothers or weren't very good mothers. In the first story, called In the Garden of North American Martyrs, the main character is a woman who finally breaks out of the shell that she feels society has put her in, and I kind of liked that. Another theme common to a lot of these stories was finally breaking out or breaking down although not all the characters did it and some really needed to.
I guess these stories were overall kind of sad or depressing but sometimes I like that type of story. Most turned out to have bad endings instead of happy endings, if they had any ending at all. One that could be said to have a good ending is "The White Bible," which had some interesting action happen in it.
Here are my reviews of each story.
(Selected Stories.)
1) IN THE GARDEN OF THE NORTH AMERICAN MARTYRS
Okay story - 3 stars
This was an okay story about a professor who tries to get a job a new school and finds out she's being taken for a ride. The narrator's voice was good for this story; I feel this narrator is good at reading stories about older women. The narrator's friend Louise was insane. It ended too abruptly for my preference; I wanted to find out what happened next. A lot of these stories in this collection are like that, though. Just slice of life vignettes that don't really go anywhere.
2) NEXT DOOR - 2.5 stars
It was okay but needed a careful listening for deeper appreciation and I was doing other things while I listened to it. A couple hears a couple next door fighting and watches a Western on TV.
3) HUNTERS IN THE SNOW
Crazy story - 3.5 stars
This is a crazy story of friends who go hunting and one shoots another one and the others say they are taking him to the hospital but they keep stopping to get drinks and share their life issues along the way. It was entertaining. The story was good. The narration was okay but with this narrator it sounded like it was a book about or for old ladies instead of manly hunters. I'm sorry but a couple of them sounded gay and I don't think they were supposed to. Other than that, I enjoyed it.
4) THE LIAR - 4 stars
I enjoyed this story about a boy who always lied while growing up and his mom who was upset about that.
5) SOLDIER'S JOY - 3 stars
A kind of boring but interesting in parts story about a soldier who was not a good soldier and then has to help save another soldier. There were things left out of the story that I wanted to know. For instance, he was demoted for something but it never said what, or maybe I missed it because I spaced out when it got boring.
6) THE RICH BROTHER - 3.5 stars
One brother has to go help out his perpetual screw-up other brother. The other brother predictably screws up. It was pretty good.
7) LEVIATHAN - 4 stars
This story involved people doing drugs together and in that way it was very different from the other stories in this book, and a lot more interesting than some of the boring ones. Mostly they just do a bunch of coke and tell stories but you get a glimpse into their lives and past regrets. I liked it.
8) DESERT BREAKDOWN - 3.5 stars
I liked that how this story switched perspectives between a wife and her husband who wasn't very happy about being a husband and father. They break down in the desert, like the title said, and get taken for a ride by some people. I wanted more to happen or I would have given it more stars as it was interesting to listen to.
9) SAY YES - 2.5 stars
I didn't really get the point of this one. A racist guy fights with his wife about whether he would have married her if she was Black. I don't like some of the endings of these stories because they are too open-ended.
10) MORTALS - 3 stars
This story about an obituary writer who writes an obituary for a guy who isn't dead, because he failed to do his job of checking to confirm the death, is basically a conversation between two men but it was interesting enough.
11) FLYBOYS - 2.5 stars
Typical boyhood story from Tobias Wolff. It was okay but not incredibly interesting.
12) SANITY - 1 star
Weird and Boring
These are going downhill for me. April's stepmother Claire tells her about sex after they visit her dad in a mental hospital where he has a breakdown. The story has no ending at all. It was stupid and I don't think Tobias Wolff should write about women and virginity because it didn't come across as real. It also should have been read by a woman, not a man- it was like hearing a grandpa or uncle read me a story about sex, yuck.
13) THE OTHER MILLER - 4 stars
I liked this story about a guy who hated being in the Army and was happy to have a reason to get a break when he is told his mother died but knows it is another person's mother.
14) TWO BOYS AND A GIRL - 3 stars
Two boys like the same girl. A fairly interesting story. But nothing extraordinary about it.
15) THE CHAIN
Chain of events - 4 stars
One bad deed leads to another as an act of revenge sets of a CHAIN of events. An interesting listen, full of action. It did go into some backstory about the character's heritage and prejudices against himself and other characters. It seemed to set up a longer story but I guess it was just enough to make for an entertaining story. Good narrator.
16) SMORGASBORD - 2 stars
This was a boring story about boarding school boys who are invited by the son of a dignitary to dinner but they decide to go to a lower class buffet instead and they are fascinated by his Spanish stepmom. Maybe if I listened to some of these stories more carefully next time, I would like them better but I get easily distracted while cleaning or working and listening to audiobooks so the story has to be really interesting for me to keep paying close enough attention and really like them.
17) LADY'S DREAM - 3 stars
The husband in this book was really despicable. He married a woman to spite his parents but he ends up needing his parents more than he knew he would. I get this one confused with "Desert Breakdown." The common theme of men who are shitty husbands and fathers makes me wonder if Tobias Wolff was adding autobiographical tidbits to his fiction and/or if he hates himself and/or his life.
18) POWDER
Slice of life - 3.5 stars
Short slice of life vignette about a dad and son who go skiing and get stuck in a snowstorm on the way back, threatening to make the boy's mom mad. You can get a great sense of the dad's personality in this story. It wasn't super exciting or eventful but it was interesting enough.
19) THE NIGHT IN QUESTION
Didn't really go anywhere - 2 stars
Interesting backstory but the main character basically told a story to his sister the whole time, which he had heard from his pastor after he found religion. And nothing really changes in the siblings' dynamics. I thought it was boring compared to some of the others by Wolff.
20) FIRELIGHT - 3 stars
This was a pretty decent story about a boy whose mom promises him a nice apartment and they go to look at them but always return to their boarding house.
21) BULLET IN THE BRAIN
Exactly what it sounds like - 4 stars
This story is about exactly what the title sounds like. A man is standing in line at a bank and he gets shot in the head with a bullet by a bank robber. He reminisces over his life while he's dying. I think I like Wolff's shortest stories in this collection the best because I enjoyed this one. On a side note, I don't think the summaries of the stories accurately represent what is presented in the stories; they seem to give extra information that isn't explored in the story itself and that's a bit disappointing.
(New stories.)
22) THAT ROOM - 2 stars
A boring boyhood story. Didn't like too much about it.
23) AWAITING ORDERS - 3.5 stars
This story delved into being closeted and gay in the military, so it had an interesting twist that the other military stories didn't and I liked it.
24) A WHITE BIBLE - 3.5 stars
This story was pretty interesting with some twists and turns but ended up being kind of a letdown. A teacher is kidnapped when she goes to her car in a parking garage.
25) HER DOG - 2 stars
This is a weird story in which a man didn't want a dog but the man's wife did. His wife died and now he still has the dog. He starts talking to the dog and they have a competition about who loved her most. I guess it was interesting but talking animals are just too over the top for me, since Tobias Wolff's stories are usually so realistic.
26) A MATURE STUDENT - 2.5 stars
An older student who was a female Marine bonds in a platonic way with her professor but then fears that the professor fears being judged after opening up to her. It was rather weird and I am sure there was some underlying message or connection I missed between the student's past and her own son, and the professor's past in various countries etc. I often feel that way while listening to Tobias Wolff's stories, and I think I just get distracted or am not smart enough to understand what the story is trying to tell me but sometimes that means I find them boring or confusing.
27) THE DEPOSITION - 2 stars
A weird story that goes off on a tangent when a lawyer goes to the deposition of his client and sees a woman walking by the river.
28) DOWN TO BONE - 4.5 stars
This was my favorite story in the collection even though it was sad and depressing. A man visits his dying mother. It's rather haunting.
29) NIGHTINGALE - 3.5 stars
In this story a gruff military dad is trying to toughen up his shy, awkward (perhaps autistic or mentally slow?) son by sending him off to boarding school. He has a crisis of conscience and goes back to talk to the commander to make sure his son is in a good place, but gets lost on his way back, which I guess is supposed to show that he himself is not as put together as he thinks he is. I felt bad for the son and I didn't like the dad at all but I connected with the story more than some of the others, if only because I wanted to jump in and save the son from having to go there, or rescue him from his dad's attitude in general.
30) THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT - 3.5 stars
A "gypsy" tries to pickpocket a man who is visiting Italy on business. He fights him off and then feels bad for injuring him so he tries to get him home safely. This is a "no good deed goes unpunished story" and a "fish out of water" story where he gets to peer into a culture he previously had no knowledge about.
31) DEEP KISS - 3 Stars
A man has never forgotten about his teenage crush even after he grew up, got married and had kids. He still thinks about her and tries to figure out why he's still in love with her. It was kind of boring/pointless but it did keep my interest until the end.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amy Morales-Knight
- 02-12-21
Story titles missing.
Good book but the lack of chapter titles is a big problem. A lot of audible books do this but it’s a bigger irritation here because each chapter is another short story.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Thomas S.
- 01-23-21
5 minute walk
Wolf can make a five minute walk last 30 minutes and each step an adventure.
This book is like reading the leftovers of a prolific author where even the cast-off is mesmerizing. Some stories leave you hungry. But, so does life.
A perfect reader for his work.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Tarr
- 07-07-21
Uses words like a master
This is a master class in using words to make a vision and a story come alive. Highly recommended.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Addicted to Audible
- 10-07-20
excellent writing, but the reality too grim
The writing, and the narration were excellent, but the grimes of the stories were to much, didn't finish.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- elizabeth in the ozarks
- 03-10-16
Troubling, funny stories that deserve better
If you could sum up Our Story Begins in three words, what would they be?
Surprising, puzzling, long-lived in my head.
What do you think the narrator could have done better?
The narrator was OK but seemed to be totally off on his inflections in some stories. Not enough to ruin the stories, tho.
Any additional comments?
A book you will want to save in your library forever.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- J. Dillman
- 09-29-22
Quick transitions
My complaint about this audio book is that each of these stories has absolutely no pause between them. The listener will be unaware that one story has ended and the next begun unless one pays extra attention or is utterly confused.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- ti
- 09-16-22
Magnificent!
Reading “The Writer’s Library”, in an interview with Richard Ford, the name of Tobias Wolfe is mentioned as one of his favorite authors. As it happened, this book was in the Plus Catalog. So this has been my first introduction to this author. I found the stories sheer and beautiful as gossamer wings, beautifully spun, wise, insightful, intimate and multilayered. Delightful.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!