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Selected Shorts: A Touch of Magic
- Narrated by: James Naughton, Stephen Colbert, John Lithgow, Daniel Gerroll, Maria Tucci, Anthony Rapp, Jerry Zaks
- Length: 3 hrs and 15 mins
- Speech
- Categories: Arts & Entertainment, Entertainment & Performing Arts
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5 out of 5 stars
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 165
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 146
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Story4 out of 5 stars 145
With the same deadpan mania and genius for dislocation that he brought to his internationally acclaimed novels A Wild Sheep Chase and Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, Haruki Murakami makes this collection of stories a determined assault on the normal. A man sees his favorite elephant vanish into thin air; a newlywed couple suffers attacks of hunger that drive them to hold up a McDonald's in the middle of the night; and a young woman discovers that she has become irresistible to a little green monster who burrows up through her backyard.
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1 out of 5 stars
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dull
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Publisher's Summary
By turns funny, moving, romantic and surreal, and filled with unexpected twists and turns, each of the tales on this lineup has a magical element.
- Andrew Lam's "The Palmist", performed by James Naughton. A chance encounter on a bus between a fortune-teller and a teenage boy.
- Ray Bradbury's "The Veldt", performed by Stephen Colbert. A room which can take you anywhere in the world - sometimes with dangerous consequences
- W. W. Jacobs' "The Monkey's Paw", performed by John Lithgow. A wonderful ghost story about a trinket with terrible powers.
- Saki's "The Occasional Garden", performed by Daniel Gerroll. If you can't grow a garden; poof! - you can rent one.
- Donald Barthelme's "The Balloon", performed by Maria Tucci. There's something suddenly in the sky in midtown Manhattan....
- Kevin Brockmeier's "The Year of Silence", performed by Anthony Rapp. What if everything went quiet?
- Jonathan Safran Foer's "The Sixth Borough", performed by Jerry Zaks. Yes, New York had a Sixth Borough, but it drifted away....
- Aimee Bender's "Drunken Mimi", performed by Bernadette Quigley. A romance between a mermaid and an imp.
- Haruki Murakami's "The Little Green Monster", performed by Dana Ivey. A piece of Murakami magic: Is this a monster I see before me?
- T. C. Boyle's "Swept Away", performed by René Auberjonois. This story's weather forecast: Very windy and very funny.
Critic Reviews
"In this latest collection from Symphony Space, there are, oddly enough, no magicians, but the art of illusion is broadly represented." (Publishers Weekly)
"As usual for 'Selected Shorts,' this is a high-quality, entertaining collection." (AudioFile)
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What listeners say about Selected Shorts: A Touch of Magic
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Diana
- 04-01-16
A brilliant final story
Worth the money just for that, it flies into ones ears effortlessly a true find
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