Spy of the First Person

By: Sam Shepard

Narrated by: Michael Shannon

The final work from the Pulitzer Prize–winning writer, actor, and musician, drawn from his transformative last days

In searing, beautiful prose, Sam Shepard’s extraordinary narrative leaps off the page with its immediacy and power. It tells in a brilliant braid of voices the story of an unnamed narrator who traces, before our rapt eyes, his memories of work, adventure, and travel as he undergoes medical tests and treatments for a condition that is rendering him more and more dependent on the loved ones who are caring for him. The narrator’s memories and preoccupations often echo those of our current moment—for here are stories of immigration and community, inclusion and exclusion, suspicion and trust. But at the book’s core, and his, is family—his relationships with those he loved, and with the natural world around him. Vivid, haunting, and deeply moving, Spy of the First Person takes us from the sculpted gardens of a renowned clinic in Arizona to the blue waters surrounding Alcatraz, from a New Mexico border town to a condemned building on New York City’s Avenue C. It is an unflinching expression of the vulnerabilities that make us human—and an unbound celebration of family and life.

chapter 19 and 30 the details

i imagine it in my brain as i read it with fine lines of interest how things are discussed in this book i recommend this book

Sam Shepard's melancholy and meditative final work

Sam Shepard's melancholy and meditative final work rendered beautifully by Michael Shannon's narration. Rich in lived experience and burnished with the sadness of a lifetime's worth of memories coming to an end.

Good Insight

Interesting work with thought-provoking descriptions by Shepard as Shepard does extremely well. Enjoyable listen.

Sam Shepard's observations living/dying with ALS

Breathtaking and solemn listening to Sam Shepard's inner voice observe his deteriorating body from ALS. The last entry is from a few days before his death. My ears are wide open to the thoughts of someone facing their approaching death. What can I learn? What can I know before I get there. I was left with the sadness knowing Shepard's life ended.