The Abortion

An Historical Romance 1966

By: Richard Brautigan

Narrated by: Will Damron

Length: 4 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's summary

A public library in California where none of the books have ever been published is full of romantic possibilities. But when the librarian and his girlfriend must travel to Tijuana, the Kingdom of Fire and Water, they experience a series of strange encounters.

©1971 Richard Brautigan (P)2016 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Favourite Brautigan so far

Been listening to all Richard Brautigan’s books since they popped up in the Included section and this has been my favourite. I’m finding his style delightful and this one especially beautiful and funny. I really loved The Hawkline Monster and Dreaming Of Babylon too.

Well done by writer and narrator!!

I love Richard Brautigan stories and this one is my favorite! I'm so glad to hear that it was read by someone who cared about the book! A true beat writer!

I loved it

After hearing a piece about this book on NPR I decided to see if it was on Audible. I loved everything about it. The narrator was great. The story is not packed with action, but the thoughts and reflections of the narrator are funny, relatable, and really help to flesh out a full character.

My only complaint is with the production of this audiobook. For some reason Chapter 24 doesn't include the narrators lines. The reader will say the other characters lines as normal. Then there will be a short pause and he says "I said," as if concluding a comment made by the narrator. This continues for the duration of the chapter, which thankfully is only several minutes long. Very frustrating. I hope someone can correct this as this is a great book, and I wouldn't want someone else to get discouraged because of this production error.

about people and books and stuff.

The title while appropriate is not the entirety of the story. This is about a library. A library whose purpose it is to welcome and store personally written books from regular if somewhat eccentric patrons. The almost Zen like pacing is almost beyond relaxing and comforting.

Waste of time.

This book was featured on was written through the hand of a man who wanted to delight in his sexist chauvinist fantasies and bore us with all the details. I kept listening all the way through to find the hook or the draw or some redeeming quality, but even the ending was flat and disappointing.

Weird & Not Enjoyable

I kept listening waiting to understand the message of the book. The end finally came and I was still waiting for the message - story - something. It never arrived. Total waste of my time!

Worst book ever.

I listened to the whole book wondering if it would improve but the juvenile fascination with Vida's looks and the odd simplistic metaphors got worse and worse. If it's a commentary on 1966, boy am I glad 53 years have passed. No thank you!