The Stone World

A Novel

By: Joel Agee

Narrated by: Armando Durán

Length: 7 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

From the son of acclaimed author James Agee comes a haunting novel depicting an American boy’s childhood in Mexico, ensconced in a world comprised of communist European exiles, local union activists, street children, and avant-garde artists like Frida Kahlo.

Joel Agee’s hallucinatory first novel begins in a house with a large garden in an unnamed Mexican town in the late 1940s, where six-and-a-half-year-old Peter reads, dreams, and plays with his friends. He is a nascent explorer, artist, philosopher, mystic, and scientist. His world is still new, not yet papered over with received knowledge.

And the actual world around him is a unique one in history: a community of leftist emigrés who have found refuge in Mexico from the Nazi and fascist regimes of Europe, rubbing shoulders with Mexican labor activists and leftists such as Frida Kahlo.

But the emigrés long for home—including Peter’s stepfather, who wants to return to his native Germany. Going back to Europe may not be safe for any of them yet, however, which gives rise to anguished arguments among Peter’s parents and their tight group of friends.

And slowly, Peter begins to comprehend that his world may be turned upside down—that he might be forced to take leave of everyone he knows: his best friend, Arón; his father’s friend Sándor, who talks about revolution and performs magic tricks; and Zita, the family’s live-in-maid, who has taught him the consoling mysteries of prayer …

Steeped in the magic and myths of childhood—yet haunted by a harsh adult world bedeviled by instability and political turmoil—Joel Agee’s The Stone World is an unforgettable portrait of a family that will inevitably invite comparison with another classic family story, that of his father James Agee’s A Death in the Family.

©2020 Joel Agee (P)2022 Blackstone Publishing

Moving story

The narrator was excellent. The story complex with deep meaning. I was involved every minute. The characters were well drawn in the action exciting

Compelling story told beautifully from child's POV

Highly recommend this audible version of the book. The reader was perfect for conveying a child's perspective. Interesting period of history, seen from a different point of view.