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Occasionally gripping, always informative

Overall
3 out of 5 stars
Performance
4 out of 5 stars
Story
4 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 10-28-20

(Before I say anything: speed this book up to 1.5x. The narration is unbelievably slow.)

As the story progresses through 400 years of history, I kept thinking “If I could time travel, would I have any idea what I was stepping into?”

It’s clear that the author has done his homework, and paints a very thorough picture of a dozen different key periods in New York’s history. Especially early on, the novel opens your eyes to life in the nascent country, offering a history lesson that actually pulls you in and makes you appreciate how human life has changed dramatically, while human nature has stayed exactly the same.

To his credit, the author has picked great historical moments to explore and retells them through largely sympathetic, interesting, multi-layered characters. When their personal dramas each reach a climax, the tensions of era-defining historical forces hit you like a ton of bricks. And the narrative’s twists and turns keep you guessing and involved.

At other times, half an hour (or more) goes by and you wonder where all this is going and what exactly the point is. For example, the story of the Italian immigrant family touches on the mob, on racism, on xenophobia, but doesn’t take you far enough in to really grasp what they were dealing with. The long descriptions of life on Wall Street explain the basics, but never quite get you in the mind of a trader or banker.

The main characters, the Master family, become less likable and interesting with each succeeding generation. Perhaps that is the point. But by the time we arrive in the near present, New York’s sheen (both the city’s and the novel’s) seems to be gone. A once lively and interesting city has been transformed by generations of greed into something staid, shallow, washed up, and annoying. Again, this seems to be the point.

This ode to New York will make you see the city not as a vibrant tourist destination, but as a cultural and economic battleground, scarred by its history. After this book, I can’t imagine any other US city that would merit a book of this scope.

The dialogue is never bad. It’s on par with most period TV shows, but never as punchy as you want it to be. It’s never Mad Men, never American Psycho level stuff. The characters sound genuine and human, but rarely say anything all that memorable. The true joys of the novel for me were the sudden thrills, suspense building throughout each chapter, and poignant dovetails of character arcs and history. Listeners looking for witty banter should look elsewhere.

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1 person found this helpful

Survivor Audiobook By Chuck Palahniuk cover art

Unexpected at every turn

Overall
4 out of 5 stars
Performance
4 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 05-23-19

Totally worth the listen. A challenging character study bookended by a dramatic plane hijacking. What more could you ask for? Solid prose throughout, excellent allegories for 1999 era American society, and potent images that keep you thinking. On par with fight club, no doubt.

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Entertaining but feels incomplete

Overall
4 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
3 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 03-20-19

Maybe that’s the point, but for all I learned and all the characters James so poignantly delves into, I can’t help feeling I have nothing to show for this excruciatingly long listen. That being said, the characters’ unique voices are memorable, and brought to life deftly by a diverse cast. The book begins to pick up steam in the last 10 hours or so, and becomes nothing short of riveting as the action accelerates. Kim Clark’s monologues and reflections on her place in society as she leaves Jamaica are the stuff of legend, truly one of the best female characters I’ve ever encountered in a novel. To heap more praise on the book, James takes us 40 years back in time and hundreds of miles away with such vivid dialogue and such personality that I genuinely felt that I made a few Jamaican friends along the way. Perhaps I was a bit negative from the jump, because I can’t imagine a book that better takes the thrill and subject matter of The Wire and the mystique of a time and place gone by in order to create a sprawling tapestry of a storyline that hooks you in.

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Never more than a minute from charming

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
4 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 09-07-18

After a few jokes early on that felt dated and pulled straight from the sarcastic-family-sitcom playbook, I was worried. But within minutes, the perfectly comically crafted dialogue and poignantly real relationships found their voice. Judd’s Gen X cynicism seems almost painted on at first, but the book does an excellent job unpacking his rich family history, creating a nuanced cast of characters and an endearing, totally believable profile of a man’s midlife crisis.

But the real staying power of this book is the unwavering humor in nearly every conversation, description, and anecdotal aside. Emotional distress is always turned around into fodder for the family’s scathing jokes, and the author paints a hilarious picture in nearly every scene of embarrassing intrafamily antics.

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Better than the movie could ever hope to be

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 11-20-17

I went in not knowing much about Ellis or the novel itself. I knew there was a movie starring Christian Bale that must have been pretty good, but I’d never seen it. And i really didn’t have any other context for the book. Having sat through it over the course of two weeks, it’s easy to say that this is one of the best audiobooks out there. It’s a novel that’s made to be performed, with a unique writing style that never ceases to surprise and inform, but also a complex narrator that hooks you with the first few scenes. Add to that Pablo’s inspired reading and due consideration he gives every character and it’s an easy 5 stars. I even went and watched the movie after i was a few chapters in. (Also very good.)

My only warning is to anyone uncomfortable with gore, violence, being triggered, etc. The depictions of violence in this book are at the limits of what can be conveyed in print. The movie contains less than a shadow of the horror of what you’ll hear described within. But the entertaining dialogue and dramatic propulsion of Patrick’s internal monologue make it near impossible to stop listening, even through the gratuitously graphic scenes.

This is a unique story that can only be told through narrative; no movie or visual could ever really do it justice. So give it a listen.

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Worth the Effort, but Some Effort is Required

Overall
3 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
3 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 08-23-17

To be clear, this is a good audiobook. Xe's performance and obvious talent bring every conversation in the book to life. It's certainly a pleasant read, and one that goes by fast, with quick chapters and thoroughly engaging plot points every few minutes.

That being said, this is a book about the art world, and that means it includes all the painfully high-minded, vague idealism and abstraction one would expect from a cast of art school students and professors. There are long stretches of internal monologue, exposition, history lessons, and how-to's that just don't make for good reading. Throw in the protagonist's tendency toward cliche descriptions of everything that she goes through (e.g., "the silence was deafening.") , and you end up with solidly 25-40% of the book tough to sit through. Plus, the cast of minor characters never contribute quite enough to fully build out Claire's world. It can feel more than a little solipsistic at times, but perhaps that's just Claire's nature.

I'm being overly critical here because this isn't my typical fare. There is more than enough here--an enveloping plot, an interesting protagonist, obscure art facts, and two stories, 3 years apart, intertwined-- to make it your monthly listen, or to dive into a world you might not much about. Forgery is certainly never something I would have expected to be interesting, and this book manages to do the subject justice throughout, with plenty of humanity and drama in between.

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A Critical and Comic Masterpiece

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 06-12-17

I say "critical" because this book offers a brilliantly unique take on "post-racial" America. I can't think of a single kind of person who wouldn't find something to love about this book—except for maybe an exceptionally prude SJW with no imagination. The book makes a joke out of every political message you've ever heard about race in America and leaves you wanting to help pave the way to a more understanding society, but realizing just how tough that's liable to be, given the sheer idiocy at work behind every institution.

This book does what only the best comedy—think Dave Chappelle, Aziz Ansari, Louis C.K.—can do: push your buttons and make you question your worldview and what's going on in the world around you. And at times, the team of Beatty and Onayemi are on par with those greats, with rich, unique characters and situations that read like you're watching Chappelle's Show sketches with commentary from a sociology professor.

I listened to this entire book in one sitting. It's that good. My one complaint is the lull near the middle of the book. The action slows, the jokes dry up, and we spend a lot of time listening to recounted personal histories and anecdotes that lack some of the punch of the early pages. Don't let that keep you from reading this book, though. Where others would preach their message about how we all need to get along, Beatty grabs you by the shoulder and laughs with you, recognizing that we're all a bit too human for that.

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Thought-provoking and profoundly well-written

Overall
4 out of 5 stars
Performance
4 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 06-12-17

Mitchell delivers an astounding array of styles, voices, and characters, each immaculately written, over the course of the novel. However, the vast world and intertwined stories that make this novel unique can drag it down. Many extended segments of the book take you down a rabbit hole of a character's thoughts and analysis on their personal situation. These tend to be incredibly nuanced, human, and well-written, but they stall out the novel's plot(s), and can make you feel like a psychologist listening to a patient's ramblings with no end in sight. The novel is essentially a series of short-to-medium stories, and not all of them are going to do it for you.

BUT don't let that scare you. The final third of the novel is so completely worth the effort that I would almost recommend skipping ahead. The characters are more unique, their problems are more complex, they're suddenly funny and relatable, and the drama that you've been piecing together over the past dozen hours comes into full effect. Before you even realize it, it's your new favorite book, and you're left questioning the way you see the world and our future on it. That, plus a natural, conversational writing style and a well-rounded performance by the narrator, make Ghostwritten more than worth the listen for anyone looking for a story that covers a broad range of times and places without sacrificing the richness of its characters.

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