A Different Drummer Audiobook By William Melvin Kelley cover art

A Different Drummer

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A Different Drummer

By: William Melvin Kelley
Narrated by: Jay Smooth
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The stunning, thought-provoking first novel by a "lost giant of American literature" (The New Yorker)

June 1957. One hot afternoon in the backwaters of the Deep South, a young black farmer named Tucker Caliban salts his fields, shoots his horse, burns his house, and heads north with his wife and child. His departure sets off an exodus of the state’s entire black population, throwing the established order into brilliant disarray. Told from the points of view of the white residents who remained, A Different Drummer stands, decades after its first publication in 1962, as an extraordinary and prescient triumph of satire and spirit.

©2019 William Melvin Kelley (P)2019 Random House Audio African American Classics Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Satire Witty

Critic reviews

"[A] lost giant of American literature.... Brilliant." (The New Yorker)

"A work of deep originality and superior craftsmanship whose treatment of racial politics resists ideological classification.... A potent brew of mythology, gossip, history, political argument and family drama.... A Different Drummer is animated by a force so immense, and fed by so much history, that it transcends encapsulation." (The Wall Street Journal)

"Kelley blended fantasy and fact to construct an alternative world whose sweep and complexity drew comparisons to James Joyce and William Faulkner." (The New York Times)
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“A Different Drummer” is both insightful, compelling, eerie, and heartbreaking. The author’s ability to show the reader the different perspectives of what set the stage for the key turning points in the story are clear, deliberate and striking. The last 10 pages of the story (I read along with the audio version) made an indelible impression.

This is a short read and I do not want to spoil the plot. All I will add is that if you are a fan of Douglas Turner Ware’s play “A Day Of Absence”, you will appreciate the source of the playwright’s inspiration and realize the play is a comedic reworking of this dramatic novel. The novel shouts its main themes from a key character that we in 2024 would do well to understand and apply.

A significant and stirring story

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Shameful. If you are white. Dignity. Complexity. Or is it as simple as it is ugly.

Painful

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what a fascinating read! excellent narration as well. as if from a time capsule, and continually surprising.

what a discovery!

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Interesting story but the narrator was very distracting. Story was captivating but almost gave up on listening because of the narrator.

Narrator not up to the story

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William Kelley was a friend and I had read this book a few years ago, it was a wonderful and moving story. The narrative by Jay Smooth was enthralling and it came alive!

A wonderful and moving story

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The unusual perspective was key for me. Not what I expected at all until the end. Will read more of Mr Kelley’s work.

Excellent book

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