Preview
  • Birds of America

  • Stories
  • By: Lorrie Moore
  • Narrated by: Natasha Soudek
  • Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars (31 ratings)

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Birds of America

By: Lorrie Moore
Narrated by: Natasha Soudek
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Publisher's summary

The celebrated collection of 12 stories from one of the finest authors at work today....

From the opening story, "Willing" - about a second-rate movie actress in her 30s who has moved back to Chicago, where she makes a seedy motel room her home and becomes involved with a mechanic who has not the least idea of who she is as a human being - Birds of America unfolds a startlingly brilliant series of portraits of the unhinged, the lost, the unsettled of our America.

In what may be her most stunning book yet, Lorrie Moore explores the personal and the universal, the idiosyncratic and the mundane, with all the wit, brio, and verve that have made her one of the best storytellers of our time.

©2019 Lorrie Moore (P)2019 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
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What listeners say about Birds of America

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

GENIUS.

This book is brilliant. The acting is sublime. I was hanging on every word, and the characters and stories have stayed with me wherever I go. Thank you.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Reader killed this for me

Picked this up on a recommendation. It would be better in print copy. This reader’s delivery puts a snarky tone on several characters in an almost mocking way , and I don’t think I would have read it the same way in my head. Had to stop after the 2 minute laugh track. Too much

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Whew

Very talented author. The stories were intense and wore me out a bit. Moore has a unique ability for insight into our common daily tragedies.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great writing Problematicth Reading

The writing is full of great tragedy and great comedy, in the Chaplin tradition. The reader has a great voice, with the ability to describe various characters there in. I get the feeling she’s either drunk or on a drug.
M

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Lorrie Moore is terrific

I love the way Lorrie Moore writes.
She can write things in the funniest and at the same time poignant way!
A couple of these stories were quite heartbreaking, and written with compassion.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

One of the worst books I've ever read/listened to.

I could not decide if it was the narratorial performance and awful voices or the poor quality stories and total lack of interesting content or conclusions. UGH!

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Provocative author, One Note Narration

Lorrie Moore's Birds of America is a smart look at Upper Middle class white people in the 90s. Moore is funny and smart way beyond where this audiobook's narrator takes her. I don't blame the narrator for the singular 'gruff male' voice she chooses for every last male character? There may have been a director to implicate? I began listening to this audio book as a fan of Moore's, and now exit completely tired of this narrator's drab interpretation.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Disappointed

I didn’t enjoy this book and was disappointed I used a credit. It just didn’t keep my interest at all

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Abysmal narration makes this unlistenable

The stories are meh and worst of all the “talent” reading this makes for an excruciating listen. She reads every line with the exact same tone of detached ennui and irony and her attempts at male voices are just beyond the pale terrible.

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