Building Material
The Memoir of a Park Avenue Doorman
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Narrated by:
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Stephen Bruno
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By:
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Stephen Bruno
About this listen
For fans of books like Waiter Rant, and all those who have always wondered how the other half lives, comes this heartfelt, laugh-out-loud memoir from a New York City doorman with astute ears and a penchant for storytelling
As an academically gifted Latino kid growing up in the Bronx, Stephen Bruno’s family had high aspirations for his future. He attended magnet schools and selective academic programs and was on track to realize his potential. But those dreams were derailed when, much to his Mami’s dismay, he followed a girlfriend to Minnesota and a dead-end job. Languishing and unable to get it together, Stephen eventually moved back home. Broke and eager to make a way for himself—and away from the oppressively religious father wreaking havoc on his love life—the affable, easy going, and quick-witted Stephen lands a much-coveted job as a doorman at a high-end building on Park Avenue.
Hilarity and drama soon abound as Stephen learns the dos and don’ts of being a doorman for the rich and famous and witnesses the antics going on behind the front entrance of this swanky building. In Building Material, he shares those entertaining tales and introduces an unforgettable cast of characters—from Puerto Rican and Albanian doormen battling it out for turf to quirky one percenters to slimy sugar daddies to his peers, both friends and frenemies. Throughout, Stephen offers a glimpse into the unfathomable lives of the residents and a sharp portrait of an everyday man wanting more for himself.
Both poignant and laugh-out-loud funny, Building Material is a captivating true tale of class, failure, and redemption—and how to come back swinging—from a gifted young talent.
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Story
As a child, Anna Wintour was a tomboy with no apparent interest in clothing but, seduced by the miniskirts and bob haircuts of swinging 1960s London, she grew into a fashion-obsessed teenager. Her father, an influential newspaper editor, loomed large in her life, and once he decided she should become editor-in-chief of Vogue, she never looked back.
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WONDERFUL, SPLENDID, I LOVED IT!!
- By Liz Jardine on 05-13-22
By: Amy Odell
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Wives Like Us
- A Novel
- By: Plum Sykes
- Narrated by: Annabel Mullion
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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If you think the English countryside is all green wellies, muddy Land Rovers, and grey-haired ladies in tweed, then you’ve never visited The Bottoms. Welcome to the rose-strewn county of Oxfordshire, and the tony Cotswold villages of Little Bottom, Middle Bottom, Great Bottom, and Monkton Bottom, recently annexed by a glittering new breed of female: the Country Princess.
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Well written. Witty. Entertaining. Liked it!
- By MidwestLady on 10-17-24
By: Plum Sykes
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Kingmaker
- Pamela Harriman's Astonishing Life of Power, Seduction, and Intrigue
- By: Sonia Purnell
- Narrated by: Louise Brealey
- Length: 16 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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When Pamela Churchill Harriman died in 1997, the obituaries that followed were predictably scathing–and many were downright sexist. Written off as a mere courtesan and social climber, her true legacy was overshadowed by a glamorous social life and her infamous erotic adventures. Much of what she did behind the scenes–on both sides of the Atlantic–remained invisible and secret. That is, until now: with a wealth of fresh research, interviews and newly discovered sources, Sonia Purnell unveils for the first time the full, spectacular story of how she left an indelible mark on the world today.
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Tediously boring
- By Elizabeth von Kessler on 10-12-24
By: Sonia Purnell
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Book and Dagger
- How Scholars and Librarians Became the Unlikely Spies of World War II
- By: Elyse Graham
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 10 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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At the start of WWII, the U.S. found itself in desperate need of an intelligence agency. The Office of Strategic Services (OSS), a precursor to today’s CIA, was quickly formed—and, in an effort to fill its ranks with experts, the OSS turned to academia for recruits. Suddenly, literature professors, librarians, and historians were training to perform undercover operations and investigative work—and these surprising spies would go on to profoundly shape both the course of the war and our cultural institutions with their efforts.
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Narration was phenomenal!
- By Laguna Woods resident on 11-22-24
By: Elyse Graham
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Frighten the Horses
- A Memoir
- By: Oliver Radclyffe
- Narrated by: Oliver Radclyffe
- Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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From the outside, Oliver Radclyffe spent four decades living an immensely privileged, beautifully composed life. As the daughter of two well-to-do British parents and the wife of a handsome, successful man from an equally privileged family, Oliver played the parts expected of him. He checked off every box—marriage, children (four), a white-picket fence surrounding a stately home in Connecticut, and a golden retriever named Biscuit. But beneath the shiny veneer, Oliver was desperately trying to stay afloat as he struggled to maintain a facade of normalcy.
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Powerful and well writen
- By Kit on 12-14-24
By: Oliver Radclyffe
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Eden Undone
- A True Story of Sex, Murder, and Utopia at the Dawn of World War II
- By: Abbott Kahler
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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At the height of the Great Depression, Los Angeles oil mogul George Allan Hancock and his crew of Smithsonian scientists came upon a gruesome scene: two bodies, mummified by the searing heat, on the shore of a remote Galápagos island. For the past four years Hancock and other American elites had traveled the South Seas to collect specimens for scientific research. On one trip to the Galápagos, Hancock was surprised to discover an equally exotic group of humans: European exiles who had fled political and economic unrest, hoping to create a utopian paradise.
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Abslutely enchanting
- By SBL on 10-15-24
By: Abbott Kahler
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Empresses of Seventh Avenue
- World War II, New York City, and the Birth of American Fashion
- By: Nancy MacDonell
- Narrated by: Gail Shalan
- Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Empresses of Seventh Avenue will tell the story of how these extraordinary women put American fashion on the world stage and created the template for modern style—and how the nearly $500 billion American fashion industry, the largest in the world, could not have accrued its power and wealth without their farsightedness and determination.
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The wonderful historical perspective.
- By george elliot "sandy" on 09-16-24
By: Nancy MacDonell
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The Friday Afternoon Club
- A Family Memoir
- By: Griffin Dunne
- Narrated by: Griffin Dunne
- Length: 12 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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At nine, Sean Connery saved him from drowning. At thirteen, desperate to hook up with Janis Joplin, he attended his aunt Joan Didion and uncle John Gregory Dunne’s legendary LA launch party for Tom Wolfe’s The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. At sixteen, he got kicked out of boarding school, ending his institutional education for good.
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Griffiths phrasing made it easy to listen and absorb.
- By Nancie Keay on 06-17-24
By: Griffin Dunne
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The Money Trap
- Lost Illusions Inside the Tech Bubble
- By: Alok Sama
- Narrated by: Raza Jaffrey
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Veteran Morgan Stanley banker Alok Sama thought he'd seen it all. Then he found himself chief dealmaker at the most influential technology investor in the world—SoftBank, the backer of Arm Holdings, Yahoo, Nvidia, TikTok, Uber, T-Mobile, Alibaba and WeWork. The Money Trap is Sama’s thrilling, stranger-than-fiction personal odyssey featuring his experiences alongside SoftBank’s iconic founder, Masayoshi Son, a visionary maverick who wants to be remembered as “the crazy guy who bet on the future” and whose mission is “happiness for everyone.”
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Kept waiting for it to get exciting... but it never did.
- By Mark on 12-03-24
By: Alok Sama
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Disney High
- The Untold Story of the Rise and Fall of Disney Channel's Tween Empire
- By: Ashley Spencer
- Narrated by: Lalaine
- Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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From private feuds and on-set disasters to fanfare that swept the nation and the realities of child stardom, culture journalist Ashley Spencer offers the first unauthorized look at the heyday of TV’s House of Mouse, featuring hundreds of exclusive new interviews with former Disney executives, creatives, and talent to explore the highs, lows, and everything in between.
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Reads like fiction!
- By Leslie on 10-05-24
By: Ashley Spencer
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How to Piss Off Men
- 109 Things to Say to Shatter the Male Ego
- By: Kyle Prue
- Narrated by: Kyle Prue
- Length: 1 hr and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Have you ever been badgered by an annoying pick-up artist at the bar? Ever felt a burning desire to emotionally torture a friend’s boyfriend in an act of revenge? Have you ever endured just talking to a man before? If so, then this book is for you. With more than 100 phrases, questions, and comebacks, How to Piss Off Men is your essential guide to sending even the most relentless mansplainer into an existential crisis.
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A delightful and meaningful read!
- By Elizabeth Cary on 09-19-24
By: Kyle Prue
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Q
- A Voyage around the Queen
- By: Craig Brown
- Narrated by: Craig Brown, Harriet Walter
- Length: 19 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Up until now, the curious tactic employed by biographers of the Queen has been to ignore what is interesting and to concentrate on what is not. Craig Brown, the author of 150 Glimpses of the Beatles and Hello Goodbye Hello, rejects this formula, bringing his kaleidoscopic approach to the most famous—and most guarded—woman on earth, examining the Queen through a succession of interlocking prisms. With Q, this fantastically funny, marvelously insightful journalist gives us an unforgettable portrait of the omnipresent, elusive Queen Elizabeth II.
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great performance and unique perspective
- By CoCo on 12-09-24
By: Craig Brown
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Why I Cook
- By: Tom Colicchio
- Narrated by: Will Damron, Tom Colicchio
- Length: 7 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Tom Colicchio cooked his first recipe at 13 years old—a stuffed eggplant from an issue of Cuisine magazine that he picked up out of boredom—and it changed his life. Listeners are in for a treat as the talented Will Damron (who has read over 700 audiobooks) delivers an immersive account of Emmy Award-winning celebrity chef and beloved restaurateur Tom Colicchio’s life, challenges, and success.
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Good story short on details, padded with recipes
- By S. Mahon on 12-13-24
By: Tom Colicchio
What listeners say about Building Material
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Noemi Rivera
- 10-04-24
Finally Memoir from a born and bred New Yorker who isn’t filtered by mainstream portrayals and depictions of its residents.
Stephen Bruno's Building Material offers a refreshing and authentic glimpse into the life of a Park Avenue doorman, narrated through the lens of a true New Yorker. Unlike many portrayals of New Yorkers that come from outsiders, Bruno's perspective as a Latino from the Bronx brings raw honesty and depth to his experiences.
The memoir stands out for maintaining the anonymity but unfiltered portrayal of the tenants and the intricacies of their lives, shedding light on a world that often goes unseen. Bruno's storytelling resonates with anyone familiar with similar upbringings, providing a candid look at the struggles and triumphs that shape his journey.
Rather than delivering the polished, glamorous narrative one might expect about the elite of Park Avenue, Bruno’s writing is grounded in real-life events and relatable characters. This authenticity is a welcome reprieve from the often superficial narratives that dominate contemporary media. While some may find his candidness challenging, those who appreciate genuine storytelling will find much to admire.
In a time when cultural conversations can feel stifled, Building Material encourages readers to embrace the complexities of life and identity. Kudos to Stephen Bruno for crafting a memoir that is both entertaining and thought-provoking. A job well done!
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- Lisa
- 10-17-24
Really interesting!
I really liked this! A neat glimpse into the world of nyc buildings and interesting characters!
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1 person found this helpful
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- Caleb Lee
- 09-24-24
It’s art. It’s literature. It’s life.
A once in a century story of an American life told with exceptional humor, nostalgia, and intrigue. You don’t only fall in love with the author, but the entire cast of unforgettable NYC characters. This memoir offers a witty glimpse into the secret life of New York's elite through the eyes of the man who holds their door. The author will make you appreciate your job in a new way and learn to never take any experience for granted. Bravo to Mr Bruno and his fantastic story – we can’t wait for the sequel!
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- Erica Ratkovicz
- 11-07-24
Don’t bother
Not worth the listen or read. Childish writing and storyline is all over the place. Horrible
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- Grace
- 10-29-24
So torn about this one
I love memoir. I felt very torn through out this one. The authors story is interesting - absolutely, but for me, it had to either be more about his life or more about the job. Being a doorman is secondary to this story, so if you’re looking for a juicy story with gossip about building residents- there is literally none. I didn’t mind the shift to the authors life story, but it completely lacked self reflection or nuance. He repeatedly accused others of assuming things about him and then in the next sentence assumed bold things about others without context or background. There were so many missing pieces- like why was he interested in a relationship with Bam Bam. Memoir has the opportunity to show someone’s growth, development, journey- and make you question your own. The only growth this showed was the actual passage of time, his career development and development as a writer- nothing internal or deeper. Huge miss in my opinion. Sadly I would recommend skipping it. It missed the mark for me.
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1 person found this helpful