City on Fire
A Novel
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About this listen
A big-hearted, boundary-vaulting novel that heralds a remarkable new talent: set in 1970s New York, a story outsized in its generosity, warmth, and ambition, its deep feeling for its characters, its exuberant imagination.
The individuals who live within this extraordinary first novel are: Regan and William Hamilton-Sweeney, estranged heirs to one of the city's largest fortunes; Keith and Mercer, the men who, for better or worse, love them; Charlie and Samantha, two suburban teenagers seduced by downtown's punk scene; an obsessive magazine reporter and his idealistic neighbor; and the detective trying to figure out what any of them have to do with a shooting in Central Park. Their entangled relationships open up the loneliest-seeming corners of the crowded city. And when the infamous blackout of July 13, 1977, plunges this world into darkness, each of these lives will be changed forever. A novel about love and betrayal and forgiveness, about art and truth and rock 'n' roll, about how the people closest to us are sometimes the hardest to reach - about what it means to be human.
Read by Rebecca Lowman with Macleod Andrews, Alex McKenna, Paul Michael, Tristan Morris, and Bronson Pinchot.
©2015 Garth Risk Hallberg (P)2015 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Shadow Show
- All-New Stories in Celebration of Ray Bradbury
- By: Sam Weller - editor, Mort Castle - editor
- Narrated by: George Takei, Edward Herrmann, Kate Mulgrew, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Ray Bradbury - peerless storyteller, poet of the impossible, and one of America's most beloved authors - is a literary giant whose remarkable career spanned seven decades. Now 26 of today's most diverse and celebrated authors offer new short works in honor of the master; stories of heart, intelligence, and dark wonder from a remarkable range of creative artists.
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THE MAN WHO FORGOT RAY BRADBURY
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 05-27-17
By: Sam Weller - editor, and others
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Burn Baby Burn
- By: Meg Medina
- Narrated by: Marisol Ramirez
- Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Nora Lopez is 17 during the infamous New York summer of 1977, when the city is besieged by arson, a massive blackout, and a serial killer named Son of Sam who shoots young women on the streets. Nora's family life isn't going so well either: her bullying brother, Hector, is growing more threatening by the day, her mother is helpless and falling behind on the rent, and her father calls only on holidays. All Nora wants is to turn 17 and be on her own.
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Couldn't finish listening to this book.
- By Mathis on 12-03-17
By: Meg Medina
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The Poison Tree
- By: Erin Kelly
- Narrated by: Jennifer Ikeda
- Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Successful journalist Erin Kelly has electrified readers and critics alike with her debut novel The Poison Tree. In this scintillating work, Karen and her daughter Alice have established a safe, happy life free from the madness of Karen’s past. But when Karen’s former lover Rex is released from prison, her old associations intrude upon the present - and threaten everything she holds dear.
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I couldn't stop listening the book.
- By Gladys on 07-29-15
By: Erin Kelly
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Too Bright to Hear Too Loud to See
- By: Juliann Garey
- Narrated by: Dan Butler
- Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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In her tour-de-force first novel, Juliann Garey takes us inside the restless mind, ravaged heart, and anguished soul of Greyson Todd, a successful Hollywood studio executive who leaves his wife and young daughter and for a decade travels the world giving free reign to the bipolar disorder he's been forced to keep hidden for almost 20 years.
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Psychosis or Syphilis?
- By Vira on 04-02-13
By: Juliann Garey
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Since We Fell
- A Novel
- By: Dennis Lehane
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 12 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Since We Fell follows Rachel Childs, a former journalist who, after an on-air mental breakdown, now lives as a virtual shut-in. In all other respects, however, she enjoys an ideal life with an ideal husband. Until a chance encounter on a rainy afternoon causes that ideal life to fray. As does Rachel's marriage. As does Rachel herself. Sucked into a conspiracy thick with deception, violence, and possibly madness, Rachel must find the strength within herself to conquer unimaginable fears and mind-altering truths.
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Wait ....
- By Ann on 05-17-17
By: Dennis Lehane
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Crimes by Moonlight
- Mysteries from the Dark Side
- By: Charlaine Harris - author/editor
- Narrated by: Natalie Ross
- Length: 12 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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In number-one New York Times best-selling author Charlaine Harris’s "Dahlia Underground,” venerable vampire Dahlia Lynley-Chivers survives an attack by an anti-vampire terrorist group, only to show them they tried to blow up the wrong bloodsucker. Bailey Ruth Raeburn, a ghost assigned to assist humans in trouble, steps into the middle of a marital dispute with surprising twists in Carolyn Hart’s “Riding High”....
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Pleasantly surprised
- By Bonnie on 08-06-11
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Outside Looking In
- A Novel
- By: T. C. Boyle
- Narrated by: Johnathan McClain
- Length: 14 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1943, LSD is synthesized in Basel. Two decades later, a coterie of grad students at Harvard are gradually drawn into the inner circle of renowned psychologist and psychedelic drug enthusiast Timothy Leary. Fitzhugh Loney, a psychology PhD student, and his wife, Joanie, become entranced by the drug’s possibilities such that their “research” becomes less a matter of clinical trials and academic papers and instead turns into a freewheeling exploration of mind expansion, group dynamics, and communal living.
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STORYTELLING AS CONSCIOUSNESS-RAISING
- By Christopher Meeks on 05-25-19
By: T. C. Boyle
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The Man in the Crooked Hat
- By: Harry Dolan
- Narrated by: Joel Richards
- Length: 11 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Private investigator Jack Pellum has spent two years searching for the man he believes murdered his wife - a man he last saw wearing a peacoat and a fedora. Months of posting flyers and combing through crime records yields no leads. Then a local writer commits suicide, and he leaves a bewildering message that may be the first breadcrumb in a winding trail of unsolved murders....
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Crazy Glue'd Me To Story
- By Ted on 01-11-18
By: Harry Dolan
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The Fragile World
- A Novel
- By: Paula Treick DeBoard
- Narrated by: Jessica Almasy, Will Damron
- Length: 11 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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The Kaufmans have always considered themselves a normal, happy family. Curtis is a physics teacher at a local high school. His wife, Kathleen, restores furniture for upscale boutiques. Daniel is away at college on a prestigious music scholarship, and 12-year-old Olivia is a happy-go-lucky kid whose biggest concern is passing her next math test. And then comes the middle-of-the-night phone call that changes everything.
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Inaccurate
- By CCB on 03-10-15
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Wonder Boys
- By: Michael Chabon
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 11 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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A wildly successful first novel made Grady Tripp a young star, and seven years later he still hasn't grown up. He's now a writing professor in Pittsburgh, plummeting through middle age, stuck with an unfinishable manuscript, an estranged wife, a pregnant girlfriend, and a talented but deeply disturbed student named James Leer.
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A strong, early Chabon (sounds like grading wine)
- By Darwin8u on 03-09-14
By: Michael Chabon
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The Yiddish Policemen's Union
- A Novel
- By: Michael Chabon
- Narrated by: Peter Riegert
- Length: 12 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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For 60 years Jewish refugees and their descendants have prospered in the federal district of Sitka, a temporary safe haven created in the wake of the Holocaust and the shocking 1948 collapse of the fledgling state of Israel. The Jews of the Sitka District have created their own little world in the Alaskan panhandle, a vibrant and complex frontier city that moves to the music of Yiddish. But now the district is set to revert to Alaskan control, and their dream is coming to an end.
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Didn't finish...
- By Ann E O'Connor on 10-16-17
By: Michael Chabon
What listeners say about City on Fire
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Janet
- 11-13-15
Long, But a Stunner Nonetheless
Any additional comments?
To be honest, I jumped on this audiobook because I knew it would get me through a lot of commuting hours! But I ended up really enjoying it. The nice thing about a book this long is that there is plenty of time to delve into the psyche of each character before the book hits its climax. Only downside is that it starts to drag a bit toward the end, since for whatever reason the author decided to jump 20 years forward in time at random while the action is going on--the problem is nobody really CARES what happened in 20 years, or who sent who what email. Aside from that, it's quite a story, and I can see why the movie rights for this one were snapped up right away. Buy it--it's worth it!
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3 people found this helpful
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- B S Davis
- 12-13-15
OMG this book needed an Editor
Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?
I made my self listen to the whole book I am never a quitter even though I wanted to. The detail of this book was so great I did not care what happen to the characters. There was so many characters I could not keep up. This book was written very beautifully written but my goodness it was way too long. Could lose a hundred pages or more to tell the story .
Has City on Fire turned you off from other books in this genre?
I am not sure where it would fit it part mystery part drama, and part soap opera
What does the narrators bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
They were all very good
Could you see City on Fire being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?
I sure it will be but trust me it will be awful. I just wasted 30 days listening to this book that is about all I am willing to waste . If made into a series or movie count me out .
Any additional comments?
Yes, first of all the story was to long and there was no big pay off in the ending. I wont discuss it here but trust me when you find out the ending you go I wasted 36 hours for this. Parts of the book was great but a lot of it was just a waste. There were no characters to root for they all seemed so dispersed with their life that as a listener you wanted them all go to group therapy and the therapist would say “get over it welcome to life.” The three stars is for the narrators of this book. I read in a lot of areas and have been an book reader since 1977 but what would help this book is a editor that’s would help shape this book into greatness.
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- NJD
- 03-28-16
Just stunning.....
Sad and evocative yet beautiful in every way. I adore every character- from the most menacing demon brother to the prophet, Charlie. A book I will definitely listen to again, soon.
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- Invisible Wheel
- 03-12-17
Good story but pretentious writing
The story is interesting enough but the way it was written was pretentious. The writer uses inappropriate words like he pulled them out of a thesaurus and then uses references which are totally out of context for the 1960s/70s. High thread count, Eritrea? People drinking Lagavulin and mezcal like hip millenials? While thread counts may have been high then, no one was counting them and while Eritrea as a state existed, it was known as part of Ethiopia then and did not become an independent nation till the 90s. I found it annoying - all this trivial references that were just so out of place.
I did, however, finish the entire book because I wanted to know the entire story.
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- WDD
- 12-02-16
Loved it from the first minute
I really enjoyed listening to this book. The characters are multi-level and are developed from the very beginning. I was pleased with the narrator and her ability to differentiate the characters.
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- Janet A. Flemer
- 12-19-15
Struggled to finish
I'm sorry but finishing this, until I actually started finishing, was something I kept putting off I actually enjoyed the wrap up, but getting there a bit of a slog. Could have been three books!
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- Susanne
- 04-17-16
Very long novel
"City on fire" contains many interesting aspects and views on New York. However, it is far too long, and I find that the performance of the person reading the major part of the book didn't fit in with the characters. Her voice and acting was too sentimental. In many ways, it's a sad story, but her performance underlined it negatively. Her voice should have had a more matter-of-fact quality - or she should have read only Regan's part.
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- Matthew Lawson
- 05-20-16
This book is insane. Great narrator.
I think some people got confused about the narrator when it changes. It's only for a short time, 1.5hrs max, then it goes back to the main reader.
Other than that. This book really impressed me. The loaded content of 6 main characters and 6 more side ones, was shockingly easy to follow. I rarely confused myself when the POV changed, and I always fell into whichever character was described.
This isn't for people who want a story for the story. It's a story that tells more in its details than what's "happening". David Mitchell meats Murakami you could say. But definitely something on his own. I'm excited to see what he writes next.
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- KARL JACKSON
- 05-31-23
Wait on it?!
There is an interesting story here but you have to wait on it. I think the payoff was worth it (probably).
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- snow
- 02-04-16
Loved...Most of It
Would you listen to City on Fire again? Why?
Yes. in time. The two negatives I mention below would not keep me away.
1. I didn't enjoy the "interludes," at all. I thought they were boring and they felt self-indulgent to me.
2. Toward the end, the author jumped 20 years forward in time, at random, while the action is going on. Personally, I was invested in the period of the novel, not future small details.
Would you recommend City on Fire to your friends? Why or why not?
I would recommend it to all of my New Yorker friends, young and old. The author allows glimpses into several different worlds of NYC, and a time in history that was crazy, gritty, a hellhole of squalor; and unlike most of NYC today.
Have you listened to any of the narrators’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
Rebecca Lowman's narration gets on my nerves and was the weakest point of this Audible book. I will avoid her narrations.
If you could take any character from City on Fire out to dinner, who would it be and why?
William, of course. He was the star. He was a star.
Any additional comments?
I can already see the movie in my head
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5 people found this helpful