Early Warning
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Lorelei King
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By:
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Jane Smiley
About this listen
From the Pulitzer Prize-winner: the second installment, following Some Luck, of her widely acclaimed, best-selling American trilogy, which brings the journey of a remarkable family with roots in the Iowa heartland into mid-century America
Early Warning opens in 1953 with the Langdon family at a crossroads. Their stalwart patriarch, Walter, who with his wife, Rosanna, sustained their farm for three decades, has suddenly died, leaving their five children, now adults, looking to the future. Only one will remain in Iowa to work the land, while the others scatter to Washington, D.C., California, and everywhere in between.
As the country moves out of post–World War II optimism through the darker landscape of the Cold War and the social and sexual revolutions of the 1960s and ’70s, and then into the unprecedented wealth—for some—of the early 1980s, the Langdon children each follow a different path in a rapidly changing world. And they now have children of their own: twin boys who are best friends and vicious rivals; a girl whose rebellious spirit takes her to the notorious Peoples Temple in San Francisco; and a golden boy who drops out of college to fight in Vietnam—leaving behind a secret legacy that will send shock waves through the Langdon family into the next generation.
Capturing a transformative period through richly drawn characters we come to know and care deeply for, Early Warning continues Smiley’s extraordinary epic trilogy, a gorgeously told saga that began with Some Luck and will span a century in America. But it also stands entirely on its own as an engrossing story of the challenges—and rewards—of family and home, even in the most turbulent of times, all while showcasing a beloved writer at the height of her considerable powers.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2015 Jane Smiley (P)2015 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
“In Early Warning, the five grown Langdon children take center stage, and [the book] concludes in 1986, with a second generation heading offstage to make room for their children. They take with them the rise and fall of disco, the beginnings of AIDS, the terror of nuclear war. There is a grandeur to this—the novel engrosses us. We fall for the Langdons as the pages turn, their lives passing with terrible speed as the new generation waits impatiently for their turn in the sun. Take consolation in Golden Age, the trilogy’s final installment, arriving in October (Smiley is certain to have a field day with Presidents Bush). And don’t forget the solace of rereading. Novels may take liberties with lives, speeding them along, but characters, unlike their creators, are immortal.” —Diane Leach, PopMatters
“Triumphant. Richly engrossing . . . Smiley propels the Langdons—and her readers—into American life. Here are the big historic events [from 1953 to 1986]—from the Cold War to Vietnam; JFK’s presidency and assassination to the Jonestown mass suicides; Watergate to the Iran hostage crisis; the AIDS epidemic to the sexual revolution—that defined those times. [But] while history shapes Early Warning, it is the personal dramas that command attention. Charismatic, amoral Frank, who seems to make money at whatever he turns to, is still at the center . . . Smiley’s saga mines the inner lives of its characters. Early Warning is a masterful novel that sets the universal questions about love, family, home and identity against the background of a turbulent century. If there is a flaw, it is only that readers will have to wait for The Golden Age, the final volume of Smiley’s brilliantly conceived epic trilogy.” —Amy Goodfellow Wagner, examiner.com (five stars)
“Smiley’s most significant work . . . Early Warning’s scope is broad without ever veering off course. It’s about the adult Langdon children and the people they’re becoming, who they’ve created, the lives they’ve lived and built, along with all the political, natural, social, economical, ecological, fashionable, and cultural happenings that swirl around them on and off the farm. If anyone thought the prolific Smiley peaked with A Thousand Acres, they’d be wrong . . . Absorbing.” —Wendy Ward, Baltimore City Paper
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Great
- By chris on 04-11-08
By: Tobias Wolff
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Saints for All Occasions
- A Novel
- By: J. Courtney Sullivan
- Narrated by: Susan Denaker
- Length: 15 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Nora and Theresa Flynn are 21 and 17 when they leave their small village in Ireland and journey to America. Nora is the responsible sister; she's shy and serious and engaged to a man she isn't sure that she loves. Theresa is gregarious; she is thrilled by their new life in Boston and besotted with the fashionable dresses and dance halls on Dudley Street. But when Theresa ends up pregnant, Nora is forced to come up with a plan - a decision with repercussions they are both far too young to understand.
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The narration ruined it
- By Janis Reynolds on 06-12-17
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Vegas Rich
- Vegas, Book 1
- By: Fern Michaels
- Narrated by: Laural Merlington
- Length: 21 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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With a heart full of dreams, Sallie Coleman leaves Texas and heads west determined to get as far from the squalor of her dirt poor beginnings. With its shifting sands, smoky saloons, and bingo palaces, Las Vegas seems like a paradise. A paradise where an extraordinary twist of fate makes Sallie the most powerful businesswoman in Nevada.
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Get this booK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- By Amazon Customer on 09-26-10
By: Fern Michaels
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She Got Up Off the Couch
- By: Haven Kimmel
- Narrated by: Haven Kimmel
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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When we last saw Zippy, she was oblivious to the storm that was brewing in her home. Her mother, Delonda, had literally just gotten up off the couch and ridden her rickety bicycle down the road. Her dad was off somewhere, gambling or "working." And Zippy was lost in her own fabulous world of exploring the fringes of Moorland, Indiana.
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Great fun !!
- By Kim on 04-20-11
By: Haven Kimmel
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Boy, Snow, Bird
- By: Helen Oyeyemi
- Narrated by: Susan Bennett, Carra Patterson
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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In the winter of 1953, Boy Novak arrives by chance in a small town in Massachusetts, looking, she believes, for beauty - the opposite of the life she' s left behind in New York. She marries a local widower and becomes stepmother to his winsome daughter, Snow Whitman. A wicked stepmother is a creature Boy never imagined she' d become, but elements of the familiar tale of aesthetic obsession begin to play themselves out when the birth of Boy' s daughter, Bird, who is dark-skinned, exposes the Whitmans as light-skinned African Americans passing for white.
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For Literary Lovers
- By M. Shipe on 04-25-14
By: Helen Oyeyemi
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My True Love Gave to Me
- Twelve Holiday Stories
- By: Stephanie Perkins - editor
- Narrated by: Various
- Length: 12 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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You're going to fall in love with My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories by twelve bestselling young adult writers, edited by the international bestselling Stephanie Perkins. Whether you celebrate Christmas or Hanukkah, Winter Solstice or Kwanzaa, there's something here for everyone. So curl up by the fireplace and get cozy. You have twelve reasons this season to stay indoors and fall in love.
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Nice Holiday Read
- By Doha on 11-23-16
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How to Be an American Housewife
- A Novel
- By: Margaret Dilloway
- Narrated by: Laural Merlington, Emily Durante
- Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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How to Be an American Housewife is a novel about mothers and daughters and the pull of tradition. It tells the story of Shoko, a Japanese woman who married an American GI, and her grown daughter, Sue, a divorced mother whose life as an American housewife hasn't been what she'd expected. When illness prevents Shoko from traveling to Japan, she asks Sue to go in her place. The trip reveals family secrets that change their lives in dramatic and unforeseen ways.
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big disappointment
- By Kirsten on 04-12-12
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Strong Motion
- By: Jonathan Franzen
- Narrated by: Scott Aiello
- Length: 20 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Louis Holland arrives in Boston in a spring of ecological upheaval (a rash of earthquakes on the North Shore) and odd luck: the first one kills his grandmother. Louis tries to maintain his independence, but falls in love with a Harvard seismologist whose discoveries about the earthquakes' cause complicate everything.
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Compelling Story, Ridiculous Narrator
- By DianeReads on 02-28-16
By: Jonathan Franzen
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The Lost Husband
- By: Katherine Center
- Narrated by: Amy Rubinate
- Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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"Dear Libby, It occurs to me that you and your two children have been living with your mother for - Dear Lord! - two whole years, and I'm writing to see if you'd like to be rescued." The letter comes out of the blue, and just in time for Libby Moran, who - after the sudden death of her husband, Danny - went to stay with her hypercritical mother. Now her crazy Aunt Jean has offered Libby an escape: a job and a place to live on her farm in the Texas Hill Country.
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wonderful story. narrator kind of a sad sack.
- By Susan Reynolds on 07-24-19
By: Katherine Center
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Bullet in the Brain
- By: Tobias Wolff
- Narrated by: Anthony Heald
- Length: 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Anders is an angry, cynical man. A book critic known for his scathing reviews, he finds any excuse to dismiss, belittle, or insult. This afternoon is no more agitating than the next. Angers finds himself in a long line at the bank, waiting to reach a teller. Even after two men - wearing masks and carrying guns - take control of the building, Anders is unfazed. It's this behavior that lands him with a pistol against his stomach and a man screamingin his face. And when the bank robber, indignant over Anders' behavior, shoots the book critic in the head, his mind floats through the memories of his life, settling on one particular event....
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The Perfect Example
- By Sarah on 08-01-17
By: Tobias Wolff
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Liberating Paris
- A Novel
- By: Linda Bloodworth Thomason
- Narrated by: Cynthia Darlow
- Length: 12 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Woodrow McIlmore, the town's golden boy and local gynecologist, is married to his beautiful high school sweetheart, Milan, and seems by all appearances to be leading the perfect life with his two children and extended family and friends. But when Wood's daughter announces that she is smitten with a college classmate and intends to marry him, her parents are stunned.
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Deeply moving, a great listen
- By Cynthia on 11-27-05
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Kissing Games of the World
- By: Sandi Kahn Shelton
- Narrated by: Myra Platt
- Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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What if the one person you can't bear to be with is also the one person you can't bear to be without? Jamie McClintock is a free-spirited artist and single mother who has at last found peace and freedom sharing a farmhouse with an elderly man and his young grandson. But when the old man dies suddenly her idyllic country life comes to a halt as the old man's estranged son, Nate, returns to claim the house and his child.
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Great Writer, Great Narrator ! Loved it!
- By Ms. Critic on 05-30-09
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Hannah's Dream
- By: Diane Hammond
- Narrated by: Laura Flanagan
- Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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For 41 years, Samson Brown has been caring for Hannah, the lone elephant at the down-at-the-heels Max L. Biedelman Zoo. Having vowed not to retire until an equally loving and devoted caretaker is found to replace him, Sam rejoices when smart, compassionate Neva Wilson is hired as the new elephant keeper. But Neva quickly discovers what Sam already knows: that despite their loving care, Hannah is isolated from other elephants and her feet are nearly ruined from standing on hard concrete all day.
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excellent narration, enjoyable story
- By Elizabeth on 05-11-13
By: Diane Hammond
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The Story of Arthur Truluv
- A Novel
- By: Elizabeth Berg
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Berg
- Length: 6 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Three people find their way back from loss and loneliness to a different kind of belonging in this deeply moving novel. Arthur, an old widower struggling to overcome his grief, meets Maddy, a troubled teenage girl who avoids school by hiding out where Arthur goes every day for lunch. The two strike up a friendship that draws them out of isolation.
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Sickly Sweet
- By Amazon Customer on 01-19-18
By: Elizabeth Berg
What listeners say about Early Warning
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- kamf
- 07-09-16
Great narrator!
Great narrator! And great story! I am hooked on the whole series. Highly recommend this narrator.
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- Geraldine Davis
- 07-10-16
Jane smiley. Irreverent as always
I so appreciate Jane Smiley for her humorous, irreverent sense of truth. She has you laughing to yourself, if not out loud within the first few pages of her books. I can say that I like to go back and reread her books. I never hesitate to buy her next novel because I know it will be an enjoyable way to spend my time.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Dee H.
- 02-12-16
dees review
I liked the simplivity of topic of the bookmand complexity of each character especially Frank and Author
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- Kelly
- 10-06-15
Give it some time!
I started and stopped this book twice before I finally made myself listen past the first couple hours. It's wonderful. There's no action or adventure or cliffhangers - it's just a beautifully written book about a family. Jane Smiley writes the heck out of these characters and they are each different and fascinating in their own way.
I love the way Lorelei King doesn't "over narrate" and still manages to give distinct voice to each character. Bravo!
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- bookworman55
- 07-11-15
Not sure why I read this
I know that Jane Smiley writes about farmers and their lives and hardships. Some Luck was much focused on that and I enjoyed that. Early Warning looks at the sons and daughters introduced in Some Luck and unless you buy into caring particularly about the offspring, the story line is only okay. Current events form part of the backdrop for the plot (bomb shelters, assassinations, Jonestown) but otherwise, I found the book only good, not great.
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- Silvermomma
- 05-30-16
Boring
What disappointed you about Early Warning?
hard to follow without rereading first book in the series--don't recall relationships and no hints to who is who. Characters aren't interesting.
Would you ever listen to anything by Jane Smiley again?
Maybe--I really liked earlier books
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2 people found this helpful
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- C.
- 10-29-15
Love the narrator, but not for this book!
Lorelei King is one of my favorites, however I listened to her in 1 of my favorite series and unfortunately the range in each character reminded me of the characters in the other series. I couldn't get past that so did not get far! I imagine if I could have separated the characters I would have been able to listen.
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- Jeanine M. Czech
- 10-04-15
Couldn't get into it
What would have made Early Warning better?
Too many names, too much dull narrative, I kept waiting for it to get interesting but gave up after about an hour. I'm disappointed - I liked Jane Smiley in the past...
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1 person found this helpful