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Fraud
- Narrated by: David Rakoff
- Length: 4 hrs and 12 mins
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Publisher's summary
You've heard him on This American Life! Now read his book!
Wherever he is, David Rakoff is a fish out of water. Whether impersonating Sigmund Freud in a department store window during the holidays, climbing an icy mountain in cheap loafers, playing an evil modeling agent on a daytime soap opera, or learning primitive survival skills in the wilds of New Jersey, Rakoff doesn't belong. Nor does he try to. Still, he continually finds himself off in the far-flung hinterlands of our culture, notebook or microphone in hand, hoping to conjure that dyed-in-the-wool New York condescension.
And Rakoff tries to be nasty; heaven knows nothing succeeds like the cheap sneer, but he can't quite help noticing that these are actual human beings he's writing about. In his attempts not to pull any punches, the most damaging blows, more often than not, land squarely on his own jaw - hilariously satirizing the writer, not the subject.
And therein lies David Rakoff's genius and his burgeoning appeal. The wry and the heartfelt join in his prose to resurrect that most neglected of literary virtues: wit.
Read the blurbs again on the back. They signal the arrival of a brilliant new American essayist. (Okay, Canadian.)
Critic reviews
"Rakoff possesses a sociologist's eye for places where today’s consoling myths reside." (New York Times)
"David Rakoff’s Fraud showcases his rapier wit, slashing in all directions with slice-of-life insights and cutting remarks, sometimes nicking himself with self-deprecation in his dexterous duello with the American experience." (Publishers Weekly [starred review])
"Rakoff likes to paint himself as urbane to a fault, an outsider anywhere unpaved. But then, in the woods or on a mountaintop, he reveals himself, despite his searing and hilarious observations, to be a completely unrelenting romantic." (Dave Eggers, author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius)
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Extremely disappointed
- By Diana in Michigan on 07-20-23
By: Samantha Irby
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I Was Told There'd Be Cake
- By: Sloane Crosley
- Narrated by: Sloane Crosley
- Length: 6 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Crosley can do no right despite the best of intentions-or perhaps because of them. Together, these essays create a startlingly funny and revealing portrait of a complex and utterly recognizable character that's aiming for the stars but hits the ceiling and the inimitable city that has helped shape who she is. I Was Told There'd Be Cake introduces a strikingly original voice, chronicling the struggles and unexpected beauty of modern urban life.
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So self-involved
- By Eleanor on 09-20-12
By: Sloane Crosley
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One Day We'll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter
- Essays
- By: Scaachi Koul
- Narrated by: Scaachi Koul
- Length: 5 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Scaachi Koul deploys her razor-sharp humor to share all the fears, outrages, and mortifying moments of her life. She learned from an early age what made her miserable, and for Scaachi anything can be cause for despair. Whether it’s a shopping trip gone awry; enduring awkward conversations with her bikini waxer; overcoming her fear of flying while vacationing halfway around the world; dealing with Internet trolls, or navigating the fears and anxieties of her parents.
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So here's the thing...
- By Laura on 08-15-17
By: Scaachi Koul
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A Carnival of Snackery
- Diaries (2003-2020)
- By: David Sedaris
- Narrated by: David Sedaris, Tracey Ullman
- Length: 17 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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If it’s navel-gazing you’re after, you’ve come to the wrong place; ditto treacly self-examination. Rather, his observations turn outward: a fight between two men on a bus, a fight between two men on the street, pedestrians being whacked over the head or gathering to watch as a man considers leaping to his death. There’s a dirty joke shared at a book signing, then a dirtier one told at a dinner party - lots of jokes here. Plenty of laughs.
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Tracey Ullman?
- By Kelley R. on 10-05-21
By: David Sedaris
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Happy-Go-Lucky
- By: David Sedaris
- Narrated by: David Sedaris
- Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Back when restaurant menus were still printed on paper, and wearing a mask—or not—was a decision made mostly on Halloween, David Sedaris spent his time doing normal things. As Happy-Go-Lucky opens, he is learning to shoot guns with his sister, visiting muddy flea markets in Serbia, buying gummy worms to feed to ants, and telling his nonagenarian father wheelchair jokes. But then the pandemic hits, and like so many others, he’s stuck in lockdown, unable to tour and read for audiences, the part of his work he loves most.
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Great except for an audio glitch
- By Rynnkins on 06-01-22
By: David Sedaris
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The Fraud
- A Novel
- By: Zadie Smith
- Narrated by: Zadie Smith
- Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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It is 1873. Mrs. Eliza Touchet is the Scottish housekeeper—and cousin by marriage—of a once-famous novelist, now in decline, William Ainsworth, with whom she has lived for thirty years. Mrs. Touchet is a woman of many interests: literature, justice, abolitionism, class, her cousin, his wives, this life and the next. But she is also sceptical. She suspects her cousin of having no talent; his successful friend, Mr. Charles Dickens, of being a bully and a moralist; and England of being a land of facades, in which nothing is quite what it seems.
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Very disappointing
- By Happy purchaser on 09-10-23
By: Zadie Smith
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Cloud Cuckoo Land
- A Novel
- By: Anthony Doerr
- Narrated by: Marin Ireland, Simon Jones
- Length: 14 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Among the most celebrated and beloved novels of 2021, Anthony Doerr’s gorgeous third novel is a triumph of imagination and compassion, a soaring story about children on the cusp of adulthood in worlds in peril, who find resilience, hope—and a book. In Cloud Cuckoo Land, Doerr has created a magnificent tapestry of times and places that reflects our vast interconnectedness—with other species, with each other, with those who lived before us, and with those who will be here after we’re gone.
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Academic Snobbery
- By TVR on 10-03-21
By: Anthony Doerr
What listeners say about Fraud
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- MaryAnn
- 05-15-15
A brave and gentle man.
Listening to someone courageous enough to tell the truth,and so very kind was a pleasure. Four more words yes
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2 people found this helpful
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- Erin Armand
- 02-23-23
A great listen
I love David Rakoff. So sad he’s gone. Great perspectives and lots of laughs. I miss him❤️
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- jpv
- 03-20-14
No as funny as Sedaris
Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?
I did not finish the book. I have listened to the first hour or so and then got really bored with it. I listened while driving and my mind would just drift away. The stories were not engaging or funny. It's witty at times, but too self-absorbed and self-centred. If you like Woody Allen's comedy, you may like this. It was not for me.
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3 people found this helpful
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- awake
- 09-18-19
wonderful book, it was such a shame to lose him
wonderful book, it was such a shame to lose him. well with your time and money.
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- L. B.
- 03-07-13
This book may be a fraud, I was looking for funny
If you could sum up Fraud in three words, what would they be?
Gay NYC Jewish Humor
What did you like best about this story?
I'm 75, female,straight, from a tiny. 2000 population, Southern town, The first adult book I ever read when in the third grade, (my poor little elementary school didn't have a library) was my mother's book club edition of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I learned that a book can carry you to another world, country, city--into another's mind. I loved it.
So here is a story by a Gay Jewish Man who hates dogs, knows nothing about the outdoors I have loved, doesn't enjoy Christmas or quaint B&Bs in New England, yet, the third time I heard it, we connected. I grew to like the book and him, although I'm sure that had we met in an elevator last December in Rockefeller Center, he would have ignored me as I managed a sideways peek at him. It would have been a longer peek had I known he was an author--but then this book--while a BOOK is still sort of a fraud, as he well knows.
Still he chose to climb a mountain in December for a magazine article. Was horribly out of comfort and place, But he did it, and shared the experience.
What does David Rakoff bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
Immediacy.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
No
Any additional comments?
This book was out of my comfort zone. I began feeling sorry for this sad man, and ended understanding that people are different, They have different life experiences. Different approaches to life. I found that he and I share many values, dreams, and goals. Hear the book.
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9 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Suzan
- 05-19-03
Whinny gay Jew surprisingly funny.
Overprivileged whinny gay Jew Ivy League graduate and son-of-psychologist David Rakoff relates tales of life in the big city. He overcomes being Jewish and gay, and goes on to beat cancer and donate sperm. He goes to a lot of weekend retreats too. His story about Steven Segal leading a seminar at a New Age seminar is pretty funny.
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6 people found this helpful
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Overall
- W. M. Amber
- 08-06-08
Honest
What I love about this book is David's Honesty. He weaves funny tales in with painful ones. As an avid listener of TAL i enjoyed him as much throughout this book as i did, listening to his stories on the show. It was a short and great listen.
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2 people found this helpful
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- rocky
- 05-12-15
Such joy.
I really miss Rakoff.
Always fun to listen.
What can I say, he was completely different from me, yet I feel like I know him.
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2 people found this helpful
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- K2
- 07-09-15
Miss him
This book makes me miss him even more. He had a way with words that was simply elegant.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Lisa
- 01-08-10
All the joys of eves-dropping without the guilt
Listening to David Rakoff is just so much fun! His command of the language, hilarious perspective and extensive vocabulary make this an enjoyable audio book.
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1 person found this helpful