Henderson the Rain King
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $19.46
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Joe Barrett
-
By:
-
Saul Bellow
About this listen
Saul Bellow evokes all the rich colors and exotic customs of a highly imaginary Africa in this acclaimed comic novel about a middle-aged American millionaire who, seeking a new, more rewarding life, descends upon an African tribe. Henderson's awesome feats of strength and his unbridled passion for life win him the admiration of the tribe - but it is his gift for making rain that turns him from mere hero into messiah. A hilarious, often ribald story, Henderson the Rain King is also a profound look at the forces that drive a man through life.
©1959, 2019 Saul Bellow (P)2019 Blackstone Audio, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Adventures of Augie March
- By: Saul Bellow
- Narrated by: Tom Parker
- Length: 22 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Augie is a poor but exuberant boy growing up in Chicago during the Depression. While his friends all settle into chosen professions, Augie demands a special destiny. He tests out a wild succession of occupations, proudly rejecting each as too limiting - until he tangles with the glamorous perfectionist Thea.
-
-
THAT part of the Universe visible from Chicago!
- By Darwin8u on 05-09-12
By: Saul Bellow
-
Mr. Sammler's Planet
- By: Saul Bellow
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 10 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mr. Artur Sammler is, above all, a man who has lasted, from the civilized pleasures of English life in the 1920s and 30s through the war and death camps in Poland. Moving now through the chaotic and dangerous streets of New York's Upper West Side, Mr. Sammler is attentive to everything, and appalled by nothing. He brings the same dispassionate curiosity to the activities of a black pickpocket on an uptown bus, the details of his niece Angela's sex life, and his daughter's lunacy as he does to the extraordinary theories of one Dr. V. Govinda Lal on the use we are to make of the moon.
-
-
ASTONISHING
- By madeline grunbaum on 01-25-22
By: Saul Bellow
-
Humboldt's Gift
- By: Saul Bellow
- Narrated by: Christopher Hurt
- Length: 18 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For years, they were the best of friends: the grand, erratic Humboldt and the ambitious young Charlie. But now Humboldt has died a failure, and Charlie's success-ridden life has taken various turns for the worse. Then Humboldt acts from the grave to change Charlie's life: he has left Charlie something in his will.
-
-
Great Book, Great Reader
- By Scott on 05-10-08
By: Saul Bellow
-
Collected Stories
- By: Saul Bellow, Janis Bellow - editor and preface, James Wood - introduction
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner, Richard Poe, Kate Reading, and others
- Length: 26 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here, collected in one volume and chosen by the author himself, are favorites such as "What Kind of Day Did You Have?", "Leaving the Yellow House", and a previously uncollected piece, "By the St. Lawrence". With his larger-than-life characters, irony, wisdom, and unique humor, Bellow presents a sharp, rich, and funny world that is infinitely surprising. With a preface by Janice Bellow and an introduction by James Wood, this is a collection to treasure for longtime Saul Bellow fans and an excellent introduction for new listeners.
-
-
Didn't love this collection
- By Michael on 05-03-21
By: Saul Bellow, and others
-
Ravelstein
- By: Saul Bellow
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Abe Ravelstein is a brilliant professor at a prominent Midwestern university and a man who glories in training the movers and shakers of the political world. He has lived grandly and ferociously - and much beyond his means. His close friend Chick has suggested that he put forth a book of his convictions about the ideas that sustain humankind, or kill it, and much to Ravelstein’s own surprise, he does and becomes a millionaire.
-
-
If Voltaire did a bio of Plato
- By Anonymous User on 03-09-23
By: Saul Bellow
-
Seize the Day
- By: Saul Bellow
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 3 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fading charmer Tommy Wilhelm has reached his day of reckoning and is scared. In his forties, he still retains a boyish impetuousness that has brought him to the brink of chaos: he is separated from his wife and children; at odds with his vain, successful father; failed in his acting career (a Hollywood agent once placed him as “the type that loses the girl”); and in a financial mess.
-
-
Why?
- By Ashraf Abaza on 05-16-19
By: Saul Bellow
-
The Adventures of Augie March
- By: Saul Bellow
- Narrated by: Tom Parker
- Length: 22 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Augie is a poor but exuberant boy growing up in Chicago during the Depression. While his friends all settle into chosen professions, Augie demands a special destiny. He tests out a wild succession of occupations, proudly rejecting each as too limiting - until he tangles with the glamorous perfectionist Thea.
-
-
THAT part of the Universe visible from Chicago!
- By Darwin8u on 05-09-12
By: Saul Bellow
-
Mr. Sammler's Planet
- By: Saul Bellow
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 10 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mr. Artur Sammler is, above all, a man who has lasted, from the civilized pleasures of English life in the 1920s and 30s through the war and death camps in Poland. Moving now through the chaotic and dangerous streets of New York's Upper West Side, Mr. Sammler is attentive to everything, and appalled by nothing. He brings the same dispassionate curiosity to the activities of a black pickpocket on an uptown bus, the details of his niece Angela's sex life, and his daughter's lunacy as he does to the extraordinary theories of one Dr. V. Govinda Lal on the use we are to make of the moon.
-
-
ASTONISHING
- By madeline grunbaum on 01-25-22
By: Saul Bellow
-
Humboldt's Gift
- By: Saul Bellow
- Narrated by: Christopher Hurt
- Length: 18 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For years, they were the best of friends: the grand, erratic Humboldt and the ambitious young Charlie. But now Humboldt has died a failure, and Charlie's success-ridden life has taken various turns for the worse. Then Humboldt acts from the grave to change Charlie's life: he has left Charlie something in his will.
-
-
Great Book, Great Reader
- By Scott on 05-10-08
By: Saul Bellow
-
Collected Stories
- By: Saul Bellow, Janis Bellow - editor and preface, James Wood - introduction
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner, Richard Poe, Kate Reading, and others
- Length: 26 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here, collected in one volume and chosen by the author himself, are favorites such as "What Kind of Day Did You Have?", "Leaving the Yellow House", and a previously uncollected piece, "By the St. Lawrence". With his larger-than-life characters, irony, wisdom, and unique humor, Bellow presents a sharp, rich, and funny world that is infinitely surprising. With a preface by Janice Bellow and an introduction by James Wood, this is a collection to treasure for longtime Saul Bellow fans and an excellent introduction for new listeners.
-
-
Didn't love this collection
- By Michael on 05-03-21
By: Saul Bellow, and others
-
Ravelstein
- By: Saul Bellow
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Abe Ravelstein is a brilliant professor at a prominent Midwestern university and a man who glories in training the movers and shakers of the political world. He has lived grandly and ferociously - and much beyond his means. His close friend Chick has suggested that he put forth a book of his convictions about the ideas that sustain humankind, or kill it, and much to Ravelstein’s own surprise, he does and becomes a millionaire.
-
-
If Voltaire did a bio of Plato
- By Anonymous User on 03-09-23
By: Saul Bellow
-
Seize the Day
- By: Saul Bellow
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 3 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fading charmer Tommy Wilhelm has reached his day of reckoning and is scared. In his forties, he still retains a boyish impetuousness that has brought him to the brink of chaos: he is separated from his wife and children; at odds with his vain, successful father; failed in his acting career (a Hollywood agent once placed him as “the type that loses the girl”); and in a financial mess.
-
-
Why?
- By Ashraf Abaza on 05-16-19
By: Saul Bellow
-
More Die of Heartbreak
- By: Saul Bellow
- Narrated by: Ramiz Monsef
- Length: 12 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Kenneth Trachtenberg, an eccentric and witty native of Paris, travels to the Midwest to spend time with his famous American uncle, a world-renowned botanist and self-described "plant visionary". After numerous affairs and failed relationships, the restless Uncle Benn seeks a settled existence in the form of marriage - but tying the knot again opens the door to a host of new torments.
-
-
A great book
- By John A. on 03-16-22
By: Saul Bellow
-
The Naked and the Dead
- By: Norman Mailer
- Narrated by: John Buffalo Mailer
- Length: 26 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hailed as one of the finest novels to come out of the Second World War, The Naked and the Dead received unprecedented critical acclaim upon its publication and has since become part of the American canon. This fiftieth anniversary edition features a new introduction created especially for the occasion by Norman Mailer.
-
-
John Buffalo Mailer narrates his father's book
- By J. Larson on 08-11-16
By: Norman Mailer
-
The Sound and the Fury
- By: William Faulkner
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Sound and the Fury is the tragedy of the Compson family, featuring some of the most memorable characters in literature: beautiful, rebellious Caddy; the manchild Benjy; haunted, neurotic Quentin; Jason, the brutal cynic; and Dilsey, their black servant. Their lives fragmented and harrowed by history and legacy, the character’s voices and actions mesh to create what is arguably Faulkner’s masterpiece and one of the greatest novels of the twentieth century.
-
-
Hang in
- By W.Denis on 07-11-05
By: William Faulkner
-
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
- By: Carson McCullers
- Narrated by: Cherry Jones
- Length: 12 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Carson McCullers was all of 23 when she published her first novel, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter. She became an overnight literary sensation, and soon such authors as Tennessee Williams were calling her "the greatest prose writer that the South [has] produced." The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter tells an unforgettable tale of moral isolation in a small southern mill town in the 1930s.
-
-
Do yourself a favor
- By Barbara on 06-08-05
By: Carson McCullers
-
A Handful of Dust
- By: Evelyn Waugh
- Narrated by: Andrew Sachs
- Length: 6 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Evelyn Waugh's 1934 novel is a bitingly funny vision of aristocratic decadence in England between the wars. It tells the story of Tony Last, who, to the irritation of his wife, is inordinately obsessed with his Victorian Gothic country house and life. When Lady Brenda Last embarks on an affair with the worthless John Beaver out of boredom with her husband, she sets in motion a sequence of tragicomic disasters that reveal Waugh at his most scathing.
-
-
Slow Start then Subtle
- By Michael on 05-16-15
By: Evelyn Waugh
-
Appointment in Samarra
- Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition
- By: John O'Hara, Charles McGrath - introduction
- Narrated by: Christian Camargo
- Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In December 1930, just before Christmas, the Gibbsville, Pennsylvania, social circuit is electrified with parties and dances. At the center of the social elite stand Julian and Caroline English. But in one rash moment born inside a highball glass, Julian breaks with polite society and begins a rapid descent toward self-destruction.
-
-
Quite good, but not a classic
- By Michael on 04-25-15
By: John O'Hara, and others
-
Deliverance
- By: James Dickey
- Narrated by: Will Patton
- Length: 7 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The setting is the Georgia wilderness, where the state's most remote white-water river awaits. In the thundering froth of that river, in its echoing stone canyons, four men on a canoe trip discover a freedom and exhilaration beyond compare. And then, in a moment of horror, the adventure turns into a struggle for survival as one man becomes a human hunter who is offered his own harrowing deliverance.
-
-
"A river runs through it..."
- By karen on 11-01-13
By: James Dickey
-
The Lincoln Highway
- A Read with Jenna Pick (A Novel)
- By: Amor Towles
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, Marin Ireland, Dion Graham
- Length: 16 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In June, 1954, eighteen-year-old Emmett Watson is driven home to Nebraska by the warden of the juvenile work farm where he has just served fifteen months for involuntary manslaughter. His mother long gone, his father recently deceased, and the family farm foreclosed upon by the bank, Emmett's intention is to pick up his eight-year-old brother, Billy, and head to California where they can start their lives anew. But when the warden drives away, Emmett discovers that two friends from the work farm have hidden themselves in the trunk of the warden's car.
-
-
I'm totally opposite
- By Meaghan Bynum on 10-10-21
By: Amor Towles
-
Musashi
- By: Eiji Yoshikawa, Charles S. Terry - translator
- Narrated by: Brian Nishii
- Length: 53 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The classic samurai novel about the real exploits of the most famous swordsman. Miyamoto Musashi becomes a reluctant hero to a host of people whose lives he has touched and by whom he has been touched. Inevitably, he has to pit his skill against the naked blade of his greatest rival.
-
-
Good Historical Novel
- By The Walking Dude on 08-11-19
By: Eiji Yoshikawa, and others
-
The Wayward Bus
- By: John Steinbeck, Gary Schamhorst - introduction
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 9 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In his first novel to follow the publication of his enormous success, The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck's vision comes wonderfully to life in this imaginative and unsentimental chronicle of a bus traveling California's back roads, transporting the lost and the lonely, the good and the greedy, the stupid and the scheming, the beautiful and the vicious away from their shattered dreams and, possibly, toward the promise of the future. This edition features an introduction by Gary Scharnhorst.
-
-
Steinbeck always touches the heart, makes you feel
- By Kelly on 05-08-17
By: John Steinbeck, and others
-
The Silmarillion
- By: J. R. R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien
- Narrated by: Andy Serkis
- Length: 19 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The tales of The Silmarillion are set in an age when Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, dwelt in Middle-earth, and the High Elves made war upon him for the recovery of the Silmarils, the jewels containing the pure light of Valinor. Included on the recording are several shorter works. The Ainulindalë is a myth of the Creation and in the Valaquenta the nature and powers of each of the gods is described. The Akallabêth recounts the downfall of the great island kingdom of Númenor at the end of the Second Age, and Of the Rings of Power tells of the great events at the end of the Third Age.
-
-
TIPS when reading this book:
- By Anonymous User on 06-29-23
By: J. R. R. Tolkien, and others
-
Watership Down
- By: Richard Adams
- Narrated by: Peter Capaldi
- Length: 17 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fiver could sense danger. Something terrible was going to happen to the warren; he felt sure of it. They had to leave immediately. So begins a long and perilous journey of survival for a small band of rabbits. As the rabbits skirt danger at every turn, we become acquainted with the band, its humorous characters, and its compelling culture, complete with its own folk history and mythos. Fiver’s vision finally leads them to Watership Down, an upland meadow. But here they face their most difficult challenges of all.
-
-
Capaldi is FANTASTIC; tech editing, not as much
- By Becca on 05-19-19
By: Richard Adams
Related to this topic
-
The Satanic Verses
- By: Salman Rushdie
- Narrated by: Sam Dastor
- Length: 21 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Inextricably linked with the fatwa called against its author in the wake of the novel’s publication, The Satanic Verses is, beyond that, a rich showcase for Salman Rushdie’s comic sensibilities, cultural observations, and unparalleled mastery of language. The book begins with two Indians plummeting from the sky after the explosion of their airliner, and proceeds through a series of metamorphoses, dreams and revelations.
-
-
Use an audiobook to really enjoy Satanic Verses
- By David Edelberg on 11-24-12
By: Salman Rushdie
-
Herzog
- By: Saul Bellow
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 15 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Winner of the National Book Award when it was first published in 1964, Herzog traces five days in the life of a failed academic whose wife has recently left him for his best friend. Through the device of letter writing, Herzog movingly portrays both the internal life of its eponymous hero and the complexity of modern consciousness.
-
-
Grows Within You
- By Chris Reich on 08-06-11
By: Saul Bellow
-
Wicked
- The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
- By: Gregory Maguire
- Narrated by: John McDonough
- Length: 19 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Heralded as an instant classic of fantasy literature, Maguire has written a wonderfully imaginative retelling of The Wizard of Oz told from the Wicked Witch's point of view. More than just a fairy tale for adults, Wicked is a meditation on the nature of good and evil.
-
-
It's not easy being green
- By PangaeaReads on 07-30-08
By: Gregory Maguire
-
The Unreal and the Real
- Selected Stories of Ursula K. Le Guin, Volume One: Where on Earth
- By: Ursula K. Le Guin
- Narrated by: Tandy Cronyn
- Length: 11 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Unreal and the Real is a major event not to be missed. In this two-volume selection of Ursula K. Le Guin's best short stories--as selected by the National Book Award winning author herself--the reader will be delighted, provoked, amused, and faced with the sharp, satirical voice of one of the best short story writers of the present day. Where on Earth explores Le Guin's earthbound stories which range around the world, from small town Oregon to middle Europe in the middle of revolution to summer camp.
-
-
Shame on you, Audible
- By Audrey McCombs on 07-03-20
-
The Death of Artemio Cruz
- A Novel
- By: Carlos Fuentes, Alfred MacAdam - translator
- Narrated by: Tony Chiroldes
- Length: 12 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As the novel opens, Artemio Cruz, the all-powerful newspaper magnate and land baron, lies confined to his bed and, in dreamlike flashes, recalls the pivotal episodes of his life. Carlos Fuentes manipulates the ensuing kaleidoscope of images with dazzling inventiveness, layering memory upon memory, from Cruz’s heroic campaigns during the Mexican Revolution, through his relentless climb from poverty to wealth, to his uneasy death. Perhaps Fuentes’ masterpiece, The Death of Artemio Cruz is a haunting voyage into the soul of modern Mexico.
-
-
Great Writing
- By Kelly B. on 05-01-14
By: Carlos Fuentes, and others
-
Stories
- All-New Tales
- By: Neil Gaiman - author/editor, Al Sarrantonio - editor, Joe Hill, and others
- Narrated by: Anne Bobby, Jonathan Davis, Katherine Kellgren, and others
- Length: 18 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The best stories pull readers in and keep them turning the pages, eager to discover more—to find the answer to the question: "And then what happened?" The true hallmark of great literature is great imagination, and as Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio prove with this outstanding collection, when it comes to great fiction, all genres are equal.
-
-
Something for Everyone
- By Nicole on 05-24-17
By: Neil Gaiman - author/editor, and others
-
The Satanic Verses
- By: Salman Rushdie
- Narrated by: Sam Dastor
- Length: 21 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Inextricably linked with the fatwa called against its author in the wake of the novel’s publication, The Satanic Verses is, beyond that, a rich showcase for Salman Rushdie’s comic sensibilities, cultural observations, and unparalleled mastery of language. The book begins with two Indians plummeting from the sky after the explosion of their airliner, and proceeds through a series of metamorphoses, dreams and revelations.
-
-
Use an audiobook to really enjoy Satanic Verses
- By David Edelberg on 11-24-12
By: Salman Rushdie
-
Herzog
- By: Saul Bellow
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 15 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Winner of the National Book Award when it was first published in 1964, Herzog traces five days in the life of a failed academic whose wife has recently left him for his best friend. Through the device of letter writing, Herzog movingly portrays both the internal life of its eponymous hero and the complexity of modern consciousness.
-
-
Grows Within You
- By Chris Reich on 08-06-11
By: Saul Bellow
-
Wicked
- The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
- By: Gregory Maguire
- Narrated by: John McDonough
- Length: 19 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Heralded as an instant classic of fantasy literature, Maguire has written a wonderfully imaginative retelling of The Wizard of Oz told from the Wicked Witch's point of view. More than just a fairy tale for adults, Wicked is a meditation on the nature of good and evil.
-
-
It's not easy being green
- By PangaeaReads on 07-30-08
By: Gregory Maguire
-
The Unreal and the Real
- Selected Stories of Ursula K. Le Guin, Volume One: Where on Earth
- By: Ursula K. Le Guin
- Narrated by: Tandy Cronyn
- Length: 11 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Unreal and the Real is a major event not to be missed. In this two-volume selection of Ursula K. Le Guin's best short stories--as selected by the National Book Award winning author herself--the reader will be delighted, provoked, amused, and faced with the sharp, satirical voice of one of the best short story writers of the present day. Where on Earth explores Le Guin's earthbound stories which range around the world, from small town Oregon to middle Europe in the middle of revolution to summer camp.
-
-
Shame on you, Audible
- By Audrey McCombs on 07-03-20
-
The Death of Artemio Cruz
- A Novel
- By: Carlos Fuentes, Alfred MacAdam - translator
- Narrated by: Tony Chiroldes
- Length: 12 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As the novel opens, Artemio Cruz, the all-powerful newspaper magnate and land baron, lies confined to his bed and, in dreamlike flashes, recalls the pivotal episodes of his life. Carlos Fuentes manipulates the ensuing kaleidoscope of images with dazzling inventiveness, layering memory upon memory, from Cruz’s heroic campaigns during the Mexican Revolution, through his relentless climb from poverty to wealth, to his uneasy death. Perhaps Fuentes’ masterpiece, The Death of Artemio Cruz is a haunting voyage into the soul of modern Mexico.
-
-
Great Writing
- By Kelly B. on 05-01-14
By: Carlos Fuentes, and others
-
Stories
- All-New Tales
- By: Neil Gaiman - author/editor, Al Sarrantonio - editor, Joe Hill, and others
- Narrated by: Anne Bobby, Jonathan Davis, Katherine Kellgren, and others
- Length: 18 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The best stories pull readers in and keep them turning the pages, eager to discover more—to find the answer to the question: "And then what happened?" The true hallmark of great literature is great imagination, and as Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio prove with this outstanding collection, when it comes to great fiction, all genres are equal.
-
-
Something for Everyone
- By Nicole on 05-24-17
By: Neil Gaiman - author/editor, and others
-
An American Dream
- By: Norman Mailer
- Narrated by: Christopher Lane
- Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As Stephen Rojack, a decorated war hero and former congressman who murders his wife in a fashionable New York City high-rise, runs amok through the city in which he was once a privileged citizen, author Norman Mailer peels away the layers of our social norms to reveal a world of pure appetite and relentless cruelty. One part Nietzsche, one part de Sade, and one part Charlie Parker, An American Dream grabs the listener by the throat and refuses to let go.
-
-
Mailers Immodest masterpiece
- By W C Woods on 07-02-20
By: Norman Mailer
-
Birds Without Wings
- By: Louis de Bernieres
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 23 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Birds Without Wings is the story of a small town in Anatolia in the dying days of the Ottoman Empire told in the richly varied voices of the men and women (Armenians, Christians, and Muslims) whose lives are intertwined and rooted there: Iskander, the potter and local fount of wisdom; Philotei, the Christian girl of legendary beauty, courted almost from infancy by Ibrahim the goatherd, a great love that culminates in tragedy and madness; and many more.
-
-
Not for the faint of heart
- By a on 01-03-05
-
Oz Reimagined
- New Tales from the Emerald City and Beyond
- By: Douglas Cohen - editor, John Joseph Adams - editor
- Narrated by: Nick Podehl, Tanya Eby
- Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When L. Frank Baum introduced Dorothy and friends to the American public in 1900, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz became an instant, best-selling hit. Today the whimsical tale remains a cultural phenomenon that continues to spawn wildly popular books, movies, and musicals. Now, editors John Joseph Adams and Douglas Cohen have brought together leading fantasy writers such as Orson Scott Card and Jane Yolen to create the ultimate anthology for Oz fans.
-
-
The Many Faces of Dorothy or Dot
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 07-19-14
By: Douglas Cohen - editor, and others
-
Miss Lonelyhearts
- By: Nathanael West
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser, Kevin Pariseau
- Length: 2 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Miss Lonelyhearts is an unnamed male newspaper columnist writing an advice column, which is viewed by the newspaper as a joke. As "Miss Lonelyhearts" reads letters from desperate New Yorkers, he feels terribly burdened and falls into a cycle of deep depression, accompanied by heavy drinking and occasional barfights. The novel is essentially a black comedy and is characterized by an extremely dark but clever sense of humor and irony.
-
-
Charged with Meaning, and Far Leftist Leaning
- By W Perry Hall on 01-27-16
By: Nathanael West
-
Zorba the Greek
- By: Nikos Kazantzakis
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A wonderful tale of a young man’s coming of age, Zorba the Greek has been a classic of world literature since it was first translated into English in 1952 and made into an unforgettable movie with Anthony Quinn. Zorba, an irrepressible, earthy hedonist, sweeps his young disciple along as he wines, dines, and loves his way through a life dedicated to fulfilling his copious appetites. Zorba is irresistible in this charming audio production by veteran narrator George Guidall.
-
-
Drink life to the lees
- By Scot Potts on 04-25-13
-
White Dog Fell from the Sky
- By: Eleanor Morse
- Narrated by: Carla Mercer-Meyer
- Length: 14 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Botswana, 1976: Isaac Muthethe thinks he is dead. Smuggled across the border from South Africa in a hearse, he awakens covered in dust, staring at blue sky and the face of White Dog. Far from dead, he is, for the first time, in a country without apartheid. A medical student in South Africa, he was forced to flee after witnessing a friend murdered by white members of the South African Defense Force.
-
-
Unexpectedly Stunning Work!
- By Kathi on 03-15-13
By: Eleanor Morse
-
The Monstrumologist
- By: Rick Yancey
- Narrated by: Steven Boyer
- Length: 11 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dr. Warthrop is a scientist who tracks and studies real-life monsters. Assisted by his 12-year-old apprentice, Will Henry, Dr. Warthrop discovers a pod of Anthropophagi and launches a hunt to destroy the foul beasts.
-
-
Reader Be Warned
- By Eddie on 01-25-15
By: Rick Yancey
-
The Mark of the Beast
- By: Rudyard Kipling
- Narrated by: B.J. Harrison
- Length: 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When a carousing Englishman disgraces the consecrated effigy of Hanuman, a leprous "Silver Man" marks him with a hideous curse. The ensuing night brings new terrors to the house of the doomed man.
-
-
Must listen again
- By uffdasuzanne on 10-06-17
By: Rudyard Kipling
-
The Book of Kells
- By: R. A. MacAvoy
- Narrated by: Alan Robertson
- Length: 14 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A contemporary man, John Thornburn (a meek, non-violent and unpredictable artist) and woman, Derval (his tough, confrontational, strong and warrior-like lover) time travel to ancient Ireland to avenge a Viking attack. Packed with fascinating details of historical time and place in Irish history and delicately balanced on the border between realism and fantasy, the story centers around one of the most famous and beautiful illuminated manuscripts in history, the legendary but entirely real Book of Kells.
-
-
The Book of Irish Fantasy
- By S. Wells on 12-10-12
By: R. A. MacAvoy
-
The Moor's Last Sigh
- By: Salman Rushdie
- Narrated by: Sunil Malhotra
- Length: 20 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Booker Prize-winning author Salman Rushdie combines a ferociously witty family saga with a surreally imagined and sometimes blasphemous chronicle of modern India and flavors the mixture with peppery soliloquies on art, ethnicity, religious fanaticism, and the terrifying power of love. Moraes "Moor" Zogoiby, the last surviving scion of a dynasty of Cochinese spice merchants and crime lords, is also a compulsive storyteller and an exile.
-
-
The performance is enchanting.
- By Kelly on 05-04-18
By: Salman Rushdie
-
Steampunk! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories
- By: Kelly Link - editor, Gavin J. Grant - editor
- Narrated by: Sarah Coomes, Nico Evers-Swindell, Shannon McManus, and others
- Length: 12 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Imagine an alternate universe where romance and technology reign. Where tinkerers and dreamers craft and recraft a world of automatons, ornate clockworks, calculating machines, and other marvels that. Where scientists and schoolgirls, fair folk and Romans, intergalactic bandits, and intrepid orphans - decked out in corsets, clockwerk suits, and tall black boots - solve dastardly crimes, escape from monstrous predicaments, consult oracles, and hover over volcanoes in steam-powered airships.
-
-
MMMM, Orca Bacon
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 09-14-13
By: Kelly Link - editor, and others
-
Going to Meet the Man
- By: James Baldwin
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"There's no way not to suffer. But you try all kinds of ways to keep from drowning in it." The men and women in these eight short fictions grasp this truth on an elemental level, and their stories, as told by James Baldwin, detail the ingenious and often desperate ways in which they try to keep their heads above water.
-
-
Punch in the gut
- By Rebecca on 05-08-17
By: James Baldwin
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
When We Were Young
- By: Richard Roper
- Narrated by: Huw Parmenter, Anthony Mark Barrow
- Length: 11 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the author of Something to Live For, a nostalgic, heartwarming story of two long-lost friends who embark on a 184-mile walk of the Thames Path in order to find their way back to the truth and to their friendship.
-
-
Good book
- By Faith on 02-16-22
By: Richard Roper
-
The Morning Star
- By: Karl Ove Knausgaard
- Narrated by: Alyssa Bresnahan, Edoardo Ballerini, Elisabeth Rodgers, and others
- Length: 23 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's a normal night in August. Literature professor Arne and artist Tove are with their children at the resort in Sørlandet. Their friend, Egil, a driver by day, is staying in a cabin nearby. Kathrine, a priest, is on her way home from a seminar; the journalist Jostein is out on the town; and his wife, Turid, who is an assistant nurse, has a night shift. Above them all, a huge star suddenly appears in the sky. No one, not even the astronomers, knows for sure what kind of phenomenon it is.
-
-
Great read for religious scholars
- By matt m on 01-13-22
-
Disruptions
- Stories
- By: Steven Millhauser
- Narrated by: Gisela Chípe, Vas Eli, Arthur Morey
- Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An exquisite new collection from a Pulitzer Prize-winning master of the short story, the culmination of a five-decade career: work that takes us beneath the placid surface of suburban life into the elusive strangeness of the everyday.
-
-
My entire book group disliked this book book
- By Amazon Customer on 07-18-24
-
The Skin and Its Girl
- A Novel
- By: Sarah Cypher
- Narrated by: Victoria Nassif, Haneen Arafat Murphy
- Length: 12 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a Pacific Northwest hospital far from the Rummani family’s ancestral home in Palestine, the heart of a stillborn baby begins to beat and her skin turns vibrantly, permanently cobalt blue. On the same day, the Rummanis’ centuries-old soap factory in Nablus is destroyed in an air strike. The family matriarch and keeper of their lore, Aunt Nuha, believes that the blue girl embodies their sacred history, harkening back to a time when the Rummanis were among the wealthiest soap-makers and their blue soap was a symbol of a legendary love.
-
-
Beautiful
- By Hope on 08-29-24
By: Sarah Cypher
-
The Old Place
- By: Bobby Finger
- Narrated by: Barrie Kreinik
- Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Billington, Texas, is a place where nothing changes. Well, almost nothing. For the first time in nearly four decades, Mary Alice Roth is not getting ready for the first day of school at Billington High. A few months into her retirement—or, district mandated exile as she calls it—Mary Alice does not know how to fill her days.
-
-
I heard the author on a podcast and...
- By Brenda on 10-01-22
By: Bobby Finger
-
City of Flickering Light
- By: Juliette Fay
- Narrated by: Lisa Flanagan
- Length: 11 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's July 1921, "flickers" are all the rage, and Irene Van Beck has just declared her own independence by jumping off a moving train to escape her fate in a traveling burlesque show. When her friends, fellow dancer Millie Martin and comedian Henry Weiss, leap after her, the trio finds their way to the bright lights of Hollywood with hopes of making it big in the burgeoning silent film industry. But despite the glamour and seduction of Tinseltown, success doesn't come easy, and nothing can prepare Irene, Millie, and Henry for the poverty, temptation, and heartbreak that lie ahead.
-
-
Good listen!
- By Amazon Customer on 11-28-21
By: Juliette Fay
-
When We Were Young
- By: Richard Roper
- Narrated by: Huw Parmenter, Anthony Mark Barrow
- Length: 11 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the author of Something to Live For, a nostalgic, heartwarming story of two long-lost friends who embark on a 184-mile walk of the Thames Path in order to find their way back to the truth and to their friendship.
-
-
Good book
- By Faith on 02-16-22
By: Richard Roper
-
The Morning Star
- By: Karl Ove Knausgaard
- Narrated by: Alyssa Bresnahan, Edoardo Ballerini, Elisabeth Rodgers, and others
- Length: 23 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's a normal night in August. Literature professor Arne and artist Tove are with their children at the resort in Sørlandet. Their friend, Egil, a driver by day, is staying in a cabin nearby. Kathrine, a priest, is on her way home from a seminar; the journalist Jostein is out on the town; and his wife, Turid, who is an assistant nurse, has a night shift. Above them all, a huge star suddenly appears in the sky. No one, not even the astronomers, knows for sure what kind of phenomenon it is.
-
-
Great read for religious scholars
- By matt m on 01-13-22
-
Disruptions
- Stories
- By: Steven Millhauser
- Narrated by: Gisela Chípe, Vas Eli, Arthur Morey
- Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An exquisite new collection from a Pulitzer Prize-winning master of the short story, the culmination of a five-decade career: work that takes us beneath the placid surface of suburban life into the elusive strangeness of the everyday.
-
-
My entire book group disliked this book book
- By Amazon Customer on 07-18-24
-
The Skin and Its Girl
- A Novel
- By: Sarah Cypher
- Narrated by: Victoria Nassif, Haneen Arafat Murphy
- Length: 12 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a Pacific Northwest hospital far from the Rummani family’s ancestral home in Palestine, the heart of a stillborn baby begins to beat and her skin turns vibrantly, permanently cobalt blue. On the same day, the Rummanis’ centuries-old soap factory in Nablus is destroyed in an air strike. The family matriarch and keeper of their lore, Aunt Nuha, believes that the blue girl embodies their sacred history, harkening back to a time when the Rummanis were among the wealthiest soap-makers and their blue soap was a symbol of a legendary love.
-
-
Beautiful
- By Hope on 08-29-24
By: Sarah Cypher
-
The Old Place
- By: Bobby Finger
- Narrated by: Barrie Kreinik
- Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Billington, Texas, is a place where nothing changes. Well, almost nothing. For the first time in nearly four decades, Mary Alice Roth is not getting ready for the first day of school at Billington High. A few months into her retirement—or, district mandated exile as she calls it—Mary Alice does not know how to fill her days.
-
-
I heard the author on a podcast and...
- By Brenda on 10-01-22
By: Bobby Finger
-
City of Flickering Light
- By: Juliette Fay
- Narrated by: Lisa Flanagan
- Length: 11 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's July 1921, "flickers" are all the rage, and Irene Van Beck has just declared her own independence by jumping off a moving train to escape her fate in a traveling burlesque show. When her friends, fellow dancer Millie Martin and comedian Henry Weiss, leap after her, the trio finds their way to the bright lights of Hollywood with hopes of making it big in the burgeoning silent film industry. But despite the glamour and seduction of Tinseltown, success doesn't come easy, and nothing can prepare Irene, Millie, and Henry for the poverty, temptation, and heartbreak that lie ahead.
-
-
Good listen!
- By Amazon Customer on 11-28-21
By: Juliette Fay
-
Little Boy
- A Novel
- By: Lawrence Ferlinghetti
- Narrated by: Peter Coyote
- Length: 5 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this unapologetically unclassifiable work, Lawrence Ferlinghetti lets loose an exhilarating rush of language to craft what might be termed a closing statement about his highly significant and productive 99 years on this planet.
-
-
Centenarian Sentinels His Century
- By W Perry Hall on 04-18-19
-
The Aviator
- By: Eugene Vodolazkin, Lisa C. Hayden - translator, Gabrielle de Cuir - director
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki, Gabrielle de Cuir, John Rubinstein
- Length: 13 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A man wakes up in a hospital bed, with no idea who he is or how he came to be there. The only information the doctor shares with his patient is his name: Innokenty Petrovich Platonov. As memories slowly resurface, Innokenty begins to build a vivid picture of his former life as a young man in Russia in the early 20th century, living through the turbulence of the Russian Revolution and its aftermath. But soon, only one question remains: How can he remember the start of the 20th century, when the pills by his bedside were made in 1999?
-
-
A MASTERPIECE
- By William Collins on 07-14-18
By: Eugene Vodolazkin, and others
-
Angle of Repose
- By: Wallace Stegner
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 22 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Wallace Stegner's uniquely American classic centers on Lyman Ward, a noted historian who relates a fictionalized biography of his pioneer grandparents at a time when he has become estranged from his own family. Through a combination of research, memory, and exaggeration, Ward voices ideas concerning the relationship between history and the present, art and life, parents and children, and husbands and wives.
-
-
The Quest for Balance
- By Mel on 01-24-13
By: Wallace Stegner
-
The Prospectors
- A Novel
- By: Ariel Djanikian
- Narrated by: Jorjeana Marie, Samara Naeymi
- Length: 13 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The middle daughter of struggling California fruit farmers, Alice Bush is accustomed to feeling inferior and destitute. But when her elder sister’s husband strikes a vein of gold in the Yukon Territory, Alice finally seizes control of her destiny by joining a wave of white settlers making the dangerous trek to the Klondike. What follows is an awakening of ambition for the quietly opportunistic Alice.
-
-
Review
- By Teresa Lee Baker on 10-09-23
By: Ariel Djanikian
-
River East, River West
- A Novel
- By: Aube Rey Lescure
- Narrated by: David Shih, Jennifer Lim
- Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Shanghai, 2007: Fourteen-year-old Alva has always longed for more. Raised by her American expat mother, she’s never known her Chinese father, and is certain a better life awaits them in America. But when her mother announces her engagement to their wealthy Chinese landlord, Lu Fang, Alva’s hopes are dashed, and so she plots for the next best thing: the American School in Shanghai.
-
-
Did not connect with the characters
- By Maryanne T. on 04-18-24
By: Aube Rey Lescure
-
What Is the What
- By: Dave Eggers
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 20 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Valentino's travels, truly Biblical in scope, bring him in contact with government soldiers, janjaweed-like militias, liberation rebels, hyenas and lions, disease and starvation, and a string of unexpected romances. Ultimately, Valentino finds safety in Kenya and, just after the millennium, is finally resettled in the United States, from where this novel is narrated.
-
-
A Story Aching to be Told
- By Susan on 04-24-13
By: Dave Eggers
-
Humboldt's Gift
- By: Saul Bellow
- Narrated by: Christopher Hurt
- Length: 18 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For years, they were the best of friends: the grand, erratic Humboldt and the ambitious young Charlie. But now Humboldt has died a failure, and Charlie's success-ridden life has taken various turns for the worse. Then Humboldt acts from the grave to change Charlie's life: he has left Charlie something in his will.
-
-
Great Book, Great Reader
- By Scott on 05-10-08
By: Saul Bellow
-
The Man Who Sold Air in the Holy Land
- Stories
- By: Omer Friedlander
- Narrated by: Assaf Cohen, Gilli Messer
- Length: 7 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Man Who Sold Air in the Holy Land announces the arrival of a natural-born storyteller of immense talent. Warm, poignant, delightfully whimsical, Omer Friedlander’s gorgeously immersive and imaginative stories take you to the narrow limestone alleyways of Jerusalem, the desolate beauty of the Negev Desert, and the sprawling orange groves of Jaffa, with characters that spring to vivid life.
-
-
Do not touch the Holocaust
- By Chana Messer on 05-05-22
By: Omer Friedlander
-
The Republic of False Truths
- A Novel
- By: Alaa Al Aswany, S. R. Fellowes - translator
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 15 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cairo, 2011. After decades under a repressive regime, tensions are rising in the city streets. No one is out of reach of the revolution. There is General Alwany, a high-ranking member of the government's security agency, a pious man who loves his family yet won't hesitate to torture enemies of the state; Asma, a young teacher who chafes against the brazen corruption at her school; Ashraf, an out-of-work actor who is having an affair with his maid and gets pulled into Tahrir Square through a chance encounter; Nourhan, a television personality who defends those in power; and many more.
-
-
Big Al Aswany fan
- By barbara on 03-21-24
By: Alaa Al Aswany, and others
-
Cowboy Graves
- Three Novellas
- By: Roberto Bolaño, Natasha Wimmer - translator
- Narrated by: Anthony Rey Perez
- Length: 4 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cowboy Graves is an unexpected treasure from the vault of a revolutionary talent. Roberto Bolaño's boundless imagination and seemingly inexhaustible gift for shaping the chaos of his reality into fiction is unmistakable in these three novellas. In Cowboy Graves, Arturo Belano - Bolaño's alter ego - returns to Chile after the coup to fight with his comrades for socialism.
-
-
Bolano is awesome! Great work
- By Ben A Falk on 04-13-23
By: Roberto Bolaño, and others
-
The Lighthouse Road
- A Novel
- By: Peter Geye
- Narrated by: Tara Ochs
- Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The story moves back and forth in time from the arrival of Thea from her isolated village in arctic Norway in search of a new life in the near wilderness of a small town and logging camp on the shore of Lake Superior to the travails of her orphaned son, Odd, some twenty years later. When Thea’s aunt and uncle do not meet her boat as planned, she’s initially left abandoned with no money or prospects and without speaking the language.
-
-
Narrator wrecks storyline
- By customer on 12-01-17
By: Peter Geye
-
The Dry Grass of August
- By: Anna Jean Mayhew
- Narrated by: Karen White
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On a scorching day in August 1954, 13-year-old Jubie Watts leaves Charlotte, North Carolina, with her family for a Florida vacation. Crammed into the Packard along with Jubie are her three siblings, her mother, and the family’s black maid, Mary Luther. For as long as Jubie can remember, Mary has been there - cooking, cleaning, compensating for her father’s rages and her mother’s benign neglect, and loving Jubie unconditionally.
-
-
Solid southern literature.
- By Dellaripa on 01-17-21
By: Anna Jean Mayhew
What listeners say about Henderson the Rain King
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- S. D. Salvador
- 03-29-24
Enjoyed it
Nice to revisit this author—last read Mr. Sammlers planet in college 30 year ago. Comes across a little outdated, but is accessible and thought-provoking. Bellow wears his feelings his sleeve. Sometimes it’s endearing, sometimes it’s really annoying.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Tara L. Rowley
- 01-17-21
Fascinating and enlightening
I was put off at first by the ugliness of the main character but the originality of the narrative held me. This book is a delight and a bit of a study on human nature and the urge to achieve enlightenment and fulfillment. The descriptions are vivid. I highly recommend.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon reader
- 09-29-21
Bellow's Fictional Africa
I had a copy of this paperback novel since I was a child, and for some reason, I carried it with me from apartment to house to house for nearly six decades. Why? I have no idea, but now in my old age, I decided to tackle it, by listening to the audible and following along in my torn, yellowed paperback version, and it's quite a book. Lots of things wrong with it, of course. Bellow creates his own version of Africa, complete with pigmies and stereotype Africans and ---yes, I read reviews, and I know this 1959 novel is reviled for its portrayals of Tarzan-movie like dark continent 'types.'. But, there's something quite mesmerizing about this tale. Bellow invented nearly everything in it, including a wonderful lion. So a white millionaire goes to Africa and undergoes a change, influenced by an African King who encompasses all these values Henderson doesn't have: A sense of self-worth, a love for nature, and a down-to-earth understanding of humanity. This is a coming of age novel, except Henderson is not 13. He's 56. He grows up and comes back to America, a changed man. I loved the performance and really enjoyed the lessons he learns. This is my first introduction to Bellow and it made me want, want, want more. (That's a word Henderson uses quite often.)
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Frank Bubba Henson
- 03-27-23
Excellent resonant story-telling brought to life by a wonderful narrative performance
No spoilers here. Three things to know about Henderson the Rain King:
1) The narration is spot-on – first-rate, makes the book sing. As an Audible snob, one who won’t buy a selection because of the narration, or will quit one, I warrant that this is an award-winning narration that confirms that Barrett or his director very clearly understood Henderson’s character. Barrett’s gravelly voice, pacing, glib deliveries, and roller-coaster changes in emotionality and tone perfectly reflect the qualities that make Henderson who he is. The narration propels the novel. I’ve seen other reviewers who didn’t like the narration. For me, Joe Barrett makes the book.
2) If you’re new to Bellow, this is a great place to start. Excellent descriptive writing, well-fleshed-out characters, meaningful themes, and superior plotting that stands up to review and continues to reveal the author’s mastery after you’re done. Comic, existential, and poetic, all at once. A whole universe within. Plus, it’s just a great story well told.
3) Lastly, this is a novel that deserves study, and contemplation – there is so much here. I purchased a companion hard copy to go along with my listening. If you’re motivated to do that, I recommend getting the Penguin Classics paperback edition with the introduction by Adam Kirsch (published 2012, ISBN 978-0-14-310548-0), but I highly suggest that you refrain from reading Kirsch’s excellent intro before finishing the book, and not because the intro has spoilers. Kirsch’s intro is outstanding and illuminating, and it reveals depth, perspective, and context that is more satisfying to discover after you’ve experienced the story.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Peter Ryers
- 11-19-20
Wonders
If you have read Bellows you will love Joe Barrett’s reading. It is outstanding. An American classic
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- orbiter7
- 03-18-22
Do not miss this remarkable performance
Listen for yourself. Some have heard racism in Bellow's words. I think they just don't get it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- dian
- 05-14-20
modern classic
This is my personal favorite Saul Bellow book. And on audio, it's even better yet. The narrator's gravelly old-style voice matches the story perfectly. I was mesmerized immediately by the narration & so caught up in the storytelling, that I listened for hours before forcing myself to quit to get some sleep. It's that good! Highly recommend this on Audible.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Robert H.
- 12-02-21
headline for my review
the performance seemed a little hurried on occasion other than that it was great just like I remembered as a child
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jeffrey
- 03-26-24
never thought of bellow writing a book like this
aside from the expressions used by/ " The voice" of the main character, the book is modern, and this surprised me.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- David P. Wingert
- 10-26-23
Good…not great
I wanted to like this book more. Bellow is a fine writer. The concept of “finding oneself” that permeates the book seemed a bit self-indulgent.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!