Nightwoods Audiobook By Charles Frazier cover art

Nightwoods

A Novel

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Nightwoods

By: Charles Frazier
Narrated by: Will Patton
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The extraordinary author of Cold Mountain and Thirteen Moons returns with a dazzling new novel of suspense and love set in small-town North Carolina in the early 1960s.

Charles Frazier puts his remarkable gifts in the service of a lean, taut narrative while losing none of the transcendent prose, virtuosic storytelling, and insight into human nature that have made him one of the most beloved and celebrated authors in the world. Now, with his brilliant portrait of Luce, a young woman who inherits her murdered sister’s troubled twins, Frazier has created his most memorable heroine.

Before the children, Luce was content with the reimbursements of the rich Appalachian landscape, choosing to live apart from the small community around her. But the coming of the children changes everything, cracking open her solitary life in difficult, hopeful, dangerous ways.

Charles Frazier is known for his historical literary odysseys, and for making figures in the past come vividly to life. Set in the 20th century, Nightwoods resonates with the timelessness of a great work of art.

©2011 Charles Frazier (P)2011 Random House Audio Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Suspense Thriller & Suspense Heartfelt Scary

Critic reviews

PRAISE FOR CHARLES FRAZIER: “Natural-born storytellers come along only rarely. Charles Frazier joins the ranks of that elite cadre on the first page of his astonishing debut.” ( Newsweek on Cold Mountain)
“Prose filled with grace notes and trenchant asides ... a Whitmanesque foray into America: into its hugeness, its freshness, its scope and its soul ... such a memorable book.” ( The New York Times Book Review on Cold Mountain)
“Frazier works on an epic scale, but his genius is in the details - he has a scholar’s command of the physical realities of early America and a novelist’s gift for bringing them to life.” ( Time on Thirteen Moon)
Beautiful Writing • Gripping Storyline • Mesmerizing Narration • Vivid Descriptions • Poetic Language • Emotional Depth
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A quiet, unassuming story beautifully told in typical Frazier style. Details are so clear one can almost feel the moss crunch underfoot. I found the characters to be real and true for the time period and location.

The setting is the quiet Appalachian landscape in the 1950s. The author offers his readers a most captivating, often poignant portrayal of Luce, the young woman who unexpectedly inherits her sister's troublesome, emotionally scarred twins. Hers is a battle of wits with her sister's husband whom she suspects is her sister’s killer - as she seeks to protect the children from him. Her only friends are the unassuming Stubblefield who becomes protector to her and the children and Mattie the mountain woman of indeterminate age.

Nightwoods

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I love the narration of Will Patton, and I enjoyed this story. The cast was an interesting/mixed lot, yet I wished for more insight into the kid's minds....of course, this was what Luce wanted, too, so I get it. This was a good audio listen, and I could see the "film" in my head. Imperfect characters, a rambling old lodge in the woods and canned good dinners - this is a perfect slice of Southern Fried Goth.

Will Patton Can Make a Dark Story Sound Cozy

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This was a very enjoyable book with sympathetic characters. There were no wasted words. Very elegant writing and wonderful narration.

Beautiful story

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I think this will be one to go to the top of my favorites list. The characters while appearing simple in their ways of life, are so relatable. The author does a great job of bringing them to life. The performance was one of my favorites parts! Im not so sure reading this book would be as enjoyable as listening to it.

Loved the narrator! The voice and performance...

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The story was slow at first. I almost gave up on getting into it. Once
the characters started interacting, however, the plot became intriguing. This is a book I will long remember.

The slow unwinding

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I loved Frazier's use of language, and Patton's narration was pitch perfect. Even though I thought I knew what was going to happen - and I was wrong - they kept me on the edge of my seat.

Compelling listen

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This book is very well written, making it an excellent narration for the very talented Will Patton. He is very easy to listen to. He made the story and characters come alive, as if the author had written the book, just for his voice. Great Listen!

Excellent Narration

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I think I enjoyed this more in audible format than I would have reading it. The writing is stellar--the descriptions vivid and rich, the characters well drawn and the plot interesting. The narrator was topnotch with appropriate accents to keep the changing narrative point of view at the forefront. He did an excellent job. I was sorry to see this book end.

Wonderful

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Amazing story and performance. I couldn't stop listening--stayed up into the wee hours to finish the book. For those who think this couldn't have happened in the 1960s, we need to remember that there were tremendous regional differences, and local oppression was rampant in those years. The Civil Rights Act did more than ameliorate racism, and the War on Poverty did more than redistribute income. This story is not just a page-turning thriller, but it is also a compelling sociological examination of small town relations in the era before federal standards of justice were introduced.

This was clearly a story written by a man about a woman, and about children, and about a violent man, very ably read by Will Patton. I have loved Patton's reading of James Lee Burke's books, and he's even better here. What is remarkable about his reading is his ability to subtly shift the voice so you know who is being centered as the story progresses--Luce, the children, Bud, Stubblefield. Frazier, through Patton, takes us into the lives of the major characters, and we gain new eyes each time he shifts the scene.

I loved this book. There is a magical quality about it. I'm not sure I can bear to listen to it again, not for a while, but I'm so glad I did give away a night to it.

Compelling

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Great writing, great story, great narration. Maybe a bit 'simpler' than his other books, but more was not needed. Just perfect and a pleasure to listen to.

Everything you want in a book

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