Spooner
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Narrated by:
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Tom Stechschulte
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By:
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Pete Dexter
About this listen
Warren Spooner was born after a prolonged delivery in a makeshift delivery room in a doctor's office in Milledgeville, Georgia, on the first Saturday of December, 1956. His father died shortly afterward, long before Spooner had even a memory of his face, and was replaced eventually by a once-brilliant young naval officer, Calmer Ottosson, recently court-martialed out of service.
This is the story of the lifelong tie between the two men, poles apart, of Spooner's troubled childhood, troubled adolescence, violent and troubled adulthood, and Calmer Ottosson's inexhaustible patience, undertaking a life-long struggle to salvage his step-son, a man he will never understand.
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Editorial reviews
Late in his novel, Pete Dexter writes that his main character, Warren Spooner, sees himself as "the full grown, still loveable mongoloid child doing his best but mucking up the works for the thousandth time". With all the sympathy a wry observation can muster, Tom Stechschulte delivers this and every other line in the story with the empathy and pity necessary to maintain the listener's compassion for Spooner. He's a character that's unforgivably dim at times, clueless about cause and effect in his own life. But Spooner is also loveably unaware. What could be read as uncultured or uninterested comes across as sweetly naïve and endearingly ignorant. Aiding the uphill battle to turn stupidity into charm is Stechschulte, who sounds downright Jeff Lebowski-like at times. The similarities between Jeff Bridges' California drawl and Stechschulte's laidback, almost non-committal narration are many, but only serve to underline Spooner's characteristics. Stechschulte's voice is never too dry to mask the emotions that well up throughout the novel, and by the end you'll find yourself inching closer to breaking down in tears with each microscopic, perfectly timed inflection of his performance.
This book may be about Spooner's life growing up first in the Midwest and later settling on the east coast, but you'd be forgiven for thinking it's more about Calmer Ottosson, Spooner's steady handed stepfather. Calmer is a presence throughout the novel, even in the large patches where he's missing from the action. He's an ex-Navy guy with a cool head and a knack for soft, but firm leadership as a father who raises Warren from the time he's four years old. Always there for the son who stands too close to the fire, gets in trouble with stinging ants, and then later in life as Spooner is laid up in a hospital after a severe physical beating, Calmer is the definition of, well, calm. While never spoken out loud, there's a special relationship between Spooner and his stepfather that extends past family and veers into an almost spiritual kinship. For two distinctly different characters, this is as much a surprise to them as it is to the listener. But Pete Dexter sells this story slowly and almost imperceptibly. After some unfortunate setbacks late in his life, Calmer moves in with his stepson. The father becomes the son, and the son becomes the father. So while you're not shocked that Spooner realizes, despite a life of striking out on his own, that he "craved the good opinion of his stepfather more than he could ever admit, and felt the chance to find out where he stood with him slipping away", you're still touched by this revelation. Spooner is never ham-fisted or foisted upon the reader rather it is a subtle and emotionally heartfelt story drawn out over great lengths and with great results. Josh Ravitz
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When Haven Kimmel was born in 1965, Mooreland, Indiana, was a sleepy little hamlet of 300 people. Nicknamed "Zippy" for the way she would bolt around the house, this small girl was possessed of big eyes and even bigger ears. In this witty and lovingly told memoir, Kimmel takes readers back to a time when small-town America was caught in the amber of the innocent postwar period - people helped their neighbors, went to church on Sunday, and kept barnyard animals in their backyards.
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Beautifully written, beautifully read.
- By shopgirl on 03-06-08
By: Haven Kimmel
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The Visiting Privilege
- New and Collected Stories
- By: Joy Williams
- Narrated by: Richard Powers, Emily Woo Zeller, Elisabeth Rodgers, and others
- Length: 20 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Joy Williams has been celebrated as a master of the short story for four decades, her renown passing from one generation to the next even in the shifting landscape of contemporary writing. And at long last the incredible scope of her singular achievement is put on display: 33 stories drawn from three much-lauded collections and another 13 appearing here for the first time in book form.
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I sure tried.
- By A.C. CALLOWAY on 01-28-24
By: Joy Williams
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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 Walking People
- By: Mary Beth Keane
- Narrated by: Sile Bermingham
- Length: 16 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Greta Cahill never believed she would leave her village in the west of Ireland until she found herself on a ship bound for New York, along with her sister Johanna and a boy named Michael Ward. Labeled a "softheaded goose" by her family, Greta discovers that in America she can fall in love, raise her own family, and earn a living.
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Irish immigratn story
- By Chrissie on 09-10-13
By: Mary Beth Keane
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Where I'm Calling From
- Selected Stories
- By: Raymond Carver
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 16 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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By the time of his early death in 1988, Raymond Carver had established himself as one of the great practitioners of the American short story. Where I'm Calling From, his last collection, encompasses classic stories from Cathedral, What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, and earlier Carver volumes, along with seven new works previously unpublished in book form.
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Love Carver, But Dietz Ruins It With Reading
- By Noirbat on 05-10-18
By: Raymond Carver
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Turtle Moon
- By: Alice Hoffman
- Narrated by: Sandra Burr
- Length: 7 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Turtle Moon transports the listener to Verity, Florida, a place where anything can happen during the month of May, when migrating sea turtles come to town, mistaking the glow of the streetlights for the moon. A young single mother is murdered in her apartment and her baby is gone. Keith, a 12-year-old boy in the same apartment building also disappears. In pursuit of the baby, the boy and the killer, are Keith's divorced mother and a cop who himself was once considered the meanest boy in town.
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An enchanting story
- By A.J. on 05-09-11
By: Alice Hoffman
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Funerals for Horses
- By: Catherine Ryan Hyde
- Narrated by: Carly Robins
- Length: 5 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Ella Ginsberg's brother, Simon, has disappeared. His clothing, shoes, and watch were found abandoned near a freight line track in Central California. His jockey shorts and wallet were never found. The police have no clue, and Simon's wife had no warning that anything was wrong. Ella takes off on foot across much of California and Arizona, thinking she can find Simon using nothing but her knowledge of the way he might think. Her search leads her to the Navajo Nation in Arizona.
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Funerals for Horses
- By Carolyn Ferrell on 03-26-18
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A Death in Kitchawank, and Other Stories
- By: T. C. Boyle
- Narrated by: T. C. Boyle
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Few authors write with such sheer love of story and language as T. C. Boyle, and that is nowhere more evident than in his inventive, wickedly funny, and always entertaining short stories. Here are 14 new tales previously unpublished in book form. By turns mythic and realistic, farcical and tragic, ironic and moving, Boyle's stories have mapped a wide range of human emotions. The stories here reflect his maturing themes.
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Mixed Bag
- By AuntGert on 09-22-20
By: T. C. Boyle
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American Rust
- By: Philipp Meyer
- Narrated by: Tom Stechschulte
- Length: 12 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Set in a beautiful but economically devastated Pennsylvania steel town, American Rust is a novel of the lost American dream and the desperation-as well as the acts of friendship, loyalty, and love-that arise from its loss. From local bars to train yards to prison, it is the story of two young men, bound to the town by family, responsibility, inertia, and the beauty around them, who dream of a future beyond the factories and abandoned homes.
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A Web of Despair and Desperation
- By Darwin8u on 07-16-12
By: Philipp Meyer
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Wonder Boys
- By: Michael Chabon
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 11 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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A wildly successful first novel made Grady Tripp a young star, and seven years later he still hasn't grown up. He's now a writing professor in Pittsburgh, plummeting through middle age, stuck with an unfinishable manuscript, an estranged wife, a pregnant girlfriend, and a talented but deeply disturbed student named James Leer.
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A strong, early Chabon (sounds like grading wine)
- By Darwin8u on 03-09-14
By: Michael Chabon
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Bettyville
- By: George Hodgman
- Narrated by: Jeff Woodman
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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When George Hodgman leaves Manhattan for his hometown of Paris, Missouri, he finds himself - an unlikely caretaker and near-lethal cook - in a head-on collision with his aging mother, Betty, a woman of wit and will. Will George lure her into assisted living? When hell freezes over. He can't bring himself to force her from the home both treasure - the place where his father's voice lingers, the scene of shared jokes, skirmishes, and, behind the dusty antiques, a rarely acknowledged conflict...
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Title Should Be Georgeville-It's All About George
- By Sara on 10-08-15
By: George Hodgman
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The Cider House Rules
- By: John Irving
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 24 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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From one of America's most beloved and respected writers comes the classic story of Homer Wells, an orphan, and Wilbur Larch, a doctor without children of his own, who develop an extraordinary bond with one another.
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Wonderful
- By Patricia B Tripoli on 07-02-07
By: John Irving
What listeners say about Spooner
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Marie
- 04-17-10
I loved this book
I enjoyed this book from the start. I couldn't stop listening. I love listening to Tom Stechschulte and this is such a great story. Spooner is so lovable and this book was very interesting to listen to.
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- Robyn E. Ellis
- 12-09-16
So so good!
This is one of the few audiobooks that I revisited. It's a wonderful blend of characters,humor, triumphs, setbacks, and restarts.
I've enjoyed Dexter is writing for sometime now. I started with deadwood which is also very humorous and moved on his less humorous Paris Trout, Brother's keeper et al. All of his books are rich but this one is special like Spooner himself. I feel like this is the book John Irving comes close to with Garp but it's not so cartoonish and flamboyant, rather it builds and pulls you in and keeps you there in a world full of people you'd want to know.
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- Billy
- 02-17-10
Great Book.
I listened to the book after it was mentioned on NPR by a featured Librarian that summarized books she called "below the radar screen". I'm so glad I heard he recommendation.
The book has very interesting characters and really keeps your attention. The narrator was extremely good.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Teatime2
- 05-27-10
a tall tale of a life
I chose to read Spooner based on a four star review/synopsis in Bookmarks magazine. Then, listening to the sample of the Stechschulte narration, I couldn't resist the audio. He's gruff and fabulous. Perfect for this book.
At first I thought this was going to be simply a tall tale but I was surprised to learn that Spooner is semi-autobiographical! Hard to believe the decisions some people make, but there it is.
Some incidents are laugh-out-loud funny but there is quite a bit of angst in this tale. Some people may be offended by some of the language, although it's pretty mild by today's standards.
One thing I can say is that the story never loses your interest. It is fascinating, insightful and maddening but in the end, a great story. You may never put your shoes on again without thinking of Spooner.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Book Group Leader
- 02-18-11
Hilarious and touching
I had read a review of this book and went looking for it. It was a touching, gentle story of family and relationships that span years. The characters are endearing and you find yourself rooting for them every step of the way. Pete Dexter manages to weave humor and irony throughout the various stories that make up this book. I found myself laughing out loud as I walked my dog, drove my car, and just enjoyed being told this tale. Excellent narration, totally absorbing.
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3 people found this helpful
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- barnowl
- 06-05-18
Read It For The Feelings
I've read hundreds of books - the best books of the twentieth century and the like. And I get asked, as people often experience, what is your favorite book? That nearly impossible to answer in perfect candor. The're too many. But, I finally settled, calling the Heart of Darkness by Conrad my favorite. What a piece of writing. That will still be my answer mainly because it makes me sound like I know literature. I now, however, upon reading/hearing this book for the second time (the first probably 20 years ago) have a book that in my heart I consider the most entertaining and touching book I've ever read.
I don't think Dexter is trying to make a particular point. But it's loaded with moving anecdotes about the life of its main character, Spooner, his father and several others who come along the way. Dexter lets his writer's instinct do the writing. Everything flows and follows, even as ridiculous as some things get (I laughed out loud so many times), it's never overcooked and it never strains to say things in a deserving way. Every single analogy fit just right. Remarkable.
So you don't read this book for a plot. I would categorize it as picaresque. You would best read this book for the feelings it stimulates. It is now, and I suspect for a long time, will be my other favorite book.
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Overall
- AmazonCustomer
- 03-11-10
Too Funny
How often do you listen to a book and laugh out loud. This book by Pete Dexter is quite a departed from his other books, which I found excellent, but dark. After listening to it for awhile I realized that it was taken from events in his life. What a ride, and as others have said, the narration is perfect.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Ann
- 12-11-11
fun and entertaining
3 1/2 stars. Spooner is entertaining, it held my interest, and I enjoyed it. Some parts are very funny. The author is a good writer, especially with descriptions and dialogue. There isn't much of a plot. It's more like a lot of vignettes about things that happen to Spooner and his stepfather throughout their lives. Some of these were fun to listen to, but I would have enjoyed it more if there was a more cohesive story the whole way through. There were also several characters that were introduced and developed and then we never heard from them again. I missed some of them and wondered what happened to them. But overall, Spooner is a fun and easy listen. The narrator did a very good job.
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- Kenny Hogan
- 06-26-15
One of the funniest books I've ever owned
This book is not for everyone.
I would say that it is more or less a "Guy Book."
The humor is raw, twisted, crude and bawdy.
If you're the kind of person who is offended by dirty jokes or foul language - don't buy it.
I loved it.
I found that I had a good hearty laugh about every 20 minutes as the story progressed.
I laughed out loud and woke my wife up several times, late at night, but I could not suppress the need to laugh.
As a story it was no literary masterpiece, but it was packed with amusing scenarios and ridiculous predicaments, and those laugh-out-loud moments made it well worth the price. Tom Stechschulte is a top notch narrator and he does a great job with this one.
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- Sue
- 01-14-10
Great narration
I really enjoyed the character & story development in this novel. Some of the characters were unusual, but their trials and tribulations were interesting and they had emotional depth. Tom Stechschulte's narration was fantastic. His timing and varied voices for the various characters was perfect for both the serious and the humorous scenes. He made the book come alive.
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4 people found this helpful