
The Day of the Locust
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Narrated by:
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Grover Gardner
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By:
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Nathanael West
About this listen
Admired by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Dorothy Parker, and Dashiell Hammett, and hailed as one of the best 100 English-language novels by Time magazine, The Day of the Locust continues to influence American writers, artists, and culture. Bob Dylan wrote the classic song "Day of the Locusts" in homage, and Matt Groening's Homer Simpson is named after one of its characters. No novel more perfectly captures the nuttier side of Hollywood. Here the lens is turned on its fringes-actors out of work, film extras with big dreams, and parents lining their children up for small roles. But it's the bit actress Faye Greener who steals the spotlight with her wildly convoluted dreams of stardom: "I'm going to be a star some day - if I'm not I'll commit suicide."
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Wyatt Gwyon's desire to forge is not driven by larceny but from love. Exactingly faithful to the spirit and letter of the Flemish masters, he produces uncannily accurate "originals" - pictures the painters themselves might have envied. In an age of counterfeit emotion and taste, the real and fake have become indistinguishable; yet Gwyon's forgeries reflect a truth that others cannot touch - cannot even recognize.
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Breathtaking, Dizzying, Stimulating, Funny
- By andrew on 11-17-10
By: William Gaddis
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At Swim-Two-Birds
- By: Flann O’Brien
- Narrated by: Alan Smyth
- Length: 10 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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A wildly comic send-up of Irish literature and culture, At Swim-Two-Birds is the story of a young, lazy, and frequently drunk Irish college student who lives with his curmudgeonly uncle in Dublin. When not in bed (where he seems to spend most of his time) or reading, he is composing a mischief-filled novel about Dermot Trellis, a second-rate author whose characters ultimately rebel against him and seek vengeance. From drugging him as he sleeps to dropping the ceiling on his head, these figures of Irish myth make Trellis pay dearly for his bad writing.
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Worth waiting for
- By Ken Watkins on 02-04-20
By: Flann O’Brien
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Tinseltown
- Murder, Morphine, and Madness at the Dawn of Hollywood
- By: William J. Mann
- Narrated by: Christopher Lane
- Length: 15 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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By 1920, the movies had suddenly become America's new favorite pastime and one of the nation's largest industries. Never before had a medium possessed such power to influence; yet Hollywood's glittering ascendancy was threatened by a string of headline-grabbing tragedies - including the murder of William Desmond Taylor, the popular president of the Motion Picture Directors Association, a legendary crime that has remained unsolved until now.
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Everybody's a dreamer...
- By Steven on 01-08-15
By: William J. Mann
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Herzog
- By: Saul Bellow
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 15 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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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.
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Grows Within You
- By Chris Reich on 08-06-11
By: Saul Bellow
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Call It Sleep
- A Novel
- By: Henry Roth
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 17 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Lauded as the most profound novel of Jewish life ever written by an American, Call It Sleep seamlessly weaves together the searing pains and subtle joys of immigrant life in New York’s Lower East Side. It is the story of David Schearl, a dangerously imaginative little boy who arrives from Eastern Europe in 1907. Shock by shock, he is exposed to the blows - and occasional pleasures - of life in the crowded tenements.
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Masterful Reading
- By Sean Bird on 05-14-20
By: Henry Roth
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Underworld
- By: Don DeLillo
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 31 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Nick Shay and Klara Sax knew each other once, intimately, and they meet again in the American desert. He is trying to outdistance the crucial events of his early life, haunted by the hard logic of loss and by the echo of a gunshot in a basement room. She is an artist who has made a blood struggle for independence.
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CYBEX burned into my eyes
- By Ruth Ann Orlansky on 07-01-12
By: Don DeLillo
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A Death in the Family
- By: James Agee
- Narrated by: Lloyd James
- Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Decades after its original publication, James Agee’s last novel seems, more than ever, an American classic. For in his lyrical, sorrowful account of a man’s death and its impact on his family, Agee painstakingly created a small world of domestic happiness and then showed how quickly and casually it could be destroyed.
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It just has to be lived through...
- By Darwin8u on 01-15-20
By: James Agee
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Under the Volcano
- A Novel
- By: Malcolm Lowry
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 14 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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On the Day of the Dead, in 1938, Geoffrey Firmin, an alcoholic and ruined man, is fatefully living out his last day, drowning himself in mescal while his former wife and half-brother look on, powerless to help him. The events of this one day unfold against a backdrop unforgettable for its evocation of a Mexico at once magical and diabolical.
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Excellent...but not for everyone
- By Melinda on 12-07-10
By: Malcolm Lowry
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All the King's Men
- By: Robert Penn Warren
- Narrated by: Michael Emerson
- Length: 20 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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The fictionalized account of Louisiana's colorful and notorious governor, Huey Pierce Long, All the King's Men follows the startling rise and fall of Willie Stark, a country lawyer in the Deep South of the 1930s. Beset by political enemies, Stark seeks aid from his right-hand man Jack Burden, who will bear witness to the cataclysmic unfolding of this very American tragedy.
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Beautifully presented
- By Cheimon on 10-12-08
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City of Nets
- A Portrait of Hollywood in the 1940's
- By: Otto Friedrich, Glen David Gold - foreword
- Narrated by: P.J. Ochlan
- Length: 25 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1939, 50 million Americans went to the movies every week, Louis B. Mayer was the highest-paid man in the country, and Hollywood produced 530 feature films a year. One decade and five thousand movies later, the studios were faltering....
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Disjointed and flawed
- By A. N. Onymous on 01-18-22
By: Otto Friedrich, and others
What listeners say about The Day of the Locust
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Blingus
- 02-18-19
Okay, okay, you've convinced me…
"Hollywood is shallow and artificial!!" I guess this was news to people in 1939, but now that we're 80 years into this trope, the message does get a bit-heavy handed and dull. There are really no observations here that seem particularly fresh or astute. It's not that I disagree with the author's point of view, but the whole story's only objective is to beat this long-dead horse.
Regarding the narrator, I have heard marvelous performances from Grover Gardner, but this one feels very "phoned-in."
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2 people found this helpful
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- Courtney Wilson
- 05-05-23
Reminds me Cohen Bros. movies
I would often be shaking my head at the characters (100% fools) when suddenly I’d be slapped in the face by a passage of stunning beauty. Like every Cohen Bros. movie I’ve seen, these loser characters are filmed through a lens of lush imagery. This book is often uncomfortable and often funny, often simultaneously. I’m glad I read it.
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- Amazon Customer
- 01-02-24
The great Los Angeles novel expertly read!
A timeless work that captures the desperate spirit of Hollywood and one man’s pursuit of his art. Brilliantly read!
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1 person found this helpful
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- David C.
- 11-13-22
Nothing ever changes in Hollywood
I must confess that I had no clue as to the subject matter of #thedayofthelocust but, even though it was written in 1939, I saw many parallels and hark backs to my entertainment career in Los Angeles in the 80's and 90's. it was obviously profoundly influential to the likes of #mattgroening who found the inspiration and namesake of #homersimpson who was portrayed of one of the myriad Midwestern middle class men who came to the coast for health or a new start only to get caught up in the seemly world or brutally ambitious wannabe starlets, extras and , as is the case with the main character, a moderately talented artist with greater prospects painting film flats and mattes then any attempt at original art.
I also noted the great influence this book must have had on #jaketapper and his latest Hollywood based novel #thedevilmaydance . This period of Hollywood came at a time of transition as the original icons of the early years had spawned a second generation who had literally been born to entertain. A town rife with bohemianism, absolutely moral flexibility and everybody trying to fulfill their Hollywood career aspirations while also chasing the latest religious and nutrition fad, all in a quest for perfection and fame. Author #nathanielwest was a friend and favorite of #fscottfitzgerald , West and his wife died in a tragic car accident the day after Fitzgerald died from a heart aliment. Residing at #73 of the #modernlibrarytop100novels , I enjoyed the #audible version where, the storytelling was so compelling that I extended walk with the dog to catch one more chapter.
#americannovel #readtheworld #readtheworldchallenge #globalreadingchallenge #americanliterature #hollywood
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2 people found this helpful
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- gunnerThrax
- 05-20-23
A literary peak into the past
Finally(05/18/2023.) I read/listened to this short novel. Two positives: One, is the magnificent reader Grover Gardner - he may have one or two equals, but there is no one better; two, Nathanael West shows without telling what is happening, which is the hallmark of a good writer.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 02-04-23
Fun listen if you enjoy stream of consciousness
Reminded me of Bukowski’s Hollywood set a few decades earlier. Colorful characters take you on an interesting ride.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Jay L
- 07-22-23
Why is this a classic LA story?
I must have missed something. This book leaves a lot to be desired but of course Grover Gardner does his best to acquit the story with a solid narration.
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- Patrick Zircher
- 10-11-23
The Decline of the West
as told in 1930s California and the Golden Age of Hollywood. Ambitious, sometimes ugly, and memorable.
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- Anonymous User
- 05-03-24
What?
What an end…final chapter pushes it off the cliff…boysenberry oh boysenberry…oh sweet California…
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- Dr. Joe de Beauchamp
- 09-24-19
Chaos
Dark humor in this book matches the movie. A good listen for horror deep within all of us
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3 people found this helpful