
The Folded Leaf
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
3 months free
Buy for $24.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Mark Boyett
-
By:
-
William Maxwell
Here is a classic novel from one of our most honored writers - the author of such acclaimed works as So Long, See You Tomorrow and All the Days and Nights. The Folded Leaf is the serenely observed yet deeply moving story of two boys finding one another in the Midwest of the 1920s, when childhood lasted longer than it does today and even adults were more innocent of what life could bring.
©1945 William Maxwell (P)2011 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...




















Critic reviews
People who viewed this also viewed...



But the second half becomes melodramatic and banal. Limey and Spud follow different routes in college, testing their friendship. The girl remains fond of both. But Limey becomes weak and simpering, while Spud grows increasingly angry and a bit dense.
Are the young men lovers? Hard to say, as the novel reflects an age when that love really did not dare not speak its name. But it begins with a bunch of naked teenage boys playing water polo in the school pool, college boys share beds snuggling warmly and there is even a chaste lip-to-lip guy kiss. Secondary characters include a bachelor professor living with his party-loving mother and an affected antique dealer who runs a men's rooming house with his little dog. But despite all that, there is never a hint that any characters--male or female--actually have sex.
The book is fun as a historic artifact, and the first half is kind of charming. The narration was good, with nice choices for the voices of the various characters.
Midwestern Misfits
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Maybe because of the time, the sexual relationship could not be more deftly illustrated; I get that. But it was thrown on thick at the end as if the writer wanted to make sure the reader "got it." The sentence about "not liking effeminate men" was the only thing definitely "effeminate" about that particular character.
Am I missing nuances here? I could go back and re-think some scenes and find ways to add homosexual behavior to some, but why? I think that as a book about growing boys, motherless children, poverty and academia, about Chicago and about adolescence, it is just dandy.
I would not recommend this for anyone else to read or listen to -- because it was BORING. The language was lovely, but not stunning. The sentences and the word choices were rather plain.
I don't get it!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Ahead of its time
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Superb narrator
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I started the audio book and then switched to the ebook version. The endings aren't the same. Maxwell wraps up the plot the same way, but the material in the last chapter of the audio book is spread out and augmented into two chapters in the print edition. If you liked the audio book, I'd suggest trying to find that last chapter in print. It buttons up the book well.
Great book. Ending of Audio differs from Print
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
For the modern reader I have to give a sensitivity warning (with the fear of sounding like a total SJW) this book might come off as a little "queer bait-y" to the modern reader. To a modern person it would be quite obvious that one of the boys is gay and is in love with the other boy. Whether that was intentional or not is hard to say, but to me it does read like it is. This is never made explicit but there are a lot of passages that would be hard to interpret otherwise. This might be frustrating at times but one has to keep in mind that this book was written in the 1940's.
If this does not bother you it is a very charming story, loved the characters and Maxwell's language is beautiful. I have also rarely read a book about teenagers that so well captures the way they think and act. His portrait of the teenage mind is so perfect and captivating and to me as an adult it really takes me back. It does this completely without being either sentimental not judgemental. It treats teenagers with respect with the full knowledge that they are at times (if you will excuse my french) overly melodramatic dumb-asses fuelled by hormones and with very little common sense.
The narrator does a great job at really showing off the beauty of the language and his voices for the different characters are fitting.
I would recommend this book, just keep in mind that it is a little bit dated.
Charming classic
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Relationally uneven
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Suicide attempts will not fix a person’s problems
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.