The Painter
A novel
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Narrated by:
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Mark Deakins
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By:
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Peter Heller
About this listen
Peter Heller, the celebrated author of the breakout best seller The Dog Stars, returns with an achingly beautiful, wildly suspenseful second novel about an artist trying to outrun his past.
Jim Stegner has seen his share of violence and loss. Years ago he shot a man in a bar. His marriage disintegrated. He grieved the one thing he loved. In the wake of tragedy, Jim, a well-known expressionist painter, abandoned the art scene of Santa Fe to start fresh in the valleys of rural Colorado. Now he spends his days painting and fly-fishing, trying to find a way to live with the dark impulses that sometimes overtake him. He works with a lovely model. His paintings fetch excellent prices. But one afternoon, on a dirt road, Jim comes across a man beating a small horse, and a brutal encounter rips his quiet life wide open. Fleeing Colorado, chased by men set on retribution, Jim returns to New Mexico, tormented by his own relentless conscience.
A stunning, savage novel of art and violence, love and grief, The Painter is the story of a man who longs to transcend the shadows in his heart, a man intent on using the losses he has suffered to create a meaningful life.
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A literary icon sometimes seen as a bridge between the Beat Generation and the hippies, Ken Kesey scored an unexpected hit with his first novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. His successful follow-up, Sometimes a Great Notion, was also transformed into a major motion picture, directed by and starring Paul Newman. Here, Oregon’s Stamper family does what it can to survive a bitter strike dividing their tiny logging community. And as tensions rise, delicate family bonds begin to fray and unravel.
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Sometimes a Great Novel Pops up out of Nowhere
- By Mr. Eyuz on 06-07-19
By: Ken Kesey
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The Stand
- By: Stephen King
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 47 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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This is the way the world ends: with a nanosecond of computer error in a Defense Department laboratory and a million casual contacts that form the links in a chain letter of death. And here is the bleak new world of the day after: a world stripped of its institutions and emptied of 99 percent of its people. A world in which a handful of panicky survivors choose sides - or are chosen.
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My First Completed Stephen King Novel
- By Meaghan Bynum on 02-20-12
By: Stephen King
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Descent
- By: Tim Johnston
- Narrated by: Xe Sands, R.C. Bray
- Length: 11 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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From the day Caitlin vanishes the lives of her family members are irrevocably altered, each assuming blame for that day's tragic events. As the initial days of hope are replaced by weeks of anxiety and despair, they find themselves increasingly isolated, each wondering: Is she still alive? Will we ever know what happened?
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Even a Monkey Knows the Value of a Stick
- By tooonce72 on 01-09-15
By: Tim Johnston
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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
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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.
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Something for Everyone
- By Nicole on 05-24-17
By: Neil Gaiman - author/editor, and others
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The Fireman
- A Novel
- By: Joe Hill
- Narrated by: Kate Mulgrew
- Length: 22 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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No one knows exactly when it began or where it originated. A terrifying new plague is spreading like wildfire across the country, striking cities one by one: Boston, Detroit, Seattle. The doctors call it Draco Incendia Trychophyton. To everyone else it's Dragonscale, a highly contagious, deadly spore that marks its hosts with beautiful black and gold marks across their bodies - before causing them to burst into flames. Millions are infected; blazes erupt everywhere. There is no antidote. No one is safe.
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GOD'S WAITING ROOM; AKA FLORIDA
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 04-25-17
By: Joe Hill
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Battleborn
- By: Claire Vaye Watkins
- Narrated by: Ali Ahn, Morgan Hallett, Laura Knight Keating, and others
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Like the work of Cormac McCarthy, Denis Johnson, Richard Ford, and Annie Proulx, Battleborn represents a near-perfect confluence of sensibility and setting, and the introduction of an exceptionally powerful and original literary voice. In each of these ten unforgettable stories, Claire Vaye Watkins writes her way fearlessly into the mythology of the American West, utterly reimagining it.
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Wonderful magnificent stories beautifully told
- By Pedro Ramirez on 12-03-15
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The Orenda
- A Novel
- By: Joseph Boyden
- Narrated by: Ali Ahn, Graham Rowat, Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 17 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Christophe has been in the New World only a year when his native guides abandon him to flee their Iroquois pursuers. A Huron warrior and elder named Bird soon takes him prisoner, along with a young Iroquois girl, Snow Falls, whose family he has just killed, and holds them captive in his massive village. Champlain's Iron People have only recently begun trading with the Huron, who mistrust them as well as this Crow who has now trespassed onto their land; and her people, of course, have become the Huron's greatest enemy.
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Thoughtful and interesting, if not always gripping
- By David on 06-15-14
By: Joseph Boyden
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A False Dawn
- By: Tom Lowe
- Narrated by: Michael David Axtell
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Before the death of his wife, Sean O'Brien makes a promise to her that he has no plans to break - until he starts building a new life in an old cabin on a remote stretch of a tropical river in the heart of Florida. It's there that he discovers an injured young woman who whispers a cryptic message into his ear.
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Wonderful first novel in the Sean O'Brien series
- By Wayne on 05-07-17
By: Tom Lowe
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Perfect Touch
- A Novel
- By: Elizabeth Lowell
- Narrated by: Nicol Zanzarella
- Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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An art dealer and owner of her own design studio, Perfect Touch, Sarah "Sam" Maddox travels the world to find the ideal artwork for her clients. Her sophisticated, comfortable life in San Francisco is light years away from the poverty of her family's dairy farm, and Sam will do whatever it takes to keep her business strong. A dedicated urban career woman focused on her work, she doesn't have time or energy for a family or distracting romantic entanglements.
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Lowell is back!
- By kestergayle on 11-09-15
By: Elizabeth Lowell
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Rain Dogs
- By: Sean Doolittle
- Narrated by: Basil Sands
- Length: 7 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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It was one hell of an inheritance for former Chicago reporter Tom Coleman: a broken-down pickup truck, ramshackle campground, a canoe livery - and one pot-smoking, barely working employee he doesn’t need, doesn’t want, and can’t afford. But the truth is, after losing a child and a marriage, Tom doesn’t really care.
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Narration is awful
- By Karen Martin on 03-09-21
By: Sean Doolittle
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Not what the summary says at all
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Narrator....
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What listeners say about The Painter
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Kathy in CA
- 05-23-14
The good, the bad, and the ugly
First off, I need to say that Heller's previous book, The Dog Stars, is in my all-time favorites list. I listened to it three times.
I had hoped I would enjoy The Painter similarly. This book has some of the characteristics that I loved in the previous book. It has the very excellent Mark Deakins as the narrator. It has the first person narration by the protagonist and the similar stream of consciousness thoughts. At first, I worried that I was listening to the same character as in the other book. The similarities were scary--the loner male, the abject grief, the love of nature--but soon I realized that Jim Stegner was a very different character. Good, and that is what I was hoping for, right?
Yes and no. Jim is a very different bird, indeed. Some of his personality traits did not ring true or seem to be credible. Heller portrays a man who has what could be referred to as psychopathic tendencies, yet he is a nature loving, animal protecting, introspective man. This just doesn't ring true.
Jim is also incredibly self-centered to an extent that I found hard to swallow. Yet he attracts the very best in women, selfless women who also think only of him and expect nothing in return from him. Is the mere presence of an up and coming artist and fly fisherman enough for them?
There were parts of the book that were riveting and other parts that seemed to drag a bit. I think a little too much introspection perhaps. But the clincher for me was the egregious crimes he committed and got away with and how law enforcement became almost complicit with him. Was the author thinking that if a person is evil and disgusting enough, he can be offed with no consequences? Every once in a while, the author gave Jim a tiny bit of conscience, which changed his behavior not a whit. Were we to think more of him because now and then he acknowledged the seriousness of what he had done?
I realize that everyone does not have my values, and it would be boring to read only about good people. However, for me, Jim Stegner had no redeeming qualities that would excuse his failings. I came away from this novel confused and perplexed, feeling little satisfaction.
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22 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 11-18-23
Great again
I’ve listened to many of Peter hellers audiobooks, they all have good story lines with dramatic twists and turns.
The ending to this one is very interesting.
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- nonplussed
- 05-22-14
I missed a viable storyline
Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?
I would not. Even though in Amazon books, it was given 5 stars, I couldn't see the justification.
What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?
There was too much fly-fishing, not enough forward-moving story line. The author spoke in the first person; that was ok, but he spent too much time on visual impressions and too much time about his own feelings.
Have you listened to any of Mark Deakins’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
No, but he was good
Was The Painter worth the listening time?
Not really, although I did finish the book
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5 people found this helpful
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- Amanda
- 03-18-21
2 thumbs up
This writter captivated me. The Narrator brought it to full color! I totally Loved It.
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- Delores Stroud
- 11-24-21
Heller’s best
I really enjoyed this book. Great mix of character development and plot with some real tension. Heller’s writing and characters always complex deep and interesting. He likes to take his time and can sometimes go off in the weeds with unnecessary detours, but the pacing and tension of this one were just right for me. In the final scene I found myself literally holding my breath. My favorite book of the year so far, from any author.
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- K S
- 03-15-22
Amazing book
This book is incredible, moving, rough, violent, thoughtful, tender. It’s full of gorgeous nature & imperfect people. Peter Heller is so good!
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- Trew
- 11-15-18
Sometimes crazy
When life is mean is primal man awaken?
I understood the Painter, it scared me. Peter Heller is becoming a favorite author. If you like pretty bows this may not be a book you would enjoy. I think this is Cactus and thunder.
Performance was spot on.
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- Scott
- 02-20-15
Majors in reflection, minors in wrestling with it
I can appreciate and associate with the meditation on one's past and the events that brought us to the present. However, somehow I didn't get a strong sense of what the protagonist felt after the many self-reflective moments that ostensibly form the emotional backbone of the narrative. It would have served to make the epilogue the final gut punch it could have been rather than the dismissive shove it became.
That said, the author is skilled at drawing the audience into each moment with well-formed characters and a palpable tension at all the right points.
In the end it feels like a Bruce Springsteen ballad: timeless, artfully crafted but, sadly, too easily forgotten; lacking the gravitas that hangs on your heart or echoes in your mind far past the initial experience.
I'm a newly-won fan of the author's distinct style and growing body of work, viewing this story in that context. I look forward to next fiction!
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- GioSailor
- 12-28-22
Fabulous
Surprised at how good this book is. While very different, it's a great follow up to The Dog Stars. The detailed and emotional description of both landscapes and paintings, as well as the process of painting and fishing are excellent. With all that there is also a murder thriller and chase of sorts. Superb narration as well.
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- Beth Anne
- 12-09-14
Heller and Deakins are a magnificent pair
Peter Heller is an amazing writer. he writes the most complex male characters. they are so masculine, but have fragile and empathetic sides...they are delicate and strong at the same time. they are smart, witty, full of depth. and they are full of violence and grief and something that you just love and root for. this book made me so unsteady...it was heartbreaking and shocking and sad...
read by Deakins, his characters become real and intimate and even more honest.
i think Heller is one of the best authors of our time.
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6 people found this helpful