The Very Heart of It Audiobook By Thomas Mallon cover art

The Very Heart of It

New York Diaries, 1983-1994

Pre-order with offer Pre-order for $0.00
Offer ends May 6, 2025 at 11:59PM PT.
Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The Very Heart of It

By: Thomas Mallon
Narrated by: Thomas Mallon
Pre-order with offer Pre-order for $0.00

$14.95/mo. after 3 months. Offer ends May 6, 2025 11:59PM PT. Cancel anytime.

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Pre-order for $24.75

Pre-order for $24.75

Confirm pre-order
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

From the renowned novelist and critic, an exquisite collection of journal entries from the 1980s and ’90s, tracking a young, gay author’s literary coming-of-age in New York during the AIDS crisis

In 1983, Thomas Mallon was still unknown. A literature professor at Vassar College, he spent his days traveling from Manhattan to campus, reviewing books to make ends meet and searching the city for his own purpose and fulfillment. The AIDS epidemic was beginning to surge in New York City, the ever-bustling epicenter of literary culture and gay life, alive with parties, art, and sex.

Though he didn’t know it, everything would soon change for Mallon. Riding the success of his debut, A Book of One’s Own, he became a fixture within the city’s literary scene, crossing paths with cultural giants and becoming an editor at GQ. He captured it all in his daily journals. But in some ways it was the worst possible time for a gay coming-of-age in the city. One of his lovers succumbed to AIDS, and the illness of others was both a heartbreaking reality and a constant reminder of his own exposure.

Tracing his own life day by day, Mallon evokes all that those years encompassed: the hookups, intensifying politics, personal tragedies, as well as his own blossoming success and eventual romantic happiness. The Very Heart of It is a brilliant and bewitching look into the daily life of one of our most important literary figures, and a keepsake from a bygone era.

©2025 Thomas Mallon (P)2025 Random House Audio
Art & Literature Authors Biographies & Memoirs
adbl_web_global_use_to_activate_webcro805_stickypopup

Critic reviews

"Illuminating, heartbreaking, hilarious, romantic, terrifying, thrilling, baffling, joyous—such is life! And such are the diaries of our great writer Thomas Mallon, who has preserved in The Very Heart of It one precious moment in time told in his inestimable style. I found myself reading addictively. A world opens up in these pages. What a book!"—Andrew Sean Greer, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Less and Less Is Lost

"While reading The Very Heart of It, I tried to discipline myself, but suddenly it was 4 AM. Thomas Mallon’s diaries, focusing on the 1980s through the early 90s, depict that era with heartbreaking accuracy, from the dread of an AIDS test to the glory of living, on cobbled-together funds, in the social and cultural capitol of New York City. His portraits of the rancorous literary scene, political ferment and his hectic love life are witty, original and sinfully entertaining (it’s a rare work that travels from Robert Mapplethorpe to Dan Quayle). Upon reaching the final page all I wanted was more."—Paul Rudnick, author of What is Wrong with You?

"Thomas Mallon’s The Very Heart of It is a big-hearted account of his life from 1983 to 1994, as he was becoming the distinguished American man of letters and man-about-town that he manifestly is now. It’s also a modern-day, Defoe-esque diary of the plague years, when AIDS swept through the country, scything its grim swath through the artist community. It’s fittingly ironic that Mallon, arguably our best living historical novelist, made his first splash with a non-fictional book about famous diarists. With this book, he joins those ranks."—Christopher Buckley, author of Losing Mum and Pup: A Memoir

What listeners say about The Very Heart of It

Average customer ratings

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.