Tobacco Road Audiobook By Erskine Caldwell cover art

Tobacco Road

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Tobacco Road

By: Erskine Caldwell
Narrated by: Mark Hammer
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Earthy, raunchy, and high spirited, this story of larkabout Jeeter Lester’s struggle to keep his farm is one of the most poignant and humorous in Depression-era literature and an American classic.

©1932 Erskine Caldwell (P)1993 Recorded Books, LLC Classics Dark Humor Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Witty
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Where does Tobacco Road rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This is the most difficult book I've ever listened to. The characters are desperately, willfully, unrelentingly benighted. Every day I wanted to stop listening. What scheme would one of them sabotage next? I wondered. If it wasn't for Mark Hammer's narration, I would have been very tempted to quit.

Another thought that kept me going was that Caldwell might have been using Jeeter and all as metaphors for the opposite side of the coin - the Wall Street manipulators, laissez faire capitalists, and technocrats he might be blaming for the Depression the Lesters were struggling to survive. I haven't read that in any review, though.

What was most disappointing about Erskine Caldwell’s story?

The despair was devastating.

What about Mark Hammer’s performance did you like?

I bought this book because Mark Hammer narrated it. His accent and his pace allowed me to keep listening to this tragedy.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

This novel depressed me. I can't imagine why it ran so long on Broadway.

A noxious tale perfectly painted

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I love listening to the narrator, the characters voices is what I loved about it more than the story.

I liked it!

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Very touching story about the remnant of a family who passively hope for the return of a past that is gone forever and doesn’t have the courage to adapt to change in a way that would enhance survival. In their resignation to hopelessness they lose their empathy for others. The narrator is an excellent fit for this book. He has the accent and expresses well the gradual disintegration of this family.

Great narration

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It is easy to see why this novel is a classic. The author did a great job at portraying the bleakness of the characters lives while tempering it with the unintentional humor from their folly and ignorance. Caldwell gives them dimension and makes them sympathetic despite themselves. Moreover, the narrator does an absolutely amazing job. One of the best audiobooks I've ever heard!

Wonderful

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This was a very hard book for me to listen to, it was recommended to me by a friend. I listened til the end hoping for something of a plot or story. None came , it ended like it started. I did not enjoy it.

I was somewhat offended by the storyline

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The narrator did a good job, with what he had to work with. Didn’t care for this story at all. Would not recommend it....

Disappointment

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Tobacco Road is said to be one of the 100 best American books of all time.

It’s total shit. A store about mentally disturbed whack job people. Who are totally detached from reality.

Horrible followed by more horrible

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