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Performance4 out of 5 stars 23
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David Sedaris's beloved holiday collection is new again with six more pieces, including a never before published story. Along with such favorites as the diaries of a Macy's elf and the annals of two very competitive families, are Sedaris's tales of tardy trick-or-treaters ("Us and Them"); the difficulties of explaining the Easter Bunny to the French ("Jesus Shaves"); and what to do when you've been locked out in a snowstorm ("Let It Snow").
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 100
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1 out of 5 stars
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Alice Wright marries handsome American Bennett Van Cleve hoping to escape her stifling life in England. But small-town Kentucky quickly proves equally claustrophobic, especially living alongside her overbearing father-in-law. So, when a call goes out for a team of women to deliver books as part of Eleanor Roosevelt’s new traveling library, Alice signs on enthusiastically. The leader, and soon Alice's greatest ally, is Margery, a smart-talking, self-sufficient woman who's never asked a man's permission for anything.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great narration, Fantastic job with different voices.
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 651
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 582
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 584
The Goldfinch is a haunted odyssey through present-day America and a drama of enthralling force and acuity. It begins with a boy. Theo Decker, a 13-year-old New Yorker, miraculously survives an accident that kills his mother. Abandoned by his father, Theo is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. Bewildered by his strange new home on Park Avenue, disturbed by schoolmates who don't know how to talk to him, and tormented above all by his unbearable longing for his mother, he clings to one thing that reminds him of her: a small, mysteriously captivating painting that ultimately draws Theo into the underworld of art.
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1 out of 5 stars
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I really did not enjoy this book
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 21
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 19
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 19
Kelly Cannon is satisfied with his life. He has friends, a wonderful family, and a great job. But his love life has reached a new level of pitiful. Why? Well, his heart decided to break all the rules. Don't fall in love with a straight guy. And definitely don't fall in love with your best friend. NFL standout Britton "Blue" Montgomery has pressure coming at him from all sides. When Kelly admits he's in love with Blue, bonds are tested, and Blue has to decide what's really important.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Disappointing
- By Cheri Champagne on 2020-01-18
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Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
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- Written by: Gail Honeyman
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- Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,225
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 2,013
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,016
Meet Eleanor Oliphant: She struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she's thinking. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life of avoiding social interactions, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka, and phone chats with Mummy. But everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond, the bumbling and deeply unhygienic IT guy from her office.
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5 out of 5 stars
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I think we all know an Eleanor Oliphant
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The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
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- Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 35
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 32
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 32
Things have never been easy for Oscar, a sweet but disastrously overweight, lovesick Dominican ghetto nerd. From his home in New Jersey, where he lives with his old-world mother and rebellious sister, Oscar dreams of becoming the Dominican J. R. R. Tolkien and, most of all, of finding love. But he may never get what he wants, thanks to the Fuku: the curse that has haunted Oscar's family for generations, dooming them to prison, torture, tragic accidents, and, above all, ill-starred love. Oscar, still waiting for his first kiss, is just its most recent victim.
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5 out of 5 stars
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One of the best books I have listened to in a while
- By Amazon Customer on 2018-09-13
Publisher's Summary
A breakout romantic comedy by the best-selling author of five critically acclaimed novels.
Who says you can't run away from your problems?
You are a failed novelist about to turn 50. A wedding invitation arrives in the mail: Your boyfriend of the past nine years is engaged to someone else. You can't say yes - it would be too awkward - and you can't say no - it would look like defeat. On your desk are a series of invitations to half-baked literary events around the world.
Question: How do you arrange to skip town?
Answer: You accept them all.
What would possibly go wrong?
Arthur Less will almost fall in love in Paris, almost fall to his death in Berlin, barely escape to a Moroccan ski chalet from a Saharan sandstorm, accidentally book himself as the (only) writer-in-residence at a Christian Retreat Center in Southern India, and encounter, on a desert island in the Arabian Sea, the last person on Earth he wants to face. Somewhere in there: He will turn 50. Through it all there is his first love. And there is his last.
Because despite all these mishaps, missteps, misunderstandings, and mistakes, Less is, above all, a love story.
A scintillating satire of the American abroad, a rumination on time and the human heart, a bittersweet romance of chances lost, by an author the New York Times has hailed as "inspired, lyrical", "elegiac", and "ingenious" as well as "too sappy by half", Less shows a writer at the peak of his talents raising the curtain on our shared human comedy.
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Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Utilisateur anonyme
- 2018-12-03
I actually refunded my credit
I had gone about 2hours into this book and for some reasons did not want to continue it so I refunded my credit, but I still had it downloaded. I had finished my other audiobook and to kill time I ended up continuing this one. I ended up loving it, laughing out loud at some parts and loving the side characters, it really took my imagination for a ride
4 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- JRain
- 2019-08-08
Meh
Read/listened to this for girly book club. It's an existential narrative of a rich white man having an existential crisis. Unrelatable and unremarkable.
1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- cata
- 2018-11-21
Fun and smart
Fun, easy to listen to book, with many laughing moments. Loved the ending and was surprised by the identity of the narrator. Positive notes throughout most of the book.
1 person found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Ewa Chang
- 2020-09-11
less could have been more
I almost gave up on this book, but since I had the audiobook, I put it on in the background as I was doing some chores, just to get it over with. It wasn't until he was in Morocco that I finally found Arthur and his story mildly interesting. The misadventures at every turn seemed forced to give the story a plot. I didn't mind the later part of the book, but it really was nothing special. Sure, the author had a very eloquent way of describing everything, but all it did was create a literary painting without substance. Yes, the story is supposed to shine a light on coming to terms with middle age, but being exactly at that point in my life, I can't say I gained any insight. Big on imagery, limited in meaningful plot. Also, not really as funny (I didn't laugh, snicker or chuckle one) as some reviews suggest.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Utilisateur anonyme
- 2020-05-04
Very well written prose
Sometimes you just have to tip your hat to good writing. The story was better than I had expected from most plot summaries and the narration was very well-done.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- khatereh
- 2020-04-21
narration
a very good story but narrator's imitation of different accents gets really annoying towards the end.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Cake
- 2020-01-10
Fun
Really enjoyed this! the story was fun and the author was very thoughtful. Highly recommend
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- P R C
- 2020-01-10
Clever, funny and heart-warming
This book is beautifully written with clever and funny imagery and a lovely romantic twist. It’s a smart, realistic look on life and love. I deeply enjoyed it and will miss Arthur now my book is done.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Christine Labatt
- 2019-12-10
It was okay-ish
This was one of those books that I went back and forth on. I like it, I thought it was boring, I liked it, I thought it was boring. Robert Petkoff is an excellent narrator though so that keeps the listener engaged but the story was just.....okay...ish.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Christina
- 2019-09-21
Less than satisfied
I would not recommend this book as the plot of the story was really hard to follow. It felt like a run on sentence that never stopped. The ending is satisfying but took way to long to get there.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Lili
- 2017-07-30
Endearing, funny, but sometimes overly clever
Essentially a love story this novel has some sweet moments. But as an audio book it can be confusing. The protagonist is both traveling around the world, as well as constantly reviewing his life, and his loves, through the years, in his head. One great love began in 1987 and lasts I believe 15 years. Another began 9 years ago and ends right before he begins his travels. At any given moment he may be reliving either of those relationships, or any of his many dalliances on the side. So if you listen to half of one of the hour plus long chapters one day, and the remainder of the chapter the next, you will find yourself trying to remember...where is he now? Who is he "talking" about? The author also has bouts of very clever metaphors and wordplay. Which can be brilliant and paint a vivid image in your head, or sometimes he will come up with something and you will be like...what did he say? Is that a real word? So maybe audio isn't the best medium to enjoy this book, unless you are ok with the occasional "rewind" here and there to get your bearings. The main character takes awhile to warm up to, what with all his issues and quirks. One thing that really stands out though is the author's descriptive abilities to paint a picture of the world the main character is traveling through. Especially thru Morocco and India, those images will linger in your mind. Overall the book was entertaining, clever, sometimes funny, sometimes quite touching. At other times it felt a bit over written, like the author was trying too hard. The professional narrator does an excellent job with all the characters, male and female, as well as various accents from Japanese to Italian.
160 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- mhb
- 2018-06-16
Not interesting
I did not think the story was interesting. I did not find the characters interesting. I can’t understand the high ratings by many. I ran into a friend in my book group midway though who told me to stick with it, that it would get better. I stuck with it but it did not get better. The guy that read it did a nice job and I think it was well written technically. Just not a good story.
45 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Khosch
- 2018-05-19
sigh
Ho boy - I must be in the minority here, but I don't get the hype about this book. I did keep thinking as I was listening, that it might be much better in print than via the spoken word. The chapters end abruptly in a way that might be amusing in print, but not when narrated. The narrator is terrific - for some books I am sure. But not, in my opinion, for this one. He was just too calm and comforting, and made Arthur Less's foibles seem like so much simple bad judgement. I think this book needed someone a lot more manic and maybe a bit hysterical. Honestly, I was so eager to get this book - the last comedic novel to win the Pulitzer was the incomparable Confederacy of Dunces. How is this thinly veiled autobiography (I could be wrong about this of course!) in the same league? In the end I was simply bored with Less's acute self-involvement and ridiculous preoccupation with aging. I am happy for the author but I really don't agree with the Pulitzer committee here. If only Less were not so deserving of its title.
102 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- chris
- 2018-08-09
You either like it or hate it.
Ninety minutes in and I couldn't take anymore. It could be the way the story is told, or the fact that the main character just wasn't interesting. Between both of those reasons I opted not to go any further. The book has many great reviews so there is something there if you make the connection. Some books are like that. For me the back and forth just became monotnous and at times confusing. There aren't really any characters to help too much, but again I didn't get very far. If you decide to take a chance you'll probably know whether it's for you in the first 90 minutes or so. I suspect if you go further it could be one of those books where you keep hoping for something that never happens.
10 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- james
- 2018-05-09
3.55 stars........Less of a Winner
Less is an average audiobook in my opinion. I've read and/or listened to quite a few Pulitzer winners, and Less comes in low on the list. Andrew Sean Greer's meandering protagonist is a gay, middle-aged white male dreading the day he turns 50. This is no spoiler, as all of this is revealed in the beginning. Less is far from a page turner and a bit tedious at times. It's not a bad novel at all, though I expected more from a Pulitzer Prize winner. Petkoff does a nice job with the narration. If you find my review dull, then it's a perfect fit for this audiobook. 3.55 stars.
30 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Sutapa Chattopadhyay
- 2018-04-24
Bewitching
Bewitching is the word for this novel by Andrew Sean Greer. He captivates the reader throughout the book with his wit and humor but also beautiful language that is at once funny and completely germane to the situation. 'Magniloquent Spoony' might have been the last word of NYTimes author who fictitiously reviewed Arthur Less's book but in the end you are left rooting for this guy.
About the Audiobook: the narrator is just wonderful. He is a ventriloquist who is able to capture the emotion as well as the tone of each character in the novel. Highly recommend Robert Petkoff.
8 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Kelly
- 2018-05-01
It should not have won.
I was excited to listen to this book for several reasons. The primary ones being the fact that it just won the Pulitzer Prize and that I kept hearing it was very funny. Unfortunately I wasn't swept away. There is no plot. It is really more of a character portrait which is often perfect for me because I love character-driven stories. There were moments when I smiled at the unique and quick humor.
And there were other times when I thought the book was quite charming. But then whole sections also bored me to tears and frustrated me. In the end I couldn't decide if the charm I found in the pages of the book was actually owed to the book or if it was due to my personal memories of a vacation I took to Morocco. And even though I only finished the book yesterday, I already feel it is mostly forgotten.
Side note: I really don't understand what it was that made this book merit the Pulitzer Prize.
109 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- rosalinda lam
- 2017-08-24
One of the few books I will read again
I just finished it and I LOVED IT!!! It is the best book I've listen to this year! It has everything I like: Humor, sarcasm, self deprecation, travel, middle age crisis, a mysterious narrator, a love story, San Francisco, Texas, great characters, and a great ending! I highly recommend it 👍
40 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Eliav
- 2017-10-17
Less is so much more!!
What a delightful book! A great love story spooled along a round-the-world trip, each chapter a funny, self-deprecating, insightful snapshot. Original, sweet, smart, wry.
22 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Russell Ricard
- 2018-03-03
Beautifully Written Coupled with Stellar Narration
What did you like best about this story?
Refreshing read for our times, a coming-of-middle age tale of a gay man dealing with the sometimes comedic, yet poignant life lessons. The author, Greer's prose is lyrical, humorous, and endearing; not a single wasted word.
What does Robert Petkoff bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
Vivid narration, like a radio play. Incredible sense of characters through his voice and dialects used
16 people found this helpful