Jefferson Mays delivers irony and outrage in calm, controlled tones that belie the passion of Vladimir Brik's first-person narrative. Brik, a Bosnian writer living in present-day America, struggles to bury his shame that his surgeon wife is his family's primary breadwinner. Understanding himself comes largely through researching the story of Lazarus Averbuch, a Jewish immigrant wrongly murdered as an anarchist in 1908 Chicago. Jefferson Mays’s clipped narration is appropriate for the three parts of the novel that are woven together: Brik’s remembrances of his own life, the imagined scenes of Lazarus's life, and Brik’s experiences in Eastern Europe with Rora, a Bosnian war photographer, as they retrace the locales of Lazarus’s life. Mays's words hit with the power of an automatic weapon, emphasizing Hemon's elegant, energetic, and sometimes-shocking style.
Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2009
Duration: 9 hrs, 15 mins
Publisher: Recorded Books Inc.
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
This audiobook is initially daunting. Sixteen hours long and constructed of subtle—at times, even confusing—shifts in point of view, it may feel overwhelming in the first hour. But sticking with George Newbern’s narration and Gilbert’s prose yields great rewards. Newbern’s performance is funny, thoughtful, heartrending, and utterly engrossing. When the famous, now aging, author A.N. Dyer calls his distant sons to his side, Newbern is provided ample characters to animate, and he does so with perfect pacing and what seems like an innate understanding of the novel. He creates a rhythm that makes the changing perspectives easy to follow and Gilbert’s details accessible. & SONS is a perfect example of how a skilled narrator can make a good book even better.
Pub Date: July 23, 2013
Duration: 16 hrs, 15 mins
DD ISBN: 9780385359566
Publisher: Random House Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Following multiple lives over six decades, this is a story of cultural shifts, the effects of racial prejudice, and family secrets. Joy Osmanski's narration is engaged and easy to listen to. There are times when her narration is uneven and character accents are inconsistent, but she moves the story along at an excellent pace. Will Damron capably narrates a few descriptive paragraphs at the beginning to set the scene. During the '50s, as bombs are explode in Nevada's deserts to entertain Las Vegas tourists, four sets of characters experience the destruction caused by prejudice and social upheaval in their lives. The author skillfully integrates the lives of vivid and realistic characters, bringing them to a satisfying and surprising denouement in the final chapters.
Pub Date: May 2, 2017
Duration: 11 hrs, 15 mins
DD ISBN: 9781508234715
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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