Zoe Cunningham is a young woman faced with unfamiliar challenges. Her mother ventures off to a new life as a newlywed, and Zoe enjoys her own financial and social benefits as a result. When unexpected tragedy befalls her mother and stepfather, Zoe has to grow up quickly. Eleanor Bron gives an accurate reading of this novel--she remains quiet, polite, and calm. The novel itself, while well wrought, is somewhat overwrought. Every detail, no matter how repetitive or self-serving for the narrator, is offered. Though sad and true, the story itself stays dreary, stagnant, and colorless. Bron's performance makes the best of a novel that could have been a moving short story.
Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2001
Duration: 7 hrs, 30 mins
Publisher: BBC Audiobooks America/ Chivers
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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