Herpetologist Nance Able, specializing in Pacific rattlesnakes, lives quietly with Ned, an elementary school principal. She travels up the Snake River, moving back 200-300 geologic years, to the depths of Hell’s Canyon to document rattlesnake den attrition rates. Hillary Huber’s narration is lyrical enough to be set to music. When Nance is deep inside a den, holding a sleeping snake, gently stroking its underbelly with thousands of vipers intertwined at her feet, Huber’s use of tone, inflection, and pacing makes breathing nearly impossible. Her haunting voice readies us for the fact that not all lethal creatures lurk in dens as the plot reveals when problems old and new crop up between Nance and her sister, as well as between Nance and her husband.
Pub Date: 2005
Duration: 11 hrs
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
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: 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: 2017
Duration: 11 hrs, 15 mins
DD ISBN: 9781508234715
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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