Monologuist, author and radio personality Garrison Keillor has grown a bit smug, sentimental and shopworn over the years. Although those qualities are apparent in this tape, it's nonetheless a funny, touching, shyly romantic and mildly autobiographical novel. And Keillor, who has been honing his Lake Wobegon tales for a decade or two on public radio's "Prairie Home Companion," has his delivery, as well as his prose, down cold. After hearing him reading his own opus, one wonders how the bare words on the printed page could possibly possess anywhere near as much lyricism and nuance. Indeed, his oral skills almost completely mask his literary flaws. Squeeze-box musical bridges add to the charm. The engineering by his longtime associate Tom Mudge is pristine. It's just a shame that his prickly jibes at the public radio world, which are merely incidental to the story, will be fully comprehended and appreciated by only a few.
Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2006
Duration: 6 hrs
Publisher: HighBridge 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: 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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