Rebecca Lowman carries the largest part of the narration of this nearly forty-hour audiobook. And while Lowman obviously works tirelessly to infuse an emotional element into each of the characters, her great efforts cannot overcome the author's excesses, which leave the listener, at best, apathetic. Lowman accentuates Hallberg's elegant writing style, but even her meticulous use of inflection and tone can't prevent the story from being muddled in detail and development. Lowman's range and insight allow her to uniquely vocalize each character, but they're still, basically, unlikable. Tristan Morris and Bronson Pinchot offer equally strong performances; it's a shame they were wasted on this undeserving novel.
Pub Date: 2015
Duration: 38 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781101888780
Publisher: Random House Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
American colleges are favorable locales for ghastly event and hair-tearing circumstance. There is, for instance, a good deal of pleasure to be had out of professor and past-prodigy Grady Tripp's awful life, as portrayed by Michael Chabon in WONDER BOYS. There is a certain amount of slapstick here, but it's balanced by Chabon's superb portrait of a gale-force mid-life crisis, a soul-destroying albatross of an unfinished novel and the mind-numbing inconsequence of writers' conferences. David Colacci sounds a little starved for oxygen in his reading, but that's not exactly out of keeping with Grady Tripp's personal gestalt.
Pub Date:
Duration: N/A
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
As a group of men bring their own emotional baggage to their football-obsessed reunion, R.C. Bray delivers his usual solid narration. He shifts his tones slightly but enough to put the listener in the motel with the men, revealing their foibles as the story progresses. The narrator's role in this book is a descriptive one, and Bray is a good guide. His narration becomes extra important because this is a rare instance when there almost isn't a protagonist. The author's well-written story--which alternates between serious and laugh-out-loud funny--uses quarterback Joe Theismann's 1985 injury, a broken leg, as a McGuffin.
Pub Date:
Duration: 5 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781681680057
Publisher: HighBridge Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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