This audiobook defies easy labels, and narrator Brian Nishii is well suited to this type of material. His soft voice assumes an earnest, intense air as he follows the unnamed narrator through an alternate world. The plot is ethereal and fantastical, and the dreamy tone Nishii adopts seems appropriate as the narrator's thoughts meander. Lost love, exiled shadows, dream libraries, and coconut trees--Nishii's gentle, often hesitant, voice strolls among images both realistic and magical. For some, this lengthy performance may be too soft focused and slow. Nishii does a fine job, and it's up to the listener to decide whether the story offers enough in return. For Murakami devotees, this should be an exceptional listening experience, with plenty of sonic space to embrace the meditative.
Pub Date: 2024
Duration: 17 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9780593947555
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
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