Even at more than 15 hours, with a story covering several decades, this audiobook never slows its pace as narrated by Edoardo Ballerini. The epic begins in 1980 with the kidnapping of a Long Island factory owner and follows the lives of his three underachieving adult children, all of whom are damaged in their own way by the ordeal. Ballerini expertly captures the Jewish American nuances of the dialogue, which is deeply satirical of wealth and privilege. If there's one stumble, it's Ballerini's decision to deliver text messages robotically--as if to mimic the speed they're being typed. But this is a quibble about an otherwise masterful narration of a thoroughly enjoyable novel.
Pub Date: 2024
Duration: 15 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9780593412206
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: N/A
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: N/A
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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