Tom Hanks brings his star quality to performing his digressive story about the 75-year transition of a 1940s comic book into a contemporary superhero movie. The audiobook covers so many levels of detail that the listener may get a little lost. Ultimately, the story of a flamethrower-wielding Marine from WWII who evolves into a movie superhero is well worth the journey, including the detours. Hanks does most of the heavy lifting, aided by a ton of actor friends who add luster to the story. Ego Nwodim, from "Saturday Night Live," is particularly adept as Al Mac-Teer, the almost superhuman assistant who proves to be indispensable to the production of the film. The audiobook includes a pdf of simulated comics from the work. A nice touch.
Pub Date: 2023
Duration: 16 hrs
DD ISBN: 9780593635407
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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