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FictionAudioFamily Drama

The Removed

Review by Anna Zeitlin

In The Removed (7 hours) by Brandon Hobson, a Cherokee family grapples with the death of their teenage son and brother, Ray-Ray, 15 years after his murder. Father Ernest is losing his memory, younger son Edgar is dealing with drug addiction, daughter Sonja flits between unavailable men, and mother Maria tries to hold everything together while caring for their new foster son, who may be the reincarnation of Ray-Ray. Each chapter is told from a different character’s perspective, moving among family members as well as an elder named Tsala.

The large cast of Indigenous narrators (Gary Farmer, Shaun Taylor-Corbett, DeLanna Studi, Katie Rich and Christopher Salazar) brings great depth and dimensionality to this world. In particular, Farmer’s voice imbues Tsala’s sections with a real sense of history, his narration recalling spoken word traditions. Each actor does a magnificent job portraying the complicated emotions and layered personality of their character, making The Removed feel more like a recorded play than a straightforward reading.

 

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read our review of the print version of The Removed.

The tremendous skill of the Indigenous cast makes The Removed feel more like a recorded play than a straightforward reading.
FictionAudioLiterary Fiction

The Final Revival of Opal & Nev

Review by G. Robert Frazier

Some stories are meant to be told out loud. Such is the case with Dawnie Walton’s heralded debut novel, The Final Revival of Opal & Nev (13.5 hours), which comes to life through a full cast of incredible voice talents, including Janina Edwards, Bahni Turpin, James Langton and 15 others.

In a series of first-person interviews conducted by journalist S. Sunny Shelton, the fictional oral history recounts the story of an 1970s rock collaboration between glam Black American singer Opal Jewel and white British singer-songwriter Nev Charles. Walton skillfully blends in real-life events such as Vietnam War protests to firmly establish the narrative’s tone and time period, layering the duo’s rise to rock stardom with social, economic, racial and sexual undercurrents.

But it is the impressive array of characters, from the titular rock pair to Nev’s first piano teacher to the head of their iconic record label, that lends authenticity and rhythm to the story like nothing else. You’ll wish you could rush out to scour your local music store for Opal & Nev’s long-lost albums.

 

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Debut novelist Dawnie Walton discusses the legacy of Black women in rock and the strange ways that music moves us—just a few of her pieces of inspiration for The Final Revival of Opal & Nev.

After listening to this incredible audiobook, if you didn’t know better, you’d rush out to scour your local music store for Opal & Nev’s long-lost albums.
FictionAudioShort Stories

Big Time

Review by Norah Piehl

As soon as you press play on the new collection of stories by former “Late Show” writer Jen Spyra and hear the familiar voice of Stephen Colbert reading the introduction (which he also wrote), you’ll quickly realize that you shouldn’t listen to this audiobook anywhere it’s not socially acceptable to laugh out loud. The stories in Big Time (8.5 hours) follow a somewhat predictable—but never tiresome—formula, starting with a familiar trope (a locked-room murder mystery, a bridal boot camp) and quickly veering off into absurdity, satire or both.

The star-studded cast of narrators adds to the enjoyment: The author is joined by Dan Stevens of “Downton Abbey” fame and actor-comedians Lauren Lapkus, Matt Rogers and Thomas Whittington. Stevens is particularly effective, as his posh British accent heightens the comedic effect of, for example, a satire of Raymond Briggs’ The Snowman, in which the little boy narrator gradually discovers that his magical companion is actually a foul-mouthed drunk. Spyra reads the title novella, a hilarious sendup of contemporary American culture as seen through the decidedly un-woke eyes of a time-traveling 1940s-era Hollywood starlet. If you’re desperately in search of a healthy dose of laughter, Big Time will do the trick.

Don’t listen to the audiobook of Jen Spyra’s story collection anywhere it’s not socially acceptable to laugh out loud.
FictionAudioLiterary Fiction

How Beautiful We Were

Review by Autumn Allen

The powerful audiobook production of Imbolo Mbue’s haunting second novel, How Beautiful We Were (14 hours), is a rare display of superior casting and direction. This story about a clash between an American oil company and a fictional African village is read by a cast of six actors: Lisa Renee Pitts, Prentice Onayemi, Janina Edwards, Dion Graham, J.D. Jackson and Allyson Johnson. Throughout flawlessly distinct sections, multiple characters tell the tale of the village’s resistance to the company’s poisoning of their children. Each actor’s voice and tone heighten the distinct styles of the narrators, which include different members of the Nangi family as well as a chorus called “the Children.”

Given Mbue’s skillful use of suspense, narrative distance, physicality and interiority, this is not an audiobook for multitasking or to provide background noise. The intense readings will lure listeners into the strangely palpable world of the novel. Exquisite.

 

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read our starred review of the print version of How Beautiful We Were.

The audiobook of Imbolo Mbue’s second novel is not for multitasking or to provide background noise. It’s palpable, intense and exquisite.
NonfictionAudio

New Yorkers

Review by G. Robert Frazier

“Part of loving New York is just mourning the hell out of it.” With lines like that, you can’t help but listen to the treasure trove of rich stories compiled in Craig Taylor’s New Yorkers: A City and Its People in Our Time (14 hours). 

The author of a similar compendium of stories of life across the big pond, Londoners, Taylor spent six years interviewing 180 New Yorkers, some briefly, some over the course of several years, filling 71 notebooks and more than 400 hours of recordings. Steering clear of publicists and government officials to avoid familiar talking points, Taylor sought out New Yorkers from every walk of life to tell their stories and to share their place in the city, ranging from mothers and nurses to window washers. 

The audiobook brings this “profusion of voice in New York” even further into the realm of oral history, with a cast that includes such New Yorkers as Catherine Ho, Luis Moreno and more. “This city barged into conversations,” Taylor says. With that kind of attitude, you’ll have no choice but to listen in.

Read our review of the print version of New Yorkers.

“This city barged into conversations,” Craig Taylor says about New Yorkers. With that kind of attitude, you’ll have no choice but to listen in.
NonfictionAudioHistory

Four Hundred Souls

Review by Autumn Allen

A heartfelt chorus of voices composes a well-researched community mosaic of Black American history in Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain’s Four Hundred Souls (14 hours).

The book is divided into five-year periods that span 400 years of the Black American experience, and the audiobook transitions between each section via layered, echoing voices for a haunting, emotional effect. Eighty-seven narrators comprise the full cast, including the authors of some of the essays and poems as well as other notable voices such as journalist Soledad O’Brien and actors Danai Gurira and Leslie Odom Jr. The performances are straightforward or theatrical as appropriate, but they’re always engaging, and the variety of voices and styles sustains the listener’s attention.

Offering the best of education and entertainment, this epic audiobook enhances Kendi and Blain’s transformative history project through the sense of humanity that only a person’s voice can convey. Listeners will learn and be moved, and will no doubt listen more than once. Bravo.

 

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Go behind the scenes with the editors and producers of Four Hundred Souls, the year’s most astounding full-cast audiobook production.

This epic audiobook enhances Kendi and Blain’s transformative history project through the sense of humanity that only a person’s voice can convey.
FictionAudio

We Begin at the End

Review by G. Robert Frazier

British author Chris Whitaker creates a memorable sense of place in his novel We Begin at the End (10.5 hours), set in a small coastal California town populated by heartfelt characters in search of personal redemption.

Part crime drama and part coming-of-age tale, the novel centers on three characters: police chief Walk, his childhood friend Vincent and tough-talking 13-year-old Duchess. The connections between them can be traced back 30 years, when 15-year-old Vincent killed Duchess’ aunt. In the present, their tragic stories become further entwined in “a spiderweb of hurt” when Duchess’ drug-addicted mother is murdered soon after Vincent’s release from prison.

American actor George Newbern’s clear, unhurried and remarkably smooth narration proves to be the ideal match for Whitaker’s lyricism and layered plotting, evoking a deep sense of angst, tragedy and ultimately hope.

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read our starred review of the print version of We Begin at the End.

American actor George Newbern’s clear, unhurried narration proves to be the ideal match for Chris Whitaker’s lyricism.
NonfictionAudioSocial Science

The Sum of Us

Review by Norah Piehl

A wide-ranging examination of racial inequity in America, written by the former head of a progressive think tank, might not be the most obvious audiobook choice for your next road trip. But to write The Sum of Us (11 hours), Heather McGhee traveled across the country—from coastal Washington and rural Kentucky to an evangelical church in Chicago and a Nissan plant in Mississippi—to understand the roots of white America’s zero-sum attitude toward racial equity and how this mistaken belief system damages everyone.

McGhee, who narrates the audiobook, brings the same thoughtfulness to her reading as to her writing. Listeners can hear the despair in her voice as she describes the atrocities of white plantation owners and the devastation caused by predatory housing lenders, as well as her hopefulness when she introduces listeners to coalitions succeeding in confronting voter suppression. From health care policy and environmental justice to the ongoing legacy of segregation, McGhee places urgent topics in a new framework, supported by research and illustrated by stories of Black and white Americans from across the country.

 

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read our review of the print version of The Sum of Us.

Heather McGhee, who narrates the audiobook for The Sum of Us, brings the same thoughtfulness to her reading as to her writing
AudioYA FictionYA

Firekeeper’s Daughter

Review by Autumn Allen

If Angeline Boulley’s debut YA novel mesmerizes, then the audio production does so even more. In Firekeeper’s Daughter (14 hours), 18-year-old Daunis shoulders the burden of exposing the corruption in the nearby Ojibwe community. She feels like an outsider, and the tasks before her are daunting to say the least.

With a low voice and even tone, Sisseton Wahpeton Dakota actor Isabella Star LaBlanc grabs the listener and reels them right in. Her serious intonation imbues small acts and observations with a meaningful, nearly ominous feeling, ensuring listeners will pay attention to every detail as they instinctively sense that danger is near.

Building on the novel’s strengths as a thriller set within a unique cultural milieu, LaBlanc’s performance offers a heart-thumping, fully believable ride that will have listeners guessing, anticipating and enjoying every moment.

 

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Firekeeper’s Daughter author Angeline Boulley shares her favorite part of writing mystery books.

Angeline Boulley’s debut YA novel mesmerizes, and the audio production does so even more.
NonfictionAudioMemoir

AMORALMAN

Review by Anna Zeitlin

A magician never reveals their tricks, but fortunately for us, Derek DelGaudio doesn’t consider himself a magician. A sleight-of-hand master whose hit one-man Broadway show, In & of Itself, is now a movie (streaming on Hulu), DelGaudio offers a memoir like no other in AMORALMAN: A True Story and Other Lies (5.5 hours), because no one has lived a life quite like his.

DelGaudio traces his interest in deception back to childhood, when he concealed his true self to avoid being bullied at school. As a teenager he wowed legendary magicians, winning their trust and gleaning what he could from their knowledge. DelGaudio eventually mastered card moves that even his mentor couldn’t pull off, and he began using his extraordinary skills to control a weekly high-stakes poker game.

As both author and narrator, DelGaudio is a captivating storyteller who brings the weight of his experiences to every moment as he grapples with morality and makes questionable decisions amid the dubious world of con artists. 

A magician never reveals their tricks, but fortunately for us, Derek DelGaudio doesn’t consider himself a magician.
NonfictionAudio

A Swim in a Pond in the Rain

Review by Autumn Allen

Critically acclaimed writer and longtime creative writing professor George Saunders offers a master class in writing based on a study of seven short stories by classic Russian writers. Saunders narrates A Swim in a Pond in the Rain (14.5 hours) in an easy, conversational tone that makes the listener feel as if they are in a relaxed classroom—or perhaps sitting in a lounge for a one-on-one lesson from this thoughtful teacher. 

Well-chosen, exceptionally talented actors, including Phylicia Rashad, Glenn Close and Nick Offerman, narrate stories from Anton Chekhov, Leo Tolstoy and others, and their dramatized performances provide a refreshing contrast to Saunders’ more familiar style. Saunders’ love of literature and his enthusiasm for its interaction with the mind combine with his humor and dry wit to make for an engaging listening experience. More than a writing course, this audiobook is a unique exercise in paying attention and thinking critically.

 

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read our starred review of A Swim in a Pond in the Rain.

Talented actors narrate stories from Chekhov, Tolstoy and others, and their performances provide a refreshing contrast to George Saunders’ more familiar style.
Science Fiction & FantasyAudioFantasy

The Witch’s Heart

Review by Mari Carlson

In Genevieve Gornichec’s fantasy novel, The Witch’s Heart (12 hours), Angrboda has been burned three times for performing witchcraft, but she remains alive at the edges of the mythical Ironwood, where she begins a lasting, tenuous relationship with the trickster god Loki, Odin’s half brother. But Ragnarok, the destruction of the known world, threatens their future—and the future of their unusual offspring.

Jayne Entwistle, best known for her narration of the Flavia de Luce series by Alan Bradley, brings Angrboda to life with a husky, sage voice and northern English lilt. Her comforting tone and gentle pacing reinforce the novel’s focus on Angrboda’s domestic challenges in the shadow of cosmic conflicts. Accents used to delineate characters create a lively cast of women and men who visit Angrboda in her forest hovel. As many listeners will want to continue this dive into Norse mythology, a helpful list of resources for further reading follows the narration.

 

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Genevieve Gornichec on writing The Witch’s Heart when she should have been writing a term paper.

Jayne Entwistle, best known for her narration of the Flavia de Luce series, brings Angrboda to life with a husky, sage voice and northern English lilt.
AudioHistorical Fiction

Better Luck Next Time

Review by Tami Orendain

Julia Claiborne Johnson’s novel Better Luck Next Time (8.5 hours) is a story of love, marriage, money and heartbreak set on a “divorce ranch” during the 1930s. The tale unfolds through personal anecdotes and observations from Ward, now an elderly man but once a 24-year-old ranch hand who was strong, handsome and ready to get into trouble.

With a background in TV, film and Broadway, actor David Aaron Baker lends an easy, personable voice to Ward’s narration, capturing the character’s charisma with a slight Southern twang. Often thoughtful and sometimes mischievous, Baker’s voice brings the story to life with a sense of warmth and nostalgia, like a charming older man recounting his memories of when he was an equally charming younger man.

Listening to Better Luck Next Time feels like hearing someone reminisce about the best years of their life—with the occasional plot twist sprinkled in.

 

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read our review of the print version of Better Luck Next Time.

Listening to Better Luck Next Time feels like hearing someone reminisce about the best years of their life—with the occasional plot twist sprinkled in.

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