Joe

Absolutely Absorbing Epic of A Frontier Family

Revisado: 01-05-25

"The Tree of Man" is an absolutely absorbing epic of a family in rural Australia in the first half of the twentieth century. Patrick White's eloquent poetry provides such a vivid portrait of the interior life of the characters, their community, the landscape and the invisible currents of emotion under it all. His writing sucks you in. The lives of the husband, wife and their two children become so real and rich. Their world will become your world.

The audio performance breathes even more life into this epic story. The narrator, Humphrey Bower, accentuates nuances that I missed the first time I read this book several years back. Listening to it this time, a whole new tapestry emerged. Bower brings to life all the voices: masculine and feminine, rich and poor, Australian and sometimes Irish. White's language is so beautiful and Bower does it justice.

It may be a trite trope to say, "they don't make 'em like this anymore." But you don't find literature like this in the 21st century. There was only one Patrick White. He deserved the Noble Prize in literature. Very few have his command of the English language. His Australian prose is inimitable. In our fast and flashy digital age, most people's brain's are conditioned to crave dialog and drama in a novel. They want a pot-boiler. This book is none of that. Yet, its slow poetry absorbs you in the everyday moments of a family that settled the Australian frontier at the dawn of the last century, befriended a few neighbors, then watched their land get consumed by a suburban sprawl over the course of decades as they dealt with the ordinary and extraordinary dramas of life. White captures deep emotional currents, an appreciation for the natural world, manual labor, tenacity in loving and a disgust with modernity.

This is a book that will leave you fulfilled. You will love it!

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

A Dreamlike Vision Quest

Revisado: 08-09-24

Do not expect this book to be an easy listen or read. It's not a page-turner: it's a page absorber. This book is a vision quest. And you, dear reader, will need to do some work to achieve the vision! Patrick White won the Nobel prize in literature for good reason. He has a powerful, poetic command of the English language. Although this is not a big book, it's one that, while reading, I had to frequently pause and re-read and re-listen to quite a few passages to ensure I was capturing the story as well as my little brain could.

The book is broken into three parts.

PART ONE takes place in Australia, where we meet Theodore Goodman, the 'aunt' of 'The Aunt's Story.' We get the background of her childhood and adulthood. She is a single 'spinster' who has been her mom's caretaker for several years. Now, her mom has passed away. Theodore is free and is able to do what she wants with her life. The first part ends with her contemplating her freedom and desire to travel. Theodora's mother is emotionally abusive and Aunt Theodora is highly admired by her niece, Lou. Even with the beautiful ribbons of poetry and non-linear storytelling, this first part is relatively easy to digest. So far, so good! Then.... look out!

PART TWO is the biggest chunk of thie book, the torso, and is set either on the southern coast of France or entirely in Theodora's imagination. Part two is schizophrenic. It is beautiful and visionary. Despite a few moments of humor, I found this second part to be dark. While making my way through the thick-middle of this book, I frequently had to put it down and listen to some happy music so that I could come back to reality, lest my mind remain in the bizarre and multileveled dreamscape of the 'Jardin Exotique' of Theodora's real or imagined French retreat. This is the biggest part of the book. It's one that takes a while to read and fully absorb. But, allow my to say it once again, it is beautiful and visionary, even if it does leave you depressed.

PART THREE is set somewhere in the midwest of the United States where there is 'a great trumpeting of corn." (I love that imagery!) Theodora haphazardly chooses a pseudonym as she boards with a rather lovely family at the tail end of the Great Depression with the storm winds of World War Two brewing. The family that's providing her with a room and meal seems like a nice, stable end of this book.... this part is a short 50 pages. But, then arrives a final hallucinogenic man to confront Theodore with all her dark anxieties and philosophical perplexities. The vision-quest of Theodora is not over yet!

This book is NOT a piece of candy! This book requires a reader to participate with their full imagination. If you're looking for a dark, poetic, vision-quest of a book, "The Aunt's Story" will satisfy. But YOU have to work for this one! It's like listening to avant-guard jazz. It's not pleasant at first.... but if you stick with it, it will exalt you.

Concerning the narration on Audible, Deirdre Rubenstein does this strange work from 1948 justice. She dramatizes it and breathes new life into it. I enjoyed listening to it as I simultaneously read an old physical copy. Rubenstein reads slowly, accentuating bits they may otherwise fall through the cracks. This is particularly helpful for part two. Rubenstein provides believable accents to the various characters--British accents, American accents, Russian accents and she even speaks perfect French where Patrick White sprinkles that in, quite heavily at times, in part two.

The one thing that is very interesting about this audio book is that Rubenstein does NOT incorporate any Australian accents. At least not that I could tell--all the Aussies speak in British English. I found that interesting for a Patrick White novel, and seems to be consistent with how many literary historians clump Patrick White in with the 20th century European modernists instead of thinking of him as exclusively Australian.

I'm very grateful that Bolinda audiobooks in Australia has cooperated with Audible so that we can finally listen to White's works performed here in the United States. A big thanks to anybody involved in making that happen.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Maher is the Erasmus for our Age

Revisado: 08-08-24

Comedy, humor, satire—whatever you want to call the skill of making people laugh at themselves and the human condition as a whole, has played a vital and under appreciated role in the slow process of democratization in our history. But if it weren’t for humorists like Erasmus and Voltaire who taught us not to take ourselves or institutions of power too seriously, we might not have all the individually empowering rights we have today.

I think Bill Maher deserves to be part of that great lineage. And he’s certainly not the only one—we’re living in a golden age of comedy right now. But Maher is able to not only get us to laugh at all the crazy social and political stuff that consumes our lives and drives many of us—especially me—to anger. He has, with Real Time—created a space where different people with totally different world views and speak and listen to each other. Humor and Humanism. It’s an amazing combination.

I’m so grateful that Bill Maher is here and has the brains, backbone and the comedic genius to help us all be a little more wise and sane in this otherwise crazy time.

Thank you for this book and everything you do, Bill Maher.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Good Stuff for Kenan Fans

Revisado: 07-27-24

This was an enjoyable and fun listen. I’ve always enjoyed Kenan Thompson’s work on SNL and enjoyed learning a little bit more about the man himself.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

A work of literature

Revisado: 07-16-24

Michael Richards is truly eloquent, authentic and profound in this memoir. I didn’t expect a work of literature—but I feel that’s what this is.

Yes, you’ll get new behind-the-scenes insights into ‘Seinfeld.’ I assume that most of the people who read or listen to this book are people who are big fans of the show, like me. But you’ll get so much more. The backstory of Michael Richards is gripping, sad and beautiful. His journey as an entertainer is also one propelled by spiritual seeking. The result is a very rich memoir. You’ll certainly never look at Kramer the same way again.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Epic American Novel

Revisado: 06-02-24

This is a book that invites you into a lost world. It’s beautiful and brutal. It’s exactly what you would expect out of an epic novel of the old west…. Multiplied by a million. You’ll love it.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Epic American Novel

Revisado: 06-02-24

This is a book that invites you into a lost world. It’s beautiful and brutal. It’s exactly what you would expect out of an epic novel of the old west…. Multiplied by a million. You’ll love it.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

The Radicalism of Love

Revisado: 02-12-24

The first thing I feel needs communicated about this biography is that it accomplishes the dual feat of thorough and revealing research and captivating narrative history. This book is a page turner that brings MLK to life like nothing I've ever read or seen before. This book is so engaging and educational. I loved it.

Whatever your two-dimensional image of MLK is will be torn down with this book. You will see King as who he was. A man who, with all his idiosyncrasies and faults, did something truly amazing with his life. You learn the deep story of his family's heritage as well as how King grew up. How he was tossed onto the national stage with the Montgomery Bus Boycott and how he actually developed the philosophy of non-violence. Coretta Scott King finally is placed in greater light, revealing more how of how she contributed to MLK's activism. This is the story of MLK's constant self-creation that was driven by his faith and belief in radical soul force of love.

This book is radical in how it inspires you to evaluate your own life and beliefs and to what degree you are able to stand up for what you believe.

This book is radical in how it reveals the real MLK whose body manifested the stress of living in the constant fear of death: he was constantly sick, physically and emotionally. Yet, he never ceased the fight and paid with his life, even before he was assassinated.

This book is radical in how it reveals that MLK and Malcolm X had far more in common than has been falsely reported in the past. (Eig will blow your mind in revealing how Alex Haley maligned King's own words to make him seem anti-Malcolm X.)

This book is radical in how it moves beyond just Civil Rights to reveal how MLK was promoting a complete "Revolution of Values"--how he wanted this country to care for all of its citizens equally, fulfilling its original promise of democracy, by fighting against poverty, racism and all forms of economic and social discrimination.

If you read this book, you will have a far more accurate understanding of how King thought, felt and behaved and what his real 'dream' was. You will cry at his assassination. And you will look around you with new eyes, wondering what King would have thought of our current state of affairs. You may even feel the impulse to pick up the torch and continue to fight.... with love.

This book is radical!

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

I like Leslie Jones…. Even if I don’t know why.

Revisado: 01-23-24

In the chapter ‘Kimbo Slice.’ Leslie Jones expresses her frustration of what she writes about throughout the book: getting jobs where people try to mold her into something she isn’t. This is an honest and hilarious story (told with a whole lot of F-bombs) of Leslie Jones fighting to just be her, tell her jokes and create her own content in her way, and she’ll deliver the hilarity. And she did.

I think I can empathize a little with those directors and producers who tried to fit her into a box…. Because I too don’t know exactly why I can’t explain why. But there’s nothing more honest than a laugh. A laugh is a laugh. And Leslie Jones lets us know: you have to respect the craft of comedy. You’re not above it.

This is a fantastic memoir of how a comedian was born and evolved. I loved it. Some of it was sad, especially at the beginning with some difficult childhood experiences. That broke my heart. It’s also worth knowing that Leslie Jones does not just read the book for audible but adds a LOT more. She doesn’t read—she riffs.

I loved it! Thanks, Leslie Jones!

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Last 50 Pages!

Revisado: 01-14-24

I didn’t expect the last 50 pages to be what they were. This is a fantastic book that won’t disappoint.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña