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Consider the Lobster (A Story from Consider the Lobster)

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Consider the Lobster (A Story from Consider the Lobster)

By: David Foster Wallace
Narrated by: David Foster Wallace
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About this listen

 Long renowned as one of the smartest writers on the loose, David Foster Wallace reveals himself in Consider the Lobster to be also one of the funniest. In this program, he ranges far and farther in his search for the original, the curious, or the merely mystifying. He discovers the World's Largest Lobster Cooker at the Main Lobster Festival and confronts the inevitable question just beyond the butter-or-cocktail-sauce quandary.

Do lobsters feel pain?

He addresses this and other important cultural questions in four brilliant esasays from his latest collection.

In what is sure to be a much-talked-about exploration of distinctly modern subjects, one of the sharpest minds of our time delves into some of life's most delicious topics.

This collection includes the following essays: "Consider the Lobster", "The View from Mrs. Thompson's", "Big Red Son", and "How Tracy Austin Broke My Heart".

©2005 David Foster Wallace. All Rights Reserved. (P)2005 Time Warner AudioBooks. All Rights Reserved. A division of Time Warner Book Group. Literary History & Criticism Philosophy Travel Writing & Commentary Words, Language & Grammar Writing & Publishing

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Critic reviews

"Novelist Wallace might just be the smartest essayist writing today." ( Publishers Weekly)
All stars
Most relevant  

Would you listen to Consider the Lobster and Other Essays (Selected Essays) again? Why?

Perhaps. I do not often listen twice to books, but with short essays the threshold is much lower.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Consider the Lobster and Other Essays (Selected Essays)?

it is the good writing and the sense of humour that make the book enjoyable.

Have you listened to any of David Foster Wallace’s other performances? How does this one compare?

no

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

cannot be made into a film

Great writing, nice is you have little time

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fantastic essays. read the book last year. listening to them is great. interesting how they handle the footnotes. spoilers... he really doesn't like sports memoirs. haha

DFW is a legend.

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Effortless and charming. An entertaining, incredibly intelligent stream of consciousness that never jars with the reader (listener) as pretentious in nature. Hilarious and insightful in equal measure. The only issue I have is that Wallace's vocal performance was so good I want him to personally read me all of his works now

Wallace

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David foster Wallace is a very compelling writter and reader. my only problem with the audiobook is that it's incomplete. almost half stories from the original compilation missing

a very good reading by dfw

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If you like your essays well-researched, eloquently written and unflinching in factual content, this is for you. DFW's deadpan delivery on various topics ranging from the inhumanity of boiling lobsters to the porn industry's annual oscar-fest in Vegas is very engaging. Loved this!

Perfection!

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I bought this thinking it would be at least roughly comparable in length to either of DFW's published short story collections. In fact, this selection comprises only a handful of his pieces, the longest of which (on pornography and the AVN awards) I would argue has aged extremely poorly. I suspect that these are simply all the recordings that exist of DFW reading his own reportage. As much as I enjoy his style of speaking, I can't help but feel that supplementing these with new performances of some of his other work would have made for a more satisfying collection.

Excellent essays, but poor value

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This is only a section of the 'Consider the lobster' book of essays. There are only four essays in this audiobook which, in my opinion, is not worth the credit or 7.99 that it costs.

DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK

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