Mr. Vertigo
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Mr. Vertigo
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Narrated by:
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Kevin Pariseau
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By:
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Paul Auster
About this listen
In Mr. Vertigo, his dazzling eighth novel, Paul Auster introduces a quintessentially American hero who, early in his life, masters the art of the unimaginable, and then must live out his days long after the magic has been lost and forgotten.
It is 1927, the year of Babe Ruth and Charles Lindbergh – and of Walter Claireborne Rawley, a streetwise orphan from Saint Louis who becomes "Walt the Wonder Boy", a diminutive showman famous for stunning audiences across the country with his feats of levitation. Walt's teacher is Master Yehudi, a mysterious iconoclast who rescues him from poverty and instills in him the faith, fearlessness, and devotion to hard work essential to such a magnificent venture.
Inevitably, Master Yehudi and Walt fall prey to the sinners, thieves, and villains of America in its pre-depression heyday, from the Kansas Ku Klux Klan to the Chicago mob, and Walt's resilience, like that of his young nation, is over and again challenged.
Paul Auster, a "literary original" (Wall Street Journal) whose "bounties of intelligence, mystery, and literary magic nourish and delight the mind" (Chicago Sun-Times), embraces both the realist and the mythic traditions in American literature. Walt and Yehudi are classic entrepreneur adventurers, and what they sell in Walt's performance is defiance of the natural laws governing men. This is an extraordinary, exuberant novel that captures the aspirations and excesses of a country ready to soar.
As an added bonus, when you purchase our Audible Modern Vanguard production of Paul Auster's book, you'll also get an exclusive Jim Atlas interview that begins when the audiobook ends.
This production is part of our Audible Modern Vanguard line, a collection of important works from groundbreaking authors.©1995 Paul Auster (P)2009 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
Critic reviews
What listeners say about Mr. Vertigo
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Mr
- 29-09-09
Really good
A really good audio book, feels like you?re listening to a classic...
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- I ain't givin' you no name
- 01-03-23
doesn't go where you might hope
This reminded me a lot of Michael Chabon's Kavalier and Clay. It's a story you might think would love and die on its central conceit - a boy who can levitate - but there is much more going on here. It's a story of a life lived with all the highs and lows that come along the way. It's a poignant book with just a sprinkling of magic realism and threads that frustratingly lead nowhere, but that's life sometimes. It's not my favourite work from Paul Auster, but it's a very good one.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Interceptor
- 19-11-23
Easy reading with some interest here and there.
A pleasant enough book to pass away a few hours. It didn't live up to my expectations and yet I have to say that, overall, I still enjoyed it.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- chris
- 08-05-19
EPIC, YET INTIMATE
An epic novel that covers over 40 years, but the narrator gives intimate insights into the character and is an absolute delight to listen to. Highly recommended.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- hfffoman
- 06-02-15
Silly without being funny
Would you try another book written by Paul Auster or narrated by Kevin Pariseau?
No
How could the performance have been better?
The performance was dull and expressionless. There was some attempt at variation in the tone but it sounded wrong. It was as if the reader could not make up his mind whether the book was a parody or a serious story. The tone was nasal, particularly towards the end and I wonder if he caught a cold and couldn't be bothered to wait until it was over.
Any additional comments?
I chose this because of the glowing reviews on Amazon. Although a novel about someone who could levitate seemed odd, I thought it would either be funny or some kind of deep metaphor for the times. As I read, I didn't know what to make of it. It was silly but not funny. If there was a deep metaphor it was beyond me. The characters weren't particularly lifelike or likeable and it didn't give much insight into the spirit of the times. The gangsters were like caricatures and the 1929 stockmarket crash was only mentioned in passing.
The story was just entertaining enough to keep going in the hope some purpose would emerge. Unfortunately, instead of improving, it got worse. The second half became more of a summary than a narrative and felt even more pointless. A few pages from the end I realised that no great revelation or insight was coming. Then I stopped reading, not caring enough even to read the last few pages to find out how it ended.
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