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All That Man Is
- Narrated by: Huw Parmenter, Mark Meadows, Sean Barrett
- Length: 13 hrs and 20 mins
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Genre Fiction
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Summary
Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2016
An ingenious book from the exceptional Granta Best Young British Novelist
Nine men: each of them at a different stage of life, away from home, and striving - in the suburbs of Prague, in a cheap Cypriot hotel - to understand just what it means to be alive here and now.
Tracing an arc from the spring of youth to the winter of old age, All That Man Is brings these separate lives together to show us men as they are - ludicrous and inarticulate, shocking and despicable; vital, pitiable, hilarious, and full of heartfelt longing.
Critic reviews
What listeners say about All That Man Is
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- ANNABEL
- 11-10-17
Boring, predictable
When I read the summary of his book, I thought it might be interesting. It was not.
2 people found this helpful
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- Miss S T Chapman
- 02-09-17
Dull
If this book wasn’t for you, who do you think might enjoy it more?
If you aren't looking for much plot or anything that moves at a pace, you may like this.
What was most disappointing about David Szalay’s story?
It was boring.
What three words best describe the narrators’s performance?
The narrator did an OK job, he just does' t have much to work with.
What character would you cut from All That Man Is?
It has left me cold. No character is a better description.
Any additional comments?
I am confused as to how it got such a high rating.
1 person found this helpful
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- Joakim Hermansson
- 26-08-17
writing for the end
much like the main character I mostly waited for the End but was kept by the long line of promising incidents.
1 person found this helpful
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- Anders
- 14-06-17
boring, predictable and boring
Gave up after 2/3. All stories is about people having problems dealing with sex but the stories are not adding any new understanding or even interesting development. After few paragraphs you know the short-story to the end and do not get any surprise at all.
1 person found this helpful
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- david dodson (purple triangle ltd)
- 29-05-17
The most depressing book ever
I have given up on this book after 5 chapters which is very unlike me, I will usually keep going. However this has got to be the most boring book I have ever read. It is so depressing. I felt so fed up after listening to this. All it did was focus on all the negatives of the men. The stories were boring will sadness interjected into them. The endings were as though the author just got bored.
Also the narrator didn't help I felt as his voice was very flat and level.
Maybe I am missing the point as it's an award willing book but I just found it utterly depressing and cannot recommend to anyone I am afraid.
1 person found this helpful
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- joanjava
- 08-11-16
Woeful men on the edge of a nervous breakdown
Makes you realise how few books you know where guys are relentlessly flawed and frail. Each story is like stepping into a nightmare in motion. With each main character imprisoned.
1 person found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 22-06-18
Almost very good...
To call this book a novel is perhaps a bit of a stretch, many reviewers have called into question whether this is not rather a collection of short stories with a few recurring themes and loosely connecting threads and I would tend to agree with this.
What this book does well is describe, in often quite painfully poignant detail, the inner conversation of several men at different stages of their lives. There is little that is surprising in the short encounters we have with these men, but they are believable and though not always loveable, one cannot help empathising with the drama and struggles of their existence.
This book is bleak - perhaps overly - but as with all tragedy, it forces us to look deeper and question what it is that we hold dear and what is truly important.
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- Niall Marshall
- 17-01-18
Absorbing stories about modern man
Really absorbing, separate stories about men at different stages in their lives. Each is about man's challenges to fit into his world or to deal with his declining role. Each is philosophical and deep and sometimes comical.
The narrators are excellent. Great voices.
A strange but reflective and philosophical set of small stories. Note it's not a novel.
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- Lauenna
- 13-08-17
Good in a different way
I struggle with short stories and always feel disappointed when they end as I want depth! But somehow these stories about different men aren't really separate. It's more like looking at a series of paintings. It's very good. I find the change of narrators a little distracting.
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- ben
- 27-04-17
Unimpressed
I was looking forward to reading this book but was disappointed. The individual stories are good enough but often end suddenly and I can't find any of the promised interrelatedness. They seem random and confusing.
This was not an absorbing or enlightening read and I did not finish it all it was too boring.