Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • Captive Audience

  • On Love and Reality TV
  • By: Lucas Mann
  • Narrated by: Lucas Mann
  • Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins

$0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Captive Audience cover art

Captive Audience

By: Lucas Mann
Narrated by: Lucas Mann
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

New York Echoes cover art
Coming up for Air cover art
Queers Destroy Science Fiction! cover art
Laugh It Up! cover art
Okay Fine Whatever cover art
The Strip cover art
Neighborly cover art
Boys cover art
Geek Feminist Revolution cover art
Sex with Shakespeare cover art
I Wrote This Book Because I Love You cover art
Landwhale cover art
Year of Yes cover art
Most Talkative cover art
Where Am I Now? cover art
So That Happened cover art

Summary

From the national bestselling author of Lord Fear and Class A comes "a tender, humane, comic, brainy, unsettling achievement” (Paul Lisicky, author of The Narrow Door: A Memoir of Friendship) about what it means to live an authentic life and what it means to love a person. 

In Lucas Mann's trademark vein—fiercely intelligent, self-deprecating, brilliantly observed, idiosyncratic, personal, funny, and infuriating—Captive Audience is an appreciation of reality television wrapped inside a love letter to his wife, with whom he shares the guilty pleasure of watching "real" people bare their souls in search of celebrity. Captive Audience resides at the intersection of popular culture with the personal; the exhibitionist impulse, with the schadenfreude of the vicarious, and in confronting some of our most suspect impulses reveals surprising connections and the meaning of an authentic life.

©2018 Lucas Mann (P)2018 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“If Mann doesn't quite elevate reality TV to an art form - and that’s unlikely his intention - he makes a persuasive argument for readers to sit up and take notice. The cultural implications are perhaps more potent than we’d like to believe. An immensely captivating consideration of reality TV and a moving reflection on marriage.” (Kirkus Reviews)

“I’m an ardent admirer of Lucas Mann’s work. Captive Audience shows us how to do ‘media criticism’ the right way or rather the wrong way, the more electric and exciting way: The target is never out there; it’s in here. A galvanizing, illuminating, and nervy book.” (David Shields, author of Other People and Reality Hunger)

“Exuberantly intelligent and thoughtfully romantic, Captive Audience is an ode to two of America’s favorite pastimes: falling in love, and watching ourselves on TV. With uncommon insight and humor, Lucas Mann weaves a textile of analysis, feeling, and good old-fashioned voyeurism that not only captivates but entertains.” (Alexandra Kleeman, author of You Too Can Have a Body like Mine)

Love Books? You'll Love Audible.

Transform your day

Transform your day

Replace endless scrolling with endless listening. Chores can be fun.

Listen everywhere

Listen everywhere

You can’t turn pages while you drive—but you can press play.

Carry your entire Library

Carry your entire Library

Your stories go where you go. Audiobooks don’t weigh a thing.

Listen and learn

Listen and learn

Discover stories that can change your mind, your well-being, and your life.

Reach your reading goals

Reach your reading goals

Download titles to listen offline, wherever you are in the world.

Find your niche

Find your niche

WIth thousands of titles to explore, there’s something for everyone.

Try for £0.00 £7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

What listeners say about Captive Audience

Average customer ratings

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.