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LEGO
- A Love Story
- Narrated by: Jeremy Gage
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
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LEGO
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Editor reviews
Jonathan Bender’s memoir, LEGO: A Love Story, begins with Bender’s memory of the biggest LEGO structure he ever built: a giant reconstruction of the Sears Tower that he worked on with his dad when he was 12. From there, it opens up the world of LEGO to fans of all ages, with detailed reporting on everything from discontinued colors and pieces to the proper way to pluralize the toy (it’s LEGO bricks, never LEGOs) as Bender joins the world of Adult Fans of LEGO — AFOLs — and finds a way to bring together his childhood love of the toy and his grown-up life (which includes Bender and his wife’s year-long quest to have a baby). Narrator Jeremy Gage may not have the tone and style you’d expect from Bender, but his reading targets all the emotional highs and lows of Bender’s journey.
Like most pre-teen LEGO fans, Bender put away his building bricks as he grew up — entering a period that lifelong LEGO fans refer to as “The Dark Ages” — and didn’t rediscover his love for the toys until his 30th birthday. That’s when he became an AFOL — and spent the next year traveling to conventions, finding the world’s largest LEGO models, visiting the company’s headquarters in Denmark, and meeting the most successful collectors in the world.
Gage doesn’t quite sound the way you’d imagine Bender — a self described 30-year-old “Jewish kid from Fairfield”: his voice is a little too sophisticated and mature, and you’re never quite sure if he’s in on the jokes and pop culture references in the text — but he does come through with a spot-on interpretation of Bender’s excitement and nostalgia. Whether Bender is getting overexcited by the storage options for his new bricks, facing down challengers at a blind build, or sharing his love for LEGO with his in-laws on Christmas morning, Gage’s voice hits the right notes of sentimentality and emotion. And the unsurprising — but very sweet — ending, which finds Bender considering a LEGO build with his own child, shows just how neatly the bricks can fit into your life — no matter how old you are. —Blythe CopelandSummary
An adult LEGO fan's dual quest: to build with bricks and build a family.
There are 62 LEGO bricks for every person in the world, and at age 30, Jonathan Bender realized that he didn't have a single one of them. While reconsidering his childhood dream of becoming a master model builder for The LEGO Group, he discovers the men and women who are skewing the averages with collections of hundreds of thousands of LEGO bricks. What is it about the ubiquitous, brightly colored toys that makes them so hard for everyone to put down?
In search of answers and adventure, Jonathan Bender sets out to explore the quirky world of adult fans of LEGO (AFOLs) while becoming a builder himself. As he participates in challenges at fan conventions, searches for the largest private collection in the United States, and visits LEGO headquarters (where he was allowed into the top secret set vault), he finds his LEGO journey twinned with a second creative endeavor: to have a child. His two worlds intertwine as he awaits the outcome: Will he win a build competition or bring a new fan of LEGO into the world? Like every really good love story, this one has surprises and a happy ending. The book:
- Explores the world of adult fans of LEGO, from rediscovering the childhood joys of building with LEGO to evaluating LEGO's place in culture and art
- Takes an inside look at LEGO conventions, community taboos, and build challenges, and goes behind-the-scenes at LEGO headquarters and LEGOLAND
- Tells a warm and personal story about the attempt to build with LEGO and build a family
Whether you're an avid LEGO freak or a onetime fan who now shares LEGO bricks with your children, this book will appeal to the inner builder in you and reignite a love for all things LEGO.
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Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Mr
- 17-11-12
A fantastic insight into the life of an AFOL
Only 3/4 through this book but I am loving it. Brilliantly narrated with fun insightful stories from someone who loves Lego. Can't recommend it high enough for anyone with a brick fix.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mark Macleod
- 14-12-15
Poor Choice Of Narrator
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
I do not normally write reviews but this was such an extremely poor choice of narrator for this book that I felt I had too. The narrator's voice is completely unsuited to the story in this book,The narrator sounds as though they would be better suited to very serious topics and not the type of story in this book. It may have just been his voice or style but you find yourself listening and thinking I doubt this guy ever even played with Lego as a child, never mind as an adult like the author of the book. He also sounded as though he was significantly older than the person who's story he was narrating which just made the whole thing sound wrong. It made the book a very annoying listen at times.
I do not want the review to just seem like an attack on the narrator as it is not, as I am quite sure the narrator would be great for a different type of book, but whoever decided he would be suited to the narration of this book made an extremely poor choice.
Would you be willing to try another one of Jeremy Gage’s performances?
He would be better suited to another type of story but his voice and style of narration was completely unsuited to this story. I'm sure he would be great at a different type of book but his voice and style was completely unsuitable choice for this one.
Any additional comments?
More careful consideration should be made as to choice of narrators when producing the audio books as whoever decided this narrator would be suited to this book made an extremely poor choice. His voice and style was a completed mismatch to the book which spoiled the whole production.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- CA Weir
- 28-02-11
If you liked Lego you'll LOVE this
I'm about an hour yet to go on the Lego Love Story so not technically finished. But wanted to write my review now, seeing as this book's the current listen of the week and what better way to get folks to see it and hopefully download as I've been telling all of my friends about it!. Plus, I'm not expecting some major plot twist before the end when the space monkeys come down and kill them all. It's only a Lego love story....
With the narration, for me Lego is very much a UK/European product and to me doesn't quite fit with the US narrator. I did think if it had been a Danish or UK voice, then would have given it a nice Louis Theroux type docu-commentary tone...especially when talking about the somewhat obsessed world of adult lego fans. But that said, there's nothing wrong with the actual narrator, he does bring it to life well. Plus its the story of one man rediscovering his love of Lego, and he is American after all.
I guess you need to have been a Lego fan to enjoy this fully. For me, a child of the 80's, I had those Lego sets, some of which are rather fascinatingly changing hands for thousands now.
Loving learning about the world of the AFOL (adult fan of Lego) and to be honest, its making me want to explore in my parents' attic and see what Lego treasures are up there.
Which to meet summarises the appeal of this download, a warm, familiar trip back to happy childhood memories...sitting on the living room carpet, bricks scattered everywhere, and an idea for a spaceship/castle/car slowly coming forming into reality.
And even if you'd never been a Lego fan when a child, download this and maybe you could be one now...
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
- Nicola Reed
- 05-04-11
How to become an AFOL
This is a quirky book that is much better than you might think. It's well researched as a factual book and the history of Lego the company is very interesting. The real story though is how the author gets caught up in the world of adult lego and how much he takes you with him. I'd love to know how many listeners go and buy Lego afterwards!
The narration style fits the story and doesn't get in the way.
Overall an excellent departure from the usual crime and thriller category we usually listen to.
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1 person found this helpful
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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
- Joshy22
- 10-07-20
Fantastic book
As an AFOL myself I really enjoyed this book and even learnt some new things myself. The book is interesting, relatable, funny and moving. The narrator does a good job and I would recommend this book to anybody interested in Lego.
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