Lean on Pete cover art

Lean on Pete

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Lean on Pete

By: Willy Vlautin
Narrated by: Willy Vlautin
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About this listen

Willy Vlautin's unforgettable story of a friendship and hope in dark times, now a major motion picture starring Chloë Sevigny (American Horror Story), Steve Buscemi (Boardwalk Empire) and Travis Fimmel (Warcraft) and directed by Andrew Haigh (45 Years, Looking).

Fifteen-year-old Charley Thompson wants a home, food on the table, and a high school he can attend for more than part of a year. But as the son of a single father working in warehouses across the Pacific Northwest, Charley's been pretty much on his own. When tragic events leave him homeless weeks after their move to Portland, Oregon, Charley seeks refuge in the tack room of a run-down horse track. Charley's only comforts are his friendship with a failing racehorse named Lean on Pete and a photograph of his only known relative.

In an increasingly desperate circumstance, Charley will head east, hoping to find his aunt who had once lived a thousand miles away in Wyoming - but the journey to find her will be a perilous one.

In Lean on Pete, Willy Vlautin reveals the lives and choices of American youth like Charley Thompson who were failed by those meant to protect them and who were never allowed the chance to just be a kid.

©2010 Willy Vlautin (P)2018 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd
Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Sports Animal Sports

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All stars
Most relevant
I've read a couple of Willy Vlautin books, this is the first audiobook of his I have tried. What an amazing treat to have the author narrate his own book! I loved it. Dripping with the midwest American accent and with an almost staccato delivery in places, I felt like this was a remarkable immersive experience. Vlautin's writing will not be to everyone's taste. A bit 'hardboiled' perhaps. Plus for anyone who isn't familar with his style, be warned this is a blistering slice of reality, very much warts and all.

American Grit

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Beautiful book recommended by my darling cousin. m now recommending to my friends and family. Straight into the next Vlautin book.

Immerse yourself in Willy’s writing/narration and Charlie’s journey

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Love the way Vlautin paints a picture with all the small details and minutia that makes up life. A lovely, delicate and vivid tale.

Delicate Americana

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Beautiful. Just beautiful. A difficult story told with love and care. Charlie will stay with me forever.

Definitely worth a listen

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