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The Counterlife

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About this listen

The Counterlife is about people enacting their dreams of renewal and escape, some of them going so far as to risk their lives to alter seemingly irreversible destinies. Wherever they may find themselves, the characters of The Counterlife are tempted unceasingly by the prospect of an alternative existence that can reverse their fate.

Illuminating these lives in transition and guiding us through the book's evocative landscapes, familiar and foreign, is the mind of the novelist Nathan Zuckerman. His is the skeptical, enveloping intelligence that calculates the price that's paid in the struggle to change personal fortune and reshape history, whether in a dentist's office in suburban New Jersey, a tradition-bound English Village in Gloucestershire, a church in London's West End, or a tiny desert settlement in Israel's occupied West Bank.

©2016 Philip Roth (P)2016 Blackstone Audio, Inc. Jewish Judaism World Literature Middle East Destiny
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I really liked the beginning of this audiobook. At some point though it just became really repetitive and I'm just not that into it. I normally stubbornly insist on finishing things but this just droned on a bit too much for even my stubbornness to contend with. It probably has a clever ending, but I guess I'll never know.

I didn't finish it

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This guy is so head and shoulders up there, understanding & keeping up with him is like keeping up with a racing car on foot!
But his insights and anthropological observations border on the genius. Not an easy read but a worthwhile one.

Roth is a genius

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Engaging narration and great story. Complex but easy to listen and take in. Recommended for Roth lovers and newbies.

Fantastic. Engaging narration and great story.

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Zuckermann - wily worldly wordy and worthy - top writing from a top author - thoroughly recommended to all

Roth at his finest

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