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The Gentleman from Peru

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The Gentleman from Peru

By: André Aciman
Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
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About this listen

A dazzling new story from the New York Times best-selling author of Call Me By Your Name.

It’s been 10 years since a group of college friends made a vow: that the first to get rich would rent a boat and invite the others on a cruise. Now, the friends find themselves marooned at a luxurious hotel on the Amalfi Coast in Italy. While their boat is being repaired, they can’t help but observe the daily routine of a fellow hotel guest - a mysterious, white-bearded stranger who sits on the veranda each night and smokes one cigarette, sometimes two.

One evening, the stranger approaches their table and places a hand on the shoulder of Mark, a member of the group who recently suffered an injury to that very shoulder. In an instant, Mark’s pain miraculously evaporates. The group is stunned, eager to find out more about this stranger’s healing powers - everyone but Margot, who is suspicious of this man and reluctant to join her friends’ enthusiasm.

Soon, though, even Margot finds herself enchanted by his mystical powers, and she allows Raúl to introduce her to simple pleasures like fresh fish seasoned with peppery olive oil and swimming in the sea in midafternoon light. She also allows him to tell her things about herself - testing his unnerving clairvoyance - until she realizes that they may have already met and that this is neither the beginning of their love story nor the end.

Written by André Aciman and performed by Edoardo Ballerini, two master storytellers at the height of their own otherworldly powers, The Gentleman from Peru is a sultry and spellbinding tale of love, self-discovery, and past lives.

©2019 Andre Aciman (P)2020 Audible Originals, LLC.
Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Italy
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I got this because I loved Call me By your name. The scenery and magic of the location in Italy the lemons, the languid, endless summer is really enjoyable and beautiful. It has all the same flavours of that classic but with lots of new magic. Some of the characters are a bit annoying but I love the Gentleman from Peru himself who has a wonderful energy and aura.

The performance was generally very good but sometimes Raoul's accent didn't add up. If he was a man from Peru surely he'd have a Spanish accent rather than a American, dipping into Irish accent sometimes. That bugged me a bit. It would have been great to have a voice there that had those Spanish inflections.

Nevertheless well worth an audible credit for a long rail or plane journey. It sent shivers down my spine in a few places so thats when I know a book is good.

Really quite enchanting

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I wasn’t quite sure what the point of this book was. The beginning was great and fascinating. Then it took a turn into something magic-realism bizarre… again, interesting and well-written but purposeful? The jury’s still out.

Sweet but weird

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a peculiar little tale, I enjoyed it a lot. its emotional, sweet, and heartbreaking.

a sweet and intriguing story

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For a short, its good and a pleasure to read, it's not Call me by your name ..but a delight to read all the same.
Makes you think

it's good.

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As with all Aciman's works, I don't know if I love it or hate it, but I can't stop reading/listening. Though I can't help rolling my eyes at his overblown phrases, the exaltation, the voyeuristic passion for young bodies and hearts.

Aciman, the con-master

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