Listen free for 30 days
-
The Universe Versus Alex Woods
- Narrated by: Joe Thomas
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Genre Fiction
People who bought this also bought...
-
The Empathy Problem
- By: Gavin Extence
- Narrated by: Jack Hawkins
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Driven by money, power and success, Gabriel has worked ruthlessly to get to the very top of the banking game. He's not going to let the inconvenience of a terminal brain tumour get in his way. But the tumour has other ideas. As it grows, it appears to be doing strange things to Gabriel's personality. Whether he likes it or not, he seems to be becoming less selfish, less mercenary, less unlikeable. Once he could dismiss the rest of humanity as irrelevant. Now he's not so sure.
-
-
Absolutely Brilliant
- By Amazon Customer on 10-09-16
-
The Mirror World of Melody Black
- By: Gavin Extence
- Narrated by: Jane Collingwood
- Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Life has its ups and downs. From the author of The Universe Versus Alex Woods comes a dark, painful, and witty novel about a woman whose life is spiralling out of control. You're going to find some of my actions frustrating. I'm hard to live with, maddening, uneven - I get that. But I can't stand around listing my faults, or we'll be here for ever. All I ask right now is that you indulge me. For as long as it lasts, this is going to be one hell of a ride.
-
-
Avoid reading too much background
- By Drew on 26-04-15
-
The End of Time
- By: Gavin Extence
- Narrated by: Homer Todiwala
- Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Beneath the stars, on a stony beach, stand two brothers. They are wearing lifejackets that are too big for them and their most precious belongings are sealed in waterproof bags tucked inside the rucksacks on their backs. Turkey is behind them. Two or three kilometres' swim away is the Greek island of Samos, now only a smudge in the moonlight.
-
-
Absolutely BRILLIANT- just not the genre I expected
- By Amazon Customer on 31-07-19
-
The Rosie Project
- By: Graeme Simsion
- Narrated by: Dan O'Grady
- Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Meet Don. Don is a genetics professor who just might be somewhere on the autistic spectrum. He looks a little like Gregory Peck and is getting married. He just doesn’t know who to yet. But he has designed a very detailed questionnaire to help him find the perfect woman. And it’s definitely not Rosie. Absolutely, completely, definitely not .Rosie, meanwhile, isn’t looking for love; she’s looking for her biological father. Sometimes, though, you don’t find love: love finds you...
-
-
Loved it!
- By F on 26-05-13
-
The Lost Daughter
- By: Elena Ferrante
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 4 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Leda, a middle-aged divorcee, is alone for the first time in years when her daughters leave home to live with their father. Her initial, unexpected sense of liberty turns to ferocious introspection following a seemingly trivial occurrence. Throughout the novel, Ferrante's language is as finely tuned and intense as ever, and she treats her theme with a fierce, candid tenacity.
-
-
Absolutely awful.
- By Curly Welshie on 03-09-20
-
Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk
- By: Ben Fountain
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
- Length: 11 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nineteen-year-old Billy Lynn is home from war. Back in Texas, he has become a national celebrity. A Fox News crew filmed Billy and the rest of Bravo squad defeating Iraqi insurgents in a ferocious fire fight. Now Billy is a decorated soldier and Bravo's three minutes of extreme bravery under fire is a YouTube sensation. Seizing on this PR gift, the Bush administration has sent the surviving members of Bravo on a nationwide 'Victory Tour' to reassure the folks at home. Tomorrow, they must go back to war.
-
-
. Funny. thoughtful and plenty of momentum
- By Chris N. on 14-05-17
-
The Empathy Problem
- By: Gavin Extence
- Narrated by: Jack Hawkins
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Driven by money, power and success, Gabriel has worked ruthlessly to get to the very top of the banking game. He's not going to let the inconvenience of a terminal brain tumour get in his way. But the tumour has other ideas. As it grows, it appears to be doing strange things to Gabriel's personality. Whether he likes it or not, he seems to be becoming less selfish, less mercenary, less unlikeable. Once he could dismiss the rest of humanity as irrelevant. Now he's not so sure.
-
-
Absolutely Brilliant
- By Amazon Customer on 10-09-16
-
The Mirror World of Melody Black
- By: Gavin Extence
- Narrated by: Jane Collingwood
- Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Life has its ups and downs. From the author of The Universe Versus Alex Woods comes a dark, painful, and witty novel about a woman whose life is spiralling out of control. You're going to find some of my actions frustrating. I'm hard to live with, maddening, uneven - I get that. But I can't stand around listing my faults, or we'll be here for ever. All I ask right now is that you indulge me. For as long as it lasts, this is going to be one hell of a ride.
-
-
Avoid reading too much background
- By Drew on 26-04-15
-
The End of Time
- By: Gavin Extence
- Narrated by: Homer Todiwala
- Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Beneath the stars, on a stony beach, stand two brothers. They are wearing lifejackets that are too big for them and their most precious belongings are sealed in waterproof bags tucked inside the rucksacks on their backs. Turkey is behind them. Two or three kilometres' swim away is the Greek island of Samos, now only a smudge in the moonlight.
-
-
Absolutely BRILLIANT- just not the genre I expected
- By Amazon Customer on 31-07-19
-
The Rosie Project
- By: Graeme Simsion
- Narrated by: Dan O'Grady
- Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Meet Don. Don is a genetics professor who just might be somewhere on the autistic spectrum. He looks a little like Gregory Peck and is getting married. He just doesn’t know who to yet. But he has designed a very detailed questionnaire to help him find the perfect woman. And it’s definitely not Rosie. Absolutely, completely, definitely not .Rosie, meanwhile, isn’t looking for love; she’s looking for her biological father. Sometimes, though, you don’t find love: love finds you...
-
-
Loved it!
- By F on 26-05-13
-
The Lost Daughter
- By: Elena Ferrante
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 4 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Leda, a middle-aged divorcee, is alone for the first time in years when her daughters leave home to live with their father. Her initial, unexpected sense of liberty turns to ferocious introspection following a seemingly trivial occurrence. Throughout the novel, Ferrante's language is as finely tuned and intense as ever, and she treats her theme with a fierce, candid tenacity.
-
-
Absolutely awful.
- By Curly Welshie on 03-09-20
-
Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk
- By: Ben Fountain
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
- Length: 11 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nineteen-year-old Billy Lynn is home from war. Back in Texas, he has become a national celebrity. A Fox News crew filmed Billy and the rest of Bravo squad defeating Iraqi insurgents in a ferocious fire fight. Now Billy is a decorated soldier and Bravo's three minutes of extreme bravery under fire is a YouTube sensation. Seizing on this PR gift, the Bush administration has sent the surviving members of Bravo on a nationwide 'Victory Tour' to reassure the folks at home. Tomorrow, they must go back to war.
-
-
. Funny. thoughtful and plenty of momentum
- By Chris N. on 14-05-17
-
Where the Crawdads Sing
- By: Delia Owens
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 12 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For years, rumors of the 'Marsh Girl' have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. When two young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new life - until the unthinkable happens.
-
-
Where The Crawdads Sing
- By KarenRC on 12-02-20
-
The Midnight Library
- By: Matt Haig
- Narrated by: Carey Mulligan
- Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Thirty-four-year-old Nora's life could be better. She's lonely, single and has just lost her job. Her cat dying feels like the last straw. What else is there to live for? Then she finds a library between life and death where she gets to try all the other lives she could have lived. The Midnight Library is a gloriously relatable novel about life, death and the in-between. It is about finding hope, playing chess, dumping regrets and picking the right people around you.
-
-
Fantasy may be hard to take if you’re depressed
- By Joan on 04-09-20
-
A Man Called Ove
- By: Fredrik Backman
- Narrated by: Joan Walker
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ove is almost certainly the grumpiest man you will ever meet. He isn't as young as he used to be. He drives a Saab. He points at people he doesn't like the look of. He is described by those around his as 'the neighbour from hell'.Every morning he makes his inspection rounds of the local streets. He moves bicycles and checks the contents of recycling bins, even though it's been years since he was fired as Chairman of the Residents' Association in a vicious 'coup d'état'.
-
-
All you need is Ove
- By Kaggy on 22-09-14
-
Firefly Lane
- A Novel
- By: Kristin Hannah
- Narrated by: Susan Ericksen
- Length: 17 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the turbulent summer of 1974, Kate Mularkey has accepted her place at the bottom of the eighth-grade social food chain. Then, to her amazement, the "coolest girl in the world" moves in across the street and wants to be her friend. Tully Hart seems to have it all - beauty, brains, ambition. On the surface they are as opposite as two people can be: Kate, doomed to be forever uncool, with a loving family who mortifies her at every turn.
-
-
Anyone for seriously good cake?
- By Lyndall on 06-08-08
-
The Last Family in England
- By: Matt Haig
- Narrated by: Mark Meadows
- Length: 8 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Meet the Hunter family: Adam, Kate, and their children, Hal and Charlotte. And Prince, their black Labrador. Prince is an earnest young dog, striving hard to live up to the tenets of the Labrador Pact (Remain Loyal to Your Human Masters, Serve and Protect Your Family at Any Cost). Other dogs, led by the Springer Spaniels, have revolted. As things in the Hunter family begin to go badly awry - marital breakdown, rowdy teenage parties, attempted suicide - Prince's responsibilities threaten to overwhelm him and he is forced to break the Labrador Pact.
-
-
Amazing but sad
- By Ms. Bookworm on 27-01-18
-
We Have Always Lived in the Castle
- By: Shirley Jackson
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 5 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Six years after four family members died of arsenic poisoning, the three remaining Blackwoods—elder, agoraphobic sister Constance; wheelchair-bound Uncle Julian; and 18-year-old Mary Katherine, or, Merricat—live together in pleasant isolation. Merricat has developed an idiosyncratic system of rules and protective magic to guard the estate against intrusions from hostile villagers. But one day a stranger arrives—cousin Charles, with his eye on the Blackwood fortune.
-
-
An oppressive dream - or is it real?
- By Kaggy on 23-01-17
-
Dawn
- Xenogenesis, Book 1
- By: Octavia E. Butler
- Narrated by: Aldrich Barrett
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a world devastated by nuclear war with humanity on the edge of extinction, aliens finally make contact. They rescue those humans they can, keeping most survivors in suspended animation while the aliens begin the slow process of rehabilitating the planet. When Lilith Iyapo is "awakened", she finds that she has been chosen to revive her fellow humans in small groups by first preparing them to meet the utterly terrifying aliens, then training them to survive on the wilderness that the planet has become. But the aliens cannot help humanity without altering it forever.
-
-
You'll root for the aliens
- By gary on 11-03-19
-
The Invention of Wings
- By: Sue Monk Kidd
- Narrated by: Jenna Lamia, Adepero Oduye
- Length: 13 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sarah Grimké is the middle daughter. The one her mother calls difficult and her father calls remarkable. On Sarah's eleventh birthday, Hetty 'Handful' Grimke is taken from the slave quarters she shares with her mother, wrapped in lavender ribbons, and presented to Sarah as a gift.
-
-
The invention of wings
- By Eleanor on 27-02-15
-
The Dutch House
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Tom Hanks
- Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A masterpiece from the Orange Prize-winning, New York Times number one best-selling author of Commonwealth and Bel Canto: a story of love, family, sacrifice and the power of place. Lose yourself in the story of a lifetime – the unforgettable Sunday Times best seller. A story of two siblings, their childhood home and a past that they can’t let go. Like swallows, like salmon, we were the helpless captives of our migratory patterns.
-
-
Underwhelming
- By Ted on 30-01-20
-
The Thursday Murder Club
- By: Richard Osman
- Narrated by: Lesley Manville, Richard Osman, Marian Keyes
- Length: 12 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet up once a week to investigate unsolved killings. But when a local property developer shows up dead, 'The Thursday Murder Club' finds themselves in the middle of their first live case. The four friends, Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron, might be octogenarians, but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves. Can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer, before it's too late?
-
-
Oh WHAT a disappointment!
- By mollyeyre on 03-09-20
-
Hamnet
- By: Maggie O'Farrell
- Narrated by: Daisy Donovan
- Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On a summer's day in 1596, a young girl in Stratford-upon-Avon takes to her bed with a fever. Her twin brother, Hamnet, searches everywhere for help. Why is nobody at home? Their mother, Agnes, is over a mile away, in the garden where she grows medicinal herbs. Their father is working in London. Neither parent knows that one of the children will not survive the week.
-
-
Narrator fights writing and wins (sadly)
- By Leaf Green on 20-07-20
-
Breakfast of Champions
- By: Kurt Vonnegut
- Narrated by: John Malkovich
- Length: 6 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Breakfast of Champions (1973) provides frantic, scattershot satire and a collage of Vonnegut's obsessions. His recurring cast of characters and American landscape was perhaps the most controversial of his canon; it was felt by many at the time to be a disappointing successor to Slaughterhouse-Five, which had made Vonnegut's literary reputation.
-
-
A unique and biting wit
- By Kaggy on 28-06-18
Summary
A tale of an unexpected friendship, an unlikely hero, and an improbable journey, Alex's story treads the fine line between light and dark, laughter and tears. And it might just strike you as one of the funniest, most heartbreaking novels you've ever heard.
Alex Woods knows that he hasn't had the most conventional start in life. He knows that growing up with a clairvoyant single mother won't endear him to the local bullies. He also knows that even the most improbable events can happen - he's got the scars to prove it. What he doesn't know yet is that when he meets ill-tempered, reclusive widower Mr Peterson, he'll make an unlikely friend. Someone who tells him that you only get one shot at life. That you have to make the best possible choices.
So when, aged 17, Alex is stopped at Dover customs with 113 grams of marijuana, an urn full of ashes on the passenger seat, and an entire nation in uproar, he's fairly sure he's done the right thing.…
Critic reviews
More from the same
What listeners say about The Universe Versus Alex Woods
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- F
- 26-05-13
Grows on you!
I am glad I persevered with this listen because the reader irritated the hell out of me for a few hours. Then when Mr Peterson came into the story, it came alive and for once, a book actually improved as it went on. Offbeat, thoughtful, funny and touching. If you like this, you should love the Rosie Project by Graham Simsion - now that gets all my stars!
9 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- G Hutchings
- 25-05-13
A really fun, quirky book!
I listened to this in the car over a period of a couple of weeks and couldn't wait
to hear the next bit every time I got in the car! It isn't the sort of book I would normally read but I really enjoyed it and it was very well read.
6 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Al
- 14-03-13
Oddly captivating
This book is very odd indeed, but utterly captivating - it is funny and sad and fascinating all at the same time. Joe Thomas's narration is beautifully paced, with excellent distinction between the characters. You can imagine and see them so clearly through Joe's voice. The characters and their behaviours are vivid and well drawn - we feel such compassion for them. I had not expected it to be so entertaining, as it was dealing with serious themes as diverse as atomic physics, neuroscience, belief, morality, literature, maths, youth, age, death and logic. It is very stimulating - moving, entertaining and laugh aloud funny and just so interesting. I didn't want this book to end. Exquisitely written and read. Thank you Gavin Extence and Joe Thomas.
6 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Chris Hirst
- 24-02-13
Everything you would want in a book.
A great story, some humour and some poignant moments, a truly excellent book, so engrossing I played it from beginning to end in in one weekend.
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Drew
- 02-06-13
very rewarding
I heard the free first chapter, was hooked straight away and knew I wanted to get the whole book. The narrator is perfect for this story. So, if you like the sample, please go ahead and get the whole download. I loved the way that the reader is introduced to events but then is made to wait much later for the author to return to strands. It becomes serious along the way and I hadn't guessed where the story was going to go.... but don't worry, the mood remains the same.
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ian
- 01-05-13
Improbable tale wonderfully told
This was great to listen to - the story is somewhat improbable, but with just enough credibility to draw you in - and to keep you engrossed. Joe Thomas is an excellent narrator and this work from Gavin Extence augurs well for the future.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Diane
- 24-04-13
Fantastic book - a must have!
I loved this audiobook immediately. A quirky story, with brilliant characters, narrated expertly by Joe Thomas. I couldn't stop listening and it had both funny and moving moments in it. Can't wait for the next book by Gavin Extence.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Mr
- 08-04-13
Funny & Sad - definitely worth a listen.
A story with a difference! This was both sad and funny - something that I haven't found in many books!
Exploring a controversial subject this is a great book and will make you think on many different levels! Would recommend it!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Amelia
- 05-03-13
A must read
A wonderfully strange and moving book, it took me a while to get used to the character's voice, but then it made total sense and I did not want to stop listening. A very moving experience.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 26-05-13
absolutely fabulous!
What a fantastic story made even better by the fantastic narrator - one I will listen to again, have recommended it to my friends.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Amazon Customer
- 19-07-19
ALL TIME FAVOURITE
Narrator was amazing. Brilliant story line. endearing characters. Having read the book a while back I was not dissappointed with the Audible version. this is one book I recommend everytime. Alex and Mr Pietersen make a formidable duo.