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Train Dreams and Jesus' Son
- Narrated by: Will Patton
- Length: 5 hrs and 36 mins
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Train Dreams and Jesus' Son
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Summary
Here are two complete audiobooks by Denis Johnson, narrated by Will Patton. Listen to both Train Dreams, and Jesus’ Son, as well as an excerpt from Denis Johnson’s National Book Award-winning Tree of Smoke.
In Train Dreams Robert Grainer is a day laborer in the American West at the start of the 20th century—an ordinary man in extraordinary times. Buffeted by the loss of his family, Grainer struggles to make sense of this strange new world. As his story unfolds, we witness both his shocking personal defeats and the radical changes that transform America in his lifetime. Suffused with the history and landscapes of the American West—its otherworldly flora and fauna, its rugged loggers and bridge builders—this new novella by the National Book Award-winning author of Tree of Smoke captures the disappearance of a distinctly American way of life.
Jesus's Son, also adapted for the screen, is a now-classic collection of 10 stories from the author of Resuscitation of a Hanged Man and Angels. The stories are narrated by a young man, a recovering alcoholic and heroin addict, whose dependencies have led him to petty crime, cruelty, betrayal, and various kinds of loss.
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Critic reviews
“[A] severely lovely tale . . . The visionary, miraculous element in Johnson's deceptively tough realism makes beautiful appearances in this book. The hard, declarative sentences keep their powder dry for pages at a time, and then suddenly flare into lyricism.” —James Wood, The New Yorker
“National Book Award winner Johnson (Tree of Smoke) has skillfully packed an epic tale into novella length in this account of the life of Idaho Panhandle railroad laborer Robert Grainer . . . The gothic sensibility of the wilderness and isolated settings and Native American folktales, peppered liberally with natural and human-made violence, add darkness to a work that lingers viscerally with readers . . . Highly recommended.” —Library Journal (starred)
“[Dennis Johnson is] a synthesizer of profoundly American voices: we can hear Twain in his biting irony, Whitman in his erotic excess, not a little of Dashiell Hammett too in the hard sentences he throws back at his gouged, wounded world. And behind all these you sense something else: a visionary angel, a Kerouac, or, better yet, a Blake, who has seen his demon and yearned for God and forged a language to contain them both.” —Newsday
What listeners say about Train Dreams and Jesus' Son
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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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
- RONAN O'CALLAGHAN
- 30-12-16
Extraordinary
Other reviewers here have articulated the qualities of these two very different works. If you only like a 'proper story' you probably shouldn't bother.
The exquisite pleasures here have little to do with what happens and everything to do with originality of language, imagery and superb reading.
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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
- Richard
- 31-01-17
One of the best performances I listened to.
Where does Train Dreams and Jesus' Son rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
I like Denis Johnson as a writer anyway, but this narration just elevated the story to new level.
What was one of the most memorable moments of Train Dreams and Jesus' Son?
The story 'Emergency' in Jesus' Son is especially well-narrated.
Have you listened to any of Will Patton’s other performances? How does this one compare?
This is the first time I have listened to Will Patton but I would certainly listen to him again.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Reader
- 11-01-13
Superb
Denis Johnson is one of the greatest and most original writers I've had the pleasure to read. The two works generously offered in one audiobook here show two distinct facets, although both with a common thread of beautiful mysticism entwined with the gritty everyday. The narration by Will Patton is excellent, his delivery is wonderful and his voice perfectly suited to the words. Very highly recommended.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- JF7588
- 11-06-12
A Modern Clasic
Train Dreams is one of those American novellas - like Billy Budd, Member of the Wedding or The Pilgrim Hawk - that one can read again and again and find ever more wonderful things in, and Will Patton is the voice of Denis Johnson; you can hear the pleasure he takes as the prose rises and falls to rise again. This edition with both the novella and the stories from Jesus' Son is essential listening and re-listening.
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3 people 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
- Jaime
- 29-04-14
Beautifully written and beautifully read.
What did you like most about Train Dreams and Jesus' Son?
Such extraordinary writing, beautiful in the detail and Will Patons voice is so rich and spell binding, any review from me couldn't do it justice.
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1 person found this helpful