Crazy Heart: A Novel Audiobook

Quotes

• “A measure of Thomas Cobb’s talent is that he can make Bad Blake’s story amusing even as we watch him fall. Bad is entirely sympathetic, and his crazy heart is vivid; the milieu is as resonant as a steel guitar, and the plot moves along without skipping a beat.”

  — New York Times Book Review

• “A piercing, keenly observed chronicle of modern Americana.”

  — Los Angeles Times

• “A masterpiece...[Cobb] has created an unforgettable character who engages not only your interest but your emotion...and who proceeds to take you on a roller coaster ride through his tawdrily tumultuous life.”

  — Chicago Tribune

• “Thomas Cobb’s marvelous first novel doesn’t just play on your heartstrings, it breaks them.”

  — San Francisco Examiner

• “Blake’s dedication to, and integrity towards, his country music is more than matched by Cobb’s moving, respectful evocation of the world of country music and the life and times of Bad Blake.”

  — Boston Herald

• “Crazy Heart is a beautiful book...The characters are cut cleanly out of America—the roadside West, the dance halls and beer joints, the occasional big concert, Houston, Nashville, Southern California, and the endless, eternal hotel rooms that are as close to home as a country singer ever gets...Bad Blake is a man you will not soon forget.”

  — Washington Times

• “This is a heartfelt book; the descriptions of writing songs and playing them, of finding love and ruining it, of sweet, painful memories. There’s nothing startling in the plot or the characters, but they are alive.”

  — Houston Chronicle

• “You can almost hear the whining twang of a pedal steel guitar and the droning of a mournful singer while reading Crazy Heart.”

  — Fort Worth Star-Telegram

• “[Cobb’s] picture of the scraggly underside of Western music is brutally convincing.”

  — New Yorker

• “Bad Blake lives at the poor end of the rainbow, but you’ll never forget him. Crazy Heart is a splendid achievement.”

  — Donald Barthelme

• “While there’s no singing in this audiobook, Cobb delivers the performance scenes with such passion that the listener remembers each honky-tonk, each rehearsal, and each show. Cobb brings out the flicker of hope in the recovering alcoholic when he writes and sells two terrific songs inspired by Jean. The ending will bring you to tears.”

  — AudioFile