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Exit A Audiobook
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(2.06) - 289 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
From the bestselling author of Jarhead comes an unforgettable novel about the legacies of war and the dangers of love.
Seventeen-year-old Severin Boxx lives on Yokota, an enormous American Air Force base on the outskirts of Tokyo. Like most of the other young American men on the airbase, Severin is mad for Virginia Kindwall, the base general's daughter, who is a hafu-half American and half Japanese. Beautiful, smart, and utterly defiant of a father who wields godlike military power, Virginia has become a petty criminal in the Japanese underground that lurks in the mad neon netherworld just outside the base, around the nearby rail station's Exit A.
Severin is soon caught up in Virginia's world. But their romance is short-lived as they find themselves in trouble way over their heads and subjected to the enormous, unforgiving tensions that remain between America and Japan in the wake of World War II. Years later, Severin and Virginia remain lost to each other -- until an emotionally frayed, thirty-something Severin embarks on a quest to find Virginia, and reclaim the part of himself taken from him when his boyhood abruptly ended.
Like Jarhead before it, Anthony Swofford's Exit A is darkly irreverent, frankly erotic, and more than a little wicked, a tale told in a brooding, pained voice filled with the simple human fury of being alive.
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"It took me a while to get into but then I suddenly got totally gripped, and it wouldn't let go!"
— Olivia (5 out of 5 stars)
Quotes
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“Swofford has a great eye for detail and cultural kitsch, which imbues Exit A with a lot of incidental humor despite its weightier themes.”
— Los Angeles Times -
“In Exit A, Swofford’s prose swaggers...showcasing the genius that made his name in Jarhead...proving he can easily hold his own with the giants of American letters.”
— San Francisco Chronicle -
“Absorbing...The wacky culture clash that westerners experience in Japan is also carefully observed. Swofford portrays well the two-way love-hate relationships that so often develop when west and east meet.”
— Seattle Times -
“Fascinating...Swift and bold...The tale has undeniable cinematic panache, and Swofford boots it along with the big, thumping V8 of his prose.”
— Atlanta Journal-Constitution -
“Exit A boasts a beautifully written hero in naive Severin Boxx.”
— Seattle Post-Intelligencer -
“Swofford is superb on military life, on the beat and pulse of the hierarchical power and ragged consumption that drive a military base.... [He] has now written two very fine and very different books.”
— Bookforum
Exit A Listener Reviews
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" Decent novel but the ending was predictable and quite cheesy. I imagine the book easily turned into a Hollywood production. "
— Lauren, 2/20/2014 -
" Typically military setting novels are not my thing but this was an inexpensive audiobook I picked up and I enjoyed it very much. I learned a great deal about Japanese culture and the role of the military in Japan. Quite interesting love story between the son of a military officer and the daughter of a military officer and a Japanese woman. The daughter was intrigued by crime and tried to get the guy involved as well and in his own way he ended up turning her in the police by mistake. Years later he searches for her and love is rekindled. I did enjoy it. "
— Ruth, 2/19/2014 -
" interesting book but slow in the beginning and predictable in the end... still a decent read... "
— Anthony, 2/11/2014 -
" I like this book, even though it was somewhat uneven. One thing I appreciated was that the author was very specific in what year things were happening. I like this in books. "
— Rebecca, 1/25/2014 -
" If you'd like to experience this book, but you don't want to spend the hours it takes to read the 287 excruciating pages, you could simply stick a fork in your retina and get the same effect. That said, Jarhead is great. Read that instead. "
— Jason, 1/18/2014 -
" Met the author and had high hopes. Not a total waste of time. "
— Stephen, 1/9/2014 -
" Starts a bit slow, and gets a lot more interesting, but then ends too quickly and doesn't get into the characters as much as I would have liked. Still, entertaining, a quick read. Insights into military life overseas and the interesting relationship between the US military and its "host" countries. "
— Callista, 12/6/2013 -
" Four words: First Love Never Dies. "
— Anthea, 11/11/2013 -
" I liked it, the first half of the book (teenager-hood) was more interesting to me, but I plowed through adulthood to the (kinda abrupt) end, and it was worth it... "
— Kathryn, 10/31/2013 -
" The author of Jarhead. About a military kid who reconnects w/ a general who asks him to go back to Japan to bring his daughter to him on his deathbed. aaahhh not so good. "
— Bart, 8/29/2013 -
" It wasn't bad, it just wasn't good. Forgettable I would say. Strange enough to turn you off unless you're really into Asian culture. "
— Corey, 3/25/2012 -
" Almost as good at Jarhead. "
— Teresa, 12/20/2011 -
" OK first novel from the author of Jarhead. It has a somewhat interesting plot that takes some pointless tangents, and has some really clunky passages. "
— Jesse, 12/15/2010 -
" I got this because it was based in Japan. Okay characters that you could sympathise with and the story isn't too too bad but I think the balance between the past and the present isn't done very well at all. Really easy read (I read it in 4.5 hours sitting on the Country Link.) "
— Wai, 10/4/2010 -
" A cucumber sandwhich with a little crushed pepper on top. Light, easy-reading with a few punches but essentially little real substance. "
— Daniel, 8/31/2010 -
" not my cup of tea i guess, but it got better as i read. "
— liza, 12/12/2009 -
" The author of Jarhead. About a military kid who reconnects w/ a general who asks him to go back to Japan to bring his daughter to him on his deathbed. aaahhh not so good. "
— Bart, 8/31/2009 -
" It wasn't bad, it just wasn't good. Forgettable I would say. Strange enough to turn you off unless you're really into Asian culture. "
— Corey, 10/1/2008 -
" OK first novel from the author of Jarhead. It has a somewhat interesting plot that takes some pointless tangents, and has some really clunky passages. "
— Jesse, 6/25/2008 -
" interesting book but slow in the beginning and predictable in the end... still a decent read... "
— Anthony, 4/18/2008 -
" I liked it, the first half of the book (teenager-hood) was more interesting to me, but I plowed through adulthood to the (kinda abrupt) end, and it was worth it... <br/> "
— Kathryn, 3/30/2008 -
" Decent novel but the ending was predictable and quite cheesy. I imagine the book easily turned into a Hollywood production. "
— Lauren, 3/7/2008 -
" If you'd like to experience this book, but you don't want to spend the hours it takes to read the 287 excruciating pages, you could simply stick a fork in your retina and get the same effect. That said, Jarhead is great. Read that instead. "
— Jason, 1/27/2008 -
" A cucumber sandwhich with a little crushed pepper on top. Light, easy-reading with a few punches but essentially little real substance. "
— daniel, 7/23/2007 -
" I like this book, even though it was somewhat uneven. One thing I appreciated was that the author was very specific in what year things were happening. I like this in books. "
— Rebecca, 7/15/2007
About Anthony Swofford
Anthony Swofford served in a US Marine Corps surveillance and target acquisition/scout-sniper platoon during the Gulf War. After the war, he was educated at American River College; the University of California, Davis; and the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop. He has taught at both the University of Iowa and Lewis and Clark College. His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in the New York Times, Harper’s, Men’s Journal, the Iowa Review, as well as other publications, and his memoir Jarhead was a major New York Times bestseller and the basis for the film of the same name. A Michener-Copernicus Fellowship recipient, he lives in the Hudson Valley in New York.
About John Slattery
Cynthia Nixon is an actress best known for her role in the popular television series Sex and the City. She has received two Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Emmy Awards, a Tony Award, and A Grammy Award. Nixon lives with her wife and three children.