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Fall Audiobook
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(2.99) - 355 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
An award-winning author, Colin McAdam is a master of characterization who paints vivid portraits of the inner forces driving people's darkest desires. In this riveting work, a girl named Fall disappears, leaving behind her good-looking and well-liked boyfriend Julius. Hovering about the proceedings too is Noel, an odd loner who may hold the key to Fall's disappearance. "A tense literary whodunit ."-Publishers Weekly
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"I'm a huge fan of his first novel, Some Great Thing, for many reasons--stylistic fearlessness, the visceral pulse of the narrative, the two main characters who are inverse images of each other. Fall (for which I've been waiting for six years) doesn't disappoint. Like Some Great Thing, it's extraordinary in how it adheres to yet also subverts what we think of as storytelling. And the main character, Noel, vibrates off the page with a strangely rootless rage (I'm impressed with how McAdam resists the urge to give Noel a tangible reason for acting out his inner ugliness; sometimes there is no reason and it's a brave writer who embraces that). And anyone who knows me knows that I love stories that feature teenagers! It's never easy to write about people whose emotions are running at a precariously high pitch, and McAdam does it very, very well, capturing the staccato of their dialogue and the urgency with which they feel everything. Fall, at its core, is about violence and a disappearance and the novel makes us wonder about our own thinly disguised animalism. At what point does socialization crack and we find ourselves railing against the ones we love, or the unfairness of the universe? Perhaps the story contains a few too many similarities with Some Great Thing (I couldn't help but think that Noel and Julius are adolescent versions of Simon and Jerry), in character, narrative and theme (rage, invisibility, inane social niceties), and perhaps there are passages describing Noel's inner motivations where a sharp editor might have done some cutting. But since I'm a fan of McAdam's work and not a real book critic, Fall satisfied that gaping hole in my readerly soul that was looking for something truly brain-twisting and emotionally raw. Thanks, Mr. McAdam."
— Jen (4 out of 5 stars)
Quotes
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A tense literary whodunit …”—Publishers Weekly
Fall Listener Reviews
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" Like the characters in this fine novel, I also attended a boarding school in the period McAdam writes about. Although the multiple voices were sometimes hard to keep track of, the novel is a fine psychological study of late teenagehood masculinity. I enjoyed Julian's voice especially and its profane majesty. Excellent novel. Highly recommended. "
— Thomas, 2/14/2014 -
" creepy and sad "
— Debra, 2/10/2014 -
" A riveting read so far, with two distinctive first-person protagonists. The chapters about Julius unfold in a sort of stream-of-conscious style that is intriguing. This book reminds me of a cross between A Separate Peace and Looking For Alaska. :) "
— Melanie, 1/1/2014 -
" Disliked this book so much that I did not finish it.The two boys voices were very different causing a lack of flow.Just when i was getting into the rythmn of one narrator i would be interrupted by something totally different.And when one character spends a lot of time thinking about masturbation his story should not be stream of consciousness. "
— Laurie, 11/20/2013 -
" An interesting take on familiar territory - boys' prep school, though this time in Canada. Had a little trouble with the end of it, though. Am not sure I understood how the central mystery unfolded. "
— Lynn, 11/17/2013 -
" Really well written with each chapter told from a character's perspective with his own voice. Just too depressing for me-could be a timing issue. "
— Susan, 11/13/2013 -
" I wanted to like this book but the writing style wore on me after a bit...bizarre book but kept me going to the end. "
— Heidi, 11/12/2013 -
" I found this book so hard to follow. I really wanted to like this book but after 100 pages I gave it up. I never stop reading a book no matter how much I may dislike it... this one, I couldnt finish. It was too much work to re-read paragraphs to try and grasp what was said. "
— Gina, 10/16/2013 -
" Very deep character development, but not much actual story. "
— Londogma, 8/14/2013 -
" The Fall of the title is Fallon, a girl around whom two boys at an exclusive boarding school revolve. Told in alternating POVs of the two young men, in extremely differing styles. One is her boyfriend, the other her boyfriend's roommate. "
— Charli, 3/6/2013 -
" Very creepy - an accurate description of boarding school and an accurate portrayal of a sociopath. "
— Tarakerby, 9/17/2012 -
" Fabulous. Apparently I'm all about reading books with "fall" in the title. I couldn't put this one down. The psychology is just so perfect (and creepy), and the language and writing carries it all along like a boat on a fast moving river. "
— Charlotte, 2/21/2012 -
" I wanted to like this book - but about half-way through, I lost interest and ended up skimming the rest of it. I was very disappointed. "
— Lala, 2/13/2012 -
" this book like the rest im reading, confuse me a tad bit at the beginning. but its packed with twists i never seen coming! the book is kinda graphic, so its not for the real immature. but i enjoyed it a lot! "
— Nicole, 1/11/2011 -
" A riveting read so far, with two distinctive first-person protagonists. The chapters about Julius unfold in a sort of stream-of-conscious style that is intriguing. This book reminds me of a cross between A Separate Peace and Looking For Alaska. :) "
— Melanie, 9/6/2010 -
" I didn't care for this book; not the kind of writing style I enjoy. The story was OK, but I really wasn't impressed. It was an effort to finish reading it. "
— Sharon, 8/31/2010 -
" I quite enjoyed the book, although i felt like a few parts were unnecessary and other parts i wish were included. I would recommend it, but not as a first choice. Great plot yet weirdly written. "
— Ally, 7/30/2010 -
" I wanted to like this book - but about half-way through, I lost interest and ended up skimming the rest of it. I was very disappointed. "
— Lala, 7/12/2010 -
" Tried to read this, got a quarter to a third of the way and just couldn't get into it. I've never been a big fan of stylized writing in a lot of cases, but even beyond that it just didn't grab me. "
— Melanie, 7/11/2010 -
" Really well written with each chapter told from a character's perspective with his own voice. Just too depressing for me-could be a timing issue. "
— Susan, 12/4/2009 -
" I wanted to like this book but the writing style wore on me after a bit...bizarre book but kept me going to the end. "
— Heidi, 11/23/2009 -
" Fabulous. Apparently I'm all about reading books with "fall" in the title. I couldn't put this one down. The psychology is just so perfect (and creepy), and the language and writing carries it all along like a boat on a fast moving river. "
— Charlotte, 10/7/2009
About Colin McAdam
Colin McAdam’s debut novel, Some Great Thing, won the Amazon First Novel Award in Canada and was nominated for the Governor General’s Literary Award, the Rogers Writers’ Trust Prize, the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book, and the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize. His second novel, Fall, was short-listed for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and was awarded the Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Prize. He has written for Harper’s and lives in Toronto.
About the Narrators
Andy Paris is an actor and writer. His audio narration have earned him the prestigious Audie Award, as well as AudioFile Earphones Awards. A member of the Tectonic Theater Project, he and others wrote The Laramie Project, which was nominated for an Emmy in 2002 and in which he played Stephen Belber. He has also appeared in Law & Order.
Tony Ward is the narrator of numerous audio books, including titles by Joanne Fluke, Will Allison, and John Connolly.
Jennifer Ikeda has been narrating audiobooks since 2002. Among her readings are When My Name Was Keoko by Linda Sue Park; Just Listen by Sarah Dessen; and After the Wreck, I Picked Myself Up, Spread My Wings, and Flew Away by Joyce Carol Oates. She has won six AudioFile Earphones Awards.