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Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk: A Novel Audiobook
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(5.00) - 2 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
"Between author Rooney's story and narrator Xe Sands's craftsmanship, this Walk will sweep listeners off their feet...Through Sands we feel the force of Lillian's personality — with all its drive, wit, and grace — as well as the counterforces that want to constrain it." — AudioFile Magazine NOW A NATIONAL INDIE BESTSELLER A love letter to city life in all its guts and grandeur, Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney paints a portrait of a remarkable woman across the canvas of a changing America: from the Jazz Age to the onset of the AIDS epidemic; the Great Depression to the birth of hip-hop. “In my reckless and undiscouraged youth,” Lillian Boxfish writes, “I worked in a walnut-paneled office thirteen floors above West Thirty-Fifth Street…” She took 1930s New York by storm, working her way up writing copy for R.H. Macy’s to become the highest paid advertising woman in the country. It was a job that, she says, “in some ways saved my life, and in other ways ruined it.” Now it’s the last night of 1984 and Lillian, 85 years old but just as sharp and savvy as ever, is on her way to a party. It’s chilly enough out for her mink coat and Manhattan is grittier now—her son keeps warning her about a subway vigilante on the prowl—but the quick-tongued poetess has never been one to scare easily. On a walk that takes her over 10 miles around the city, she meets bartenders, bodega clerks, security guards, criminals, children, parents, and parents-to-be, while reviewing a life of excitement and adversity, passion and heartbreak, illuminating all the ways New York has changed—and has not. Lillian figures she might as well take her time. For now, after all, the night is still young. “Transporting…witty, poignant and sparkling.” —People (People Picks Book of the Week)
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"Enjoyed the narrator of the story - A strong, confidant, honest assessment of self- I did not care for the narrator of the book. Her attempt to sound -old- was a distraction"
— Elle (5 out of 5 stars)
Quotes
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“Transporting…witty, poignant, and sparkling.”
— People -
“A perfect fusing of subject and writer, idea and ideal.”
— Chicago Tribune -
“A glorious paean to a distant literary life and time―and an unabashed celebration of human connections that bridge past and future.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred and boxed review) -
“Between author Rooney’s story and narrator Xe Sands’s craftsmanship, this Walk will sweep listeners off their feet…Through Sands we feel the force of Lillian’s personality—with all its drive, wit, and grace—as well as the counterforces that want to constrain it. A concluding interview explores why the performances of the most exemplary narrators are so seemingly effortless yet so compelling. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.”
— AudioFile -
“A lively, fictionalized version of Fishback’s story…[with] plenty of charm.”
— Kirkus Reviews -
“Rooney’s delectably theatrical fictionalization is laced with strands of tart poetry and emulates the dark sparkle of Dorothy Parker, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and Truman Capote. Effervescent with verve, wit, and heart, Rooney’s nimble novel celebrates insouciance, creativity, chance, and valor.”
— Booklist (starred review) -
2018 Listen List: Outstanding Audiobook Narration for Adult Listeners
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Between author Rooney's story and narrator Xe Sands's craftsmanship, this WALK will sweep listeners off their feet...Through Sands we feel the force of Lillian's personality--with all its drive, wit, and grace--as well as the counterforces that want to constrain it. A concluding interview explores why the performances of the most exemplary narrators are so seemingly effortless yet so compelling.
— AudioFile Magazine, Earphones Award Winner -
Reader Xe Sands voices poignancy, old age, wit and youthful snark beautifully...
— Library Journal, starred review -
Narrator Sands depicts Lillian with an intelligent, worldly tone, keeping true to her cadence but alternating a scratchy, elderly voice in the present day with a lighter, younger-sounding voice in the memory flashbacks. ...Sands’ voice takes on the quality of a radio reader as she conveys the bits of poetry and advertising jingles,adding humor and another layer of insight into Lillian’s character. Sands’ affectionate and expressiveperformance perfectly matches both character and mood.
— Booklist, starred review -
...[T]he audiobook is outstandingly read in a voice that's exactly what you'd expect from a feisty 85-year-old...Kathleen Rooney's Lillian is delightful. You'll remember her long after you've finished the book.
— Inside Jersey
Awards
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An Amazon Editor’s Top Pick for January 2017
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Winner of an AudioFile Earphones Award
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A Library Journal Editor’s Pick for Fall 2016
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A People Pick of the Week
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An RUSA Notable Book for Outstanding Audiobook Narration
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One of Audible’s Best Audiobooks of 2017
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A Booklist Top 10 Pick of Historical Fiction on Audio
Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk Listener Reviews
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" Beyond the very interesting story line this is a love story to NYC . I loved every minute of this book- "
— 6elle, 1/31/2021
About Kathleen Rooney
Kathleen Rooney is a founding editor of Rose Metal Press, an indie nonprofit publisher, and lives in Chicago, where she appeared on New City Lit’s list of “Lit 50 15: Who Really Books in Chicago.” Her works include poetry and nonfiction, as well as the novel O, Democracy! Her art-modeling memoir Live Nude Girl: My Life as an Object was published by University of Arkansas Press. Reading with Oprah: The Book Club That Changed America was her first book. Other work has appeared or is forthcoming in the New York Times Magazine, Allure, Salon, the Rumpus, and the Chicago Tribune.
About Xe Sands
Xe Sands has more than a decade of experience bringing stories to life through narration, performance, and visual art, including recordings of the Nightwalkers series from Jaquelyn Frank. She has received several honors, including AudioFile Earphones Awards and a coveted Audie Award, and she was named Favorite Debut Romance Narrator of 2011 in the Romance Audiobooks poll.