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The Angel Esmeralda: Nine Stories Audiobook
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(3.01) - 1,167 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
A finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and the Story Prize, the first ever collection of “dazzlingly told” (The New York Times) short stories—now available as a trade paperback.
Set in Greece, the Caribbean, Manhattan, a white-collar prison and outer space, this “small masterpiece of short fiction” (USA Today) is a mesmerizing introduction to Don DeLillo’s iconic voice. In “Creation,” a couple at the end of a cruise somewhere in the West Indies can’t get off the island—flights canceled, unconfirmed reservations, a dysfunctional economy. In “Human Moments in World War III,” two men orbiting the earth, charged with gathering intelligence and reporting to Colorado Command, hear the voices of American radio, from a half century earlier. In the title story, Sisters Edgar and Grace, nuns working the violent streets of the South Bronx, confirm the neighborhood’s miracle, the apparition of a dead child, Esmeralda.
Nuns, astronauts, athletes, terrorists and travelers, the characters in The Angel Esmeralda propel themselves into the world and define it. These nine stories describe an extraordinary journey of one great writer whose prescience about world events and ear for American language changed the literary landscape.
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"Granted I've only read one of his major novel, I still feel uncertain about how to enjoy Delillo's style, especially when it is in the form of short stories. Despite that I thought this book to be an enjoyable read. The last two stories, set chronologically from the time of their "creation", were two of my favorites; they felt like the most relevant to the anxious and uncertain times WE live in."
— Mathieu (4 out of 5 stars)
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“A vital addition to DeLillo’s corpus…expertly realized…The gods have equipped DeLillo with the antennae of a visionary. There is right field, and there is left field. He comes from third field—aslant, athwart. And I love The Angel Esmeralda: Nine Stories.”
— New Yorker -
“A terrific overview of [DeLillo’s] many strengths, from pitch-perfect character descriptions to surprising humor to soaring lyricism…The literary fireworks of the title piece alone are a stunning example of how the ordinary can become extraordinary in a gifted artist’s hands…Behold and be dazzled.”
— People -
“Many of [DeLillo’s] deceptively simple sentences will leave you awestruck…This slim volume is a marvel—a masterpiece of short fiction.”
— USA Today -
“[DeLillo’s] prose is masterly and austere…Even the most fragmentary of [the stories] provides the pleasure of reading the inimitably elegant sentences that DeLillo has been fashioning for four decades.”
— Washington Post -
“Magnificent.”
— Boston Globe -
“A beautiful book for all time”
— San Francisco Chronicle -
“The typical DeLillo tale reads like a diagnosis of a zeitgeist malady we never knew we had, and in these stories the malady is one of spellbound fixation. DeLillo has achieved a very particular kind of greatness…and his gifts…are, for a contemporary American writer, unsurpassed.”
— New York Review of Books -
“I was dazzled…Reading this collection confirms DeLillo as one of our very best short story writers…The richness of his work, the pleasures on offer—intellectual, visceral, poetic, comic—are unrivalled.”
— Sam Lipsyte, author of The Ask
Awards
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A New York Times bestseller
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A 2011 Story Prize for Short Fiction Finalist
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Selected for the November 2011 Indie Next List
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A 2012 PEN/Faulkner Award Finalist
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One of the 2011 New York Times Book Review 100 Notable Books for Fiction
The Angel Esmeralda Listener Reviews
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" This is my first Don DeLillo book, and I can't say it was a super exciting experience. His style, based on the nine short stories that make up this volume, is dreamlike and ethereal, not something that can sustain me when disconcertingly shifting gears every twenty pages or so to a new set of characters, a new setting, and the absence of a traditional plot. There are some interesting pieces here to be sure; the one I like most is the opening chapter, "Creation," in which a couple is stranded on a tropical island due to unreliable air transportation. But even this story took some rather unexpected turns with little attention to characterization. The woman departs when one seat opens up on a tiny plane, and the man quickly jumps into bed with another woman who has been waiting for a departure. There's no explanation though on why he so quickly betrays his fled partner, and in fact it seems completely commonplace. This type of experience is echoed in most of the other stories, and in some cases, as in "Hammer and Sickle" when an incarcerated narrator's tween daughters begin reciting a poetry of world financial disasters during a visit, any semblance of verisimilitude totally devolves. I'm sure there is a point to all of this, but I just didn't get it! "
— Johnny, 1/24/2014 -
" Unpredictable crowds. Paintings of murdered or suicidal terrorists. Children reciting news of economic collapse. Fleeing, soon-to-be-dead children reincarnated as ghostly figures on advertising billboards. It all adds up to terror, delivered DeLillo style. "
— Todd, 1/19/2014 -
" Half way through this book i thought i'd got it but by the time i'd forced my way to the end i knew i hadn't ... although the writing is beautiful i couldn't get used to the way the characters conversed ( or not ) .. i did think after the first few stories that this was a more poetic version of Last Exit to Brooklyn ... but the last few stories threw me ... what was their point & where were they going ?? But, by this time, i didnt really care anyway ... "
— Joanne, 1/15/2014 -
" need to process before review, F. Harry Stowe, floating almound crisps bars, the subway... "
— Con, 1/13/2014 -
" A really great overview of DeLillo short-story work over the length of his career. Highlight for me was 'Baader-Meinhof', but there are plenty of highlights here. "
— Angela, 12/31/2013 -
" An excellent collection of short stories written over many years time. Very thought provoking. "
— LorCon, 12/30/2013 -
" I preferred his later stories to the earlier ones....or maybe I've just outgrown him? "
— Sue, 12/30/2013 -
" Stories written over the past 3 decades show the breadth and depth of DeLillo's writing. "
— Suzette, 12/29/2013 -
" Masterful, insightful and gorgeous text. I usually do not prefer short stories as they tend to be forgetful and longer works are more engrossing and more fully developed. Not so here; I will remember each story and it's messages for a long time. "
— Steve, 12/27/2013 -
" writing short stories takes a different sort of talent than writing novels. in spite of all the great reviews i read of this book, it just didn't grab me. i felt many of the stories were not just short, but incomplete. "
— Naomi, 12/7/2013 -
" all fascinating, some great: Human Moments in World War III, Hammer and Sickle. He's a treasure. "
— Ron, 9/22/2013 -
" The title story is an all timer: two nuns doing god's work from different directions, the South Bronx and a miracle, perhaps. Elsewhere, DeLillo's ability to capture/communicate an edgy paranoia and what passes for American culture/way of life is uncanny and often discomforting. But on the mark. "
— Eric, 4/25/2013 -
" The best story here is the one that is an excerpt from "Underworld", but all of them were enjoyable. "
— Russ, 4/5/2013 -
" I loved every piece EXCEPT for the title story. Wonderful art. "
— carl, 12/29/2012 -
" I'm not sure what the fuss it all about. I liked the stories, but they weren't luminous. "
— Rebecca, 12/27/2012 -
" A few stories were overwrought, but these were eclipsed by some of the best stories I've ever encountered. "
— Edward, 12/5/2012 -
" Powerful stories by DeLillo who is better known as a novelist. The title story is one of the finest I have read. "
— Joan, 10/20/2012 -
" Loved this book of 9 short stories by Don DeLillo. Not always a fan of the short story format...sometimes it takes so long to get into a story and by then it's over, but all nine of these were wonderful. Recommended. "
— Suzanne, 10/18/2012 -
" Too post-modern for my taste. An unconventional narrative (which would be fine) except the stories had no dramatic arc, no real ending, just meandered. "
— Eva, 7/27/2012 -
" Beautiful, understated, moving. What a truly exceptional writer. "
— Sharon, 3/23/2012 -
" S'okay. Don't think this dystopian stuff is for me. "
— Stacey, 12/27/2011
About Don DeLillo
Don DeLillo is the author of seventeen novels which have won the National Book Award, the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, the PEN/Saul Bellow Award, the Jerusalem Prize for his complete body of work, and the William Dean Howells Medal from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2013 he was awarded the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction, and in 2015, the National Book Foundation awarded DeLillo its Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.
About the Narrators
Michael Cerveris is an American singer, guitarist, and actor. He has performed in many stage musicals and plays including Romeo & Juliet, Sweeney Todd, and Hedwig and the Angry Itch. He won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor for his role in the Stephen Sondheim musical Assassins. His most notable television role has been as September in the series Fringe.
Heather Lind is an actress who has appeared in Boardwalk Empire, Blue Bloods, The Last Day of August, and other films and television programs.