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The End Audiobook
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(3.01) - 390 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
This debut novel from Salvatore Scibona has garnered widespread praise as a literary triumph and was a National Book Award finalist. Set in 1953 Cleveland during a carnival in the Italian immigrant neighborhood of Elephant Park, The End explores the lives of six people in the crowd and the tragedy that connects them. Fraught with racial tension and teeming with immigrant families fighting to survive, Scibona's brilliant tale lays bare this Ohio town for all to see.
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"Reminds me somewhat of Let the Great World Spin - the intersection of lives on a particular day. Higher level of complexity though because of its Modernist concerns with time and language. I have read others' comments that "The End" is reminiscent of Faulkner, Joyce, and Woolfe. I kept thinking Chekov. Certainly could be considered a Regionalist work too - place is of utmost importance. Don't plan on sleepwalking through this."
— Leslie (4 out of 5 stars)
The End Listener Reviews
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" At times I had no idea what was going on, but even then, the words were beautiful. "
— Gina, 2/7/2014 -
" Didn't really like it. Boring. I ended up listening to most of it just to get through... "
— Lori, 1/22/2014 -
" Genius! I wish I could write down the world as he sees and hears it. "
— Abby, 1/20/2014 -
" Despite the fact that this book was written in an accomplished and unique voice, I did not enjoy reading it. To me, it was frustrating and unnecessarily opaque. "
— Beth, 1/14/2014 -
" Awful, and written by a Johnnie! "
— Janet, 1/13/2014 -
" Needs to be read slow. Maps the mythic weave that constructs certain American identities. No I'm not sure what that means either but it feels right to say. A WOW of a book. "
— Michael, 1/13/2014 -
" Don't bother. This thing was awful. The opening page contains a one sentence paragraph that covers almost the entire page! I mean, please! "
— Winter, 1/3/2014 -
" I really wanted to read this, but even after being 75 pages into it, I just couldn't figure out where it was going. :-( Guess I'm not that literate. "
— Evelyn, 12/19/2013 -
" Connected stories of poor Italian immigrants jump around in time so that the mostly sad characters are not easily understood. Although the book is short, it is not one to read quickly. It is a serious work and was a finalist for the National Book Award. "
— Karlan, 11/10/2013 -
" Really dense, but meaty and lovely. "
— Jessi, 11/3/2013 -
" national book award fiction nominee 2008 "
— Tuck, 9/6/2013 -
" Terrific. Especially if you're Italian-American or an American interested in Italy. I'm in the middle of a crowd scene now and can't wait to get back to reading. "
— Sal, 1/21/2013 -
" Extraordinary. Beautiful writing but requires attention. Oddly, recalls Virginia Woolfe. The payoff is gorgeous. Still, there are some really unpleasant, albiet fascinating, protagonists. "
— Mary, 12/15/2011 -
" If you are going to write about a city you ought to at least know what you are writing about. The descriptions of Cleveland are wrong, wrong, wrong....made me crazy. "
— Alan, 8/26/2011 -
" Ok, I made it about 80 pages into this book then gave up. So many have raved about this book, but overly verbose character studies are not my cup of tea. "
— Sabine, 5/17/2011 -
" Worst book ever written. Most boring, unimaginative piece of garbage I have ever wasted my time trying to force into my brain. God must hate this author for making him want to write. Give it up. Wait tables. "
— Carisa, 4/28/2011 -
" Scibona's prose demands to be read as gracefully as dusklight demands somewhere to fall. The End is profoundly cathartic. Something in the elegance, beauty and grandeur of this novel feels powerfully inevitable. "
— Ben, 3/11/2011 -
" too convoluted -- even for me. "
— Steve, 1/26/2011 -
" The first 30 to 50 pages of this book held a lot of promise. The aching lonliness of the little baker was so well rendered. But eventually, the book lost me. Full of odd phrasings, I found the story inaccessible at times. I wanted to like this book, but in the end, I just gave up. "
— Bruce, 4/15/2010 -
" Bello e doloroso. Lo rileggerei anche subito. "
— Zeno's, 11/23/2009 -
" Its virtue--beautiful, complex writing--was also its vice. I wanted to like this book, but it was too profound for my simple tastes. "
— Lisa, 7/21/2009
About Salvatore Scibona
Salvatore Scibona is an award-winning American novelist and short story writer. He has won awards for both his novels and short stories.
About Jefferson Mays
Jefferson Mays, an Earphones Awards-winning narrator, is also an award-winning theater and film actor. In 2004 he won a Tony Award, a Drama Desk Award, an Obie Award, and a Theatre World Award for his solo Broadway performance in I Am My Own Wife, a Pulitzer Prize–winning play by Doug Wright. He holds a BA from Yale College and an MFA from University of California–San Diego.