Audio only
Length11h 23m
About this audiobook
""Avoid the Day truly seems to me to push nonfiction memoir as far as it can go without it collapsing into a singularity and I am at a loss for words. You are just going to have to read it."" –Helen Macdonald, author of H is for Hawk
A surreal, high-wire act of narrative nonfiction that redefines the genre, Avoid the Day is part detective story, part memoir, and part meditation on the meaning of life—all told with a dark pulse of existential horror. What emerges is an unforgettable study of mortality and the artist’s journey.
Seeking to answer the mystery of a missing manuscript by Béla Bartók, and using the investigation to avoid his father’s deathbed, award-winning magazine writer Jay Kirk heads off to Transylvania, going to the same villages where the “Master,” like a vampire in search of fresh plasma, had found his new material in the folk music of the peasants. With these stolen songs, Bartók redefined music in the 20th Century. Kirk, who is also seeking to renew his writing, finds inspiration in the composer’s unorthodox methods, but begins to lose his tether as he sees himself in Bartók’s darkest and most personal work, the Cantata Profana, which revolves around the curse of fathers and sons.
After a near-psychotic episode under the spell of Bartók, the author suddenly finds himself on a posh eco-tourist cruise in the Arctic. There, accompanied by an old friend, now a documentary filmmaker, the two decide to scrap the documentary and make a horror flick instead—shot under the noses of the unsuspecting passengers and crew. Playing one of the main characters who finds himself inexplicably trapped on a ship at the literal end of the world, alone, and under the influence of the midnight sun, Kirk gets lost in his own cerebral maze, struggling to answer his most plaguing question: can we find meaning in experience?
Audiobook details
GenreBiography and Memoir, Self-Help, Other
Length11 hrs 23 mins
Narrated byAndrew Eiden
FormatAudiobook
Publish dateJul 28, 2020
LanguageEnglish
Left for DeadEbony Canion5h 34m$17
Invisible StormJason Kander6h 48m$24 · $0.00
Forever BoyKate Swenson9h 27m$29 · $0.00
You Are Worth ItKyle Carpenter, Don Yaeger8h 53m$29 · $0.00
The Happiest Man on EarthEddie Jaku3h 48m$7 · $0.00
MotherlandJulia Ioffe17h 52m$40 · $0.00
Evidence Not SeenDarlene Deibler Rose11h 11m$29 · $0.00
A Bridge Not Too FarDeepak Ohri4h 55m$15
Where Cowards Go to DieBenjamin Sledge8h 42m$20 · $0.00
Will You Love Me?Cathy Glass9h 5m$29 · $0.00
Designing Terry Pratchett’s DiscworldPaul Kidby3h 52m$20 · $0.00
HostageEli Sharabi5h 25m$24 · $0.00
A Narrative of Some of the Lord's Dealings With George Müller (The Complete Four-Volume Edition)George Müller43h 37m$2 · $0.00
Finding MeViola Davis9h 15m5 (2)$29 · $0.00
Scandal Between the Sheets & Stranded with the Tempting StrangerBrenda Jackson9h 22m$24 · $0.00
The Boys and MeMark Miller8h 32m$23
The Dangerous Truth about Today’s MarijuanaLaura Stack CSP, MBA9h 57m5 (1)$20 · $0.00
Birdie & HarlowTaylor Wolfe7h 50m$26 · $0.00
The Lives of BrianBrian Johnson9h 45m$29 · $0.00
I Am The StormJanice Dean9h$8 · $0.00
Finding Your VoiceMannette Morgan8h 10m$20
Forever BoyKate Swenson9h 27m$29 · $0.00
You Are Worth ItKyle Carpenter, Don Yaeger8h 53m$29 · $0.00
The Happiest Man on EarthEddie Jaku3h 48m$7 · $0.00
Finding MeViola Davis9h 15m5 (2)$29 · $0.00
AretéBrian Johnson19h 57m$35
Spiritual AnatomyDaaji Kamlesh D. Patel9h 47m$29 · $0.00
The Dangerous Truth about Today’s MarijuanaLaura Stack CSP, MBA9h 57m5 (1)$20 · $0.00
Birdie & HarlowTaylor Wolfe7h 50m$26 · $0.00
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the HorseCharlie Mackesy58m$11 · $0.00
Ghetto BastardK’wan7h 37m$20
Legally YoursManasi Chaudhari8h 52m$29 · $0.00
CrossroadsKaleb Dahlgren7h 56m$26 · $0.00
Life on the BridgeKaelynn Partlow5h 40m$24 · $0.00
From Questioning to KnowingLisa Barnett5h 34m$17
Keep Your Love OnDanny Silk9h 4m$10 · $0.00
The Manifestation CodeRaimon Samsó5h 54m$18
Parents And ChildrenCharlotte M. Mason13h 8m$2.30
The Tao of Joy Every DayDerek Lin10h 24m$20 · $0.00
UndividedVicky Beeching9h 2m$29 · $0.00
The Holy Bible - 1 SamuelKing James2h 13m3 (1)$3 · $0.00
KJV Holy BibleBroadStreet Publishing Group LLC96h 16m$10 · $0.00
Book of ColossiansUnknown Author16m$8
The American Standard Bible — The Gospel of MatthewMatthew3h 56m$2 · $0.00
Everyday Chanakya | Time Management S01E08Radhakrishnan Pillai42m$4
Bad Fat Black GirlSesali Bowen6h 32m$24 · $0.00
The King James Audio Bible New Testament CompleteChristopher Glyn20h 2m5 (1)$12 · $0.00
Faiths CheckbookCharles Spurgeon12h 44m$11 · $0.00
Be Wild Be FreeAmber Fossey26m$7 · $0.00
Ten Things I Wish You Knew About Your Child's Mental HealthDr. Billy Garvey4h 53m$20 · $0.00
Designing Terry Pratchett’s DiscworldPaul Kidby3h 52m$20 · $0.00
The Chosen Book OneAmanda Jenkins, Kristen Hendricks, Dallas Jenkins3h 8m$10 · $0.00
The Lives of BrianBrian Johnson9h 45m$29 · $0.00
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the HorseCharlie Mackesy58m$11 · $0.00
Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of LukeJ.C. Ryle27h 13m$18 · $0.00
My First Beethoven AlbumNaxos1h 23m$6 · $0.00
CrossroadsKaleb Dahlgren7h 56m$26 · $0.00
Across the RiverKent Babb11h 40m$29 · $0.00
Brain Training for RidersAndrea Monsarrat Waldo5h 56m$19 · $0.00
My Effin' LifeGeddy Lee17h 11m5 (1)$40 · $0.00
You may also like
The Fossil HunterTea Cooper11h 52m$29 · $0.00
Eric Sloane's Weather BookEric Sloane2h 42m$7 · $0.00
Angels' Shoes, and Other StoriesMarjorie L. C. Pickthall9h 39m$2 · $0.00
The Old WaysRobert Macfarlane11h 23m$20
Excursions in Art and LettersWilliam Wetmore Story8h 18m$1 · $0.00
Aromatics and the Soul: A Study of SmellsDaniel McKenzie4h 11m$2 · $0.00
The Lost DahliaMary Russell Mitford26m$1 · $0.00
The Forgotten One, and Other True Tales of the South SeasJames Norman Hall7h 56m$1 · $0.00
The Piazza TalesHerman Melville9h 3m$2.30
The General of the Dead ArmyKadare, Ismail7h 53mFree
Wolfert's Roost, and MiscellaniesWashington Irving7h 6m$2.30
Days and hours in a gardenE. V. B.3h 22m$1 · $0.00
The Ducks and Frogs, a Tale of the BogsFanny Fire-Fly10m$2 · $0.00
Great Classic Love Storiesvarious authors6h 29m$20 · $0.00
The SwimmerJohn Cheever26m$7 · $0.00
The Polish BoxerEduardo Halfon6h 12m$17
The Land of Long AgoEliza Calvert Hall4h 54m$2 · $0.00
The Story of Captain, the Horse with the Human BrainGeorge Wharton James59m$2 · $0.00
The Book of RiddlesAnonymous36m$1 · $0.00
The Court of the King, and Other StudiesMargaret Benson1h 47m$2 · $0.00