Audio only
Length3h 43m
About this audiobook
“Banks has skillfully used his repertoire of contemporary techniques to write a novel that is classically American—a dark, but sometimes funny, romance with echoes of Poe and Melville.” — Washington Post
"A marvelously written little book, fascinatingly intricate, yet deceptively simple. Well worth reading more than once." — New York Times Book Review
From acclaimed author Russell Banks comes a work of fiction utilizing a form invented in the seventeenth century by imprisoned Puritan divines
Designed to be exemplary, works of this type were aimed at brethren outside the prison walls and functioned primarily as figurative dramatizations of the tests of faith all true believers must endure. These “relations,” framed by scripture and by a sermon explicating the text, were usually read aloud in weekly or monthly installments during religious services. Utterly sincere and detailed recountings of suffering, they were nonetheless highly artificial. To use the form self-consciously, as Banks has done, is not to parody it so much as to argue good-humoredly with the mind it embodies, to explore and, if possible, to map the limits of that mind, the more intelligently to love it.
Audiobook details
Rating★★★ 3.2 (92)
Includes Goodreads
GenreHorror, Fantasy, General Fiction
Length3 hrs 43 mins
Narrated byJohn Pruden
FormatAudiobook
Publish dateNov 12, 2013
LanguageEnglish
More from Russell Banks
Rule of the BoneRussell Banks11h 55m4.0 (12.8K)$29 · $0.00
The ReserveRussell Banks9h 48m3.1 (2.6K)$29 · $0.00
Continental DriftRussell Banks13h 4m4.0 (5.1K)$33 · $0.00
The Book of JamaicaRussell Banks11h 34m3.7 (610)$29 · $0.00
ForegoneRussell Banks11h 22m3.5 (2.4K)$29 · $0.00
The Sweet HereafterRussell Banks8h 29m4.0 (12.7K)$26 · $0.00
CloudsplitterRussell Banks29h 35m4.1 (7.9K)$53 · $0.00
Family LifeRussell Banks2h 53m3.1 (142)$18 · $0.00
Hamilton StarkRussell Banks9h 52m3.4 (179)$29 · $0.00
AfflictionRussell Banks15h 45m4.1 (5.3K)$33 · $0.00
TrailerparkRussell Banks8h 14m3.9 (1.5K)$26 · $0.00
The Angel on the RoofRussell Banks17h 54m4.0 (1.5K)$40 · $0.00
VoyagerRussell Banks10h 21m3.4 (297)$29 · $0.00
A Permanent Member of the FamilyRussell Banks5h 58m3.7 (2K)$24 · $0.00
Lost Memory of SkinRussell Banks13h 43m3.6 (7.8K)$33 · $0.00
The DarlingRussell Banks14h 10m3.9 (3.9K)$33 · $0.00
Japanese GothicKylie Lee Baker10h 20m4.2 (7K)$29 · $0.00
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Complete Edition)Arthur Conan Doyle12h 41m4.6 (286.7K)$1.99 · $0.00
DRACULA (Annotated)Bram Stoker17h 36m4.5 (6.9K)$1.99 · $0.00
Treasure Island (Adventure Classic with Illustrations)Robert Louis Stevenson8h 50m4.5 (11.2K)$1.99 · $0.00
The Picture of Dorian Gray: The Uncensored 13 Chapter Version + The Revised 20 Chapter Version (Annotated)Oscar Wilde16h 12m4.5 (2.8K)$1.99 · $0.00
THE CTHULHU MYTHOS TALES (Annotated)H. P. Lovecraft22h 46m4.5 (16.9K)$2 · $0.00
The Undead PoolKim Harrison16h 13m4.4 (34.6K)$33 · $0.00
Glacier's EdgeR. A. Salvatore13h 44m4.5 (3.4K)$33 · $0.00
Good OmensNeil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett12h 33m4.4 (1.1M)$33 · $0.00
Dark of NightJonathan Maberry, Rachael Lavin4h 59m4.4 (3.8K)$20 · $0.00
Lost GodsBrom14h 50m4.4 (18.5K)$33 · $0.00
Corpus HermeticumHermes Trismegistus3h 43m4.4 (8.6K)$5 · $0.00
LambChristopher Moore15h 22m4.3 (211.3K)$33 · $0.00
CARMILLA (Gothic Classic) (Annotated)Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu4h 2m4.4 (1K)$1.99 · $0.00
The ExorcistWilliam Peter Blatty12h 52m4.3 (285.9K)$8 · $0.00
Lost ValleyWalt Browning7h 47m4.3 (5.4K)$20 · $0.00
Twice TemptedJeaniene Frost8h 17m4.3 (54.8K)$26 · $0.00
1984George Orwell12h 18m4.3 (6M)$25 · $0.00
The Best Tales of Edgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan Poe5h 19m4.4 (2.2K)$1 · $0.00
A Christmas CarolCharles Dickens3h 7m4.3 (1.1M)$5 · $0.00
Before the Coffee Gets Cold: A Toshikazu Kawaguchi Book SetToshikazu Kawaguchi18h 55m4.5 (1.4K)$40 · $0.00
The Song of AchillesMadeline Miller11h 15m4.3 (2.3M) · 1121$29 · $0.00
Hunt of the DragonJuliette Cross9h 46m4.4 (736)$20
All This Twisted GloryTahereh Mafi11h 31m4.3 (54.6K)$29 · $0.00
Deadly GameChristine Feehan13h 20m4.3 (15.8K)$30
THE RETURN OF THE KINGJ.R.R. Tolkien21h 5m4.7 (1.2M)$7 · $0.00
WildfireIlona Andrews12h 45m4.5 (62.9K)$33 · $0.00
Lolth's WarriorR. A. Salvatore13h 20m4.6 (2.4K)$33 · $0.00
The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du BoisHonoree Fanonne Jeffers29h 49m4.5 (58K)$8 · $0.00
Treasure Island (Adventure Classic with Illustrations)Robert Louis Stevenson8h 50m4.5 (11.2K)$1.99 · $0.00
Lola in the MirrorTrent Dalton13h 40m4.5 (43.9K)$33 · $0.00
Going PostalTerry Pratchett13h 36m4.5 (163.8K)$33 · $0.00
The Leo Tolstoy CollectionLeo Tolstoy9h 1m4.5 (4.9K)$10 · $0.00
Sword and ShadowMichelle Sagara16h 51m4.5 (2.2K)$40 · $0.00
The Neil Gaiman ReaderNeil Gaiman27h 3m4.5 (3.2K)$53 · $0.00
The HobbitJ. R. R. Tolkien10h 51m4.4 (4.9M)$12 · $0.00
Bad HabitAlana S. Portero5h 37m4.4 (52.3K)$24 · $0.00
Science Fiction & Fantasy CollectionH. P. Lovecraft16h 32m4.5 (2.7K)$2 · $0.00
The Last GodMichael McClung3h 43m4.5 (493)$5.10 · $0.00
The Undead PoolKim Harrison16h 13m4.4 (34.6K)$33 · $0.00
WhistlerAnn Patchett10h 45m4.6 (4.6K)$29 · $0.00
Demon CopperheadBarbara Kingsolver21h 3m4.5 (949.4K)$46 · $0.00
To Kill a MockingbirdHarper Lee12h 18m4.5 (7.4M)$29 · $0.00
Remarkably Bright CreaturesShelby Van Pelt11h 17m4.4 (1.7M)$29 · $0.00
Desperate MeasuresBrenda Jackson8h 59m4.7 (670)$28 · $0.00
This Side of Paradise - The Original 1920 Edition (Annotated)F. Scott Fitzgerald11h 30m4.6 (1.6K)$2 · $0.00
War LordBernard Cornwell13h 21m4.6 (33.1K)$33 · $0.00
The Great Gatsby: Original 1925 Edition (An F. Scott Fitzgerald Classic NovelFrancis Scott Fitzgerald4h 45m4.6 (9.3K)$15 · $0.00
Something Like LoveBeverly Jenkins10h 21m4.6 (2.7K)$29 · $0.00
Black History CollectionFrederick Douglass, Harriet Ann Jacobs, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois27h 9m4.6 (2.6K)$15 · $0.00
The Old Man and the Sea (Annotated)Ernest Hemingway4h 27m4.6 (1.4K)$2 · $0.00
White HotIlona Andrews13h 18m4.5 (136.9K)$5 · $0.00
The Ghost by the Billabong (The Matilda Saga, #5)Jackie French14h 58m4.6 (773)$33 · $0.00
Cast in BloodMichelle Sagara16h 35m4.6 (607)$33 · $0.00
The Captain Blood Trilogy (Annotated)Rafael Sabatini29h 20m4.6 (1K)$3 · $0.00
Ship of the Line (Annotated)Cecil Louis Troughton Smith11h 13m4.6 (1K)$2 · $0.00
The George Orwell CollectionGeorge Orwell24h 46m4.5 (14.4K)$10 · $0.00
ShivajiRanjit Desai25h 13m4.6 (3.1K)$24 · $0.00
Time RegainedMarcel Proust15h 38m4.5 (9.2K)$2 · $0.00
Driving ForceElle James4h 58m4.6 (407)$20 · $0.00
You may also like
A Christmas Carol & Other Christmas Stories by Charles Dickens (Annotated)Charles Dickens80h 56m4.3 (42.4K)$2 · $0.00
Faces in the CrowdValeria Luiselli5h 3m3.7 (9.1K)$14 · $0.00
Boys, Beasts & MenSam J. Miller9h 33m4.1 (1.5K)$20 · $0.00
IN THE PENAL COLONY & THE METAMORPHOSISFranz Kafka4h 48m4.3 (26.8K)$1.99 · $0.00
THE COMPLETE NOVELLAS & SHORT STORIES OF FYODOR DOSTOYEVSKYFyodor Dostoyevsky70h 34m4.6 (2.1K)$1.99 · $0.00
WonderlandMarie O’Regan, Paul Kane9h 55m3.6 (1.1K)$20 · $0.00
Vita NostraMarina & Sergey Dyachenko18h 22m4.1 (30K)$40 · $0.00
The Museum of Modern LoveHeather Rose8h 1m3.9 (13.4K)$20 · $0.00
Six Characters in Search of an AuthorLuigi Pirandello2h 19m4.0 (27.8K)$1.20 · $0.00
Imagine MeTahereh Mafi9h 23m4.1 (376.4K)$29 · $0.00
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (a feminist literature classic)Mary Wollstonecraft9h 32m4.1 (90.6K)$2 · $0.00
The Flowers of EvilCharles Baudelaire, Frank Pearce Sturm2h 19m4.2 (54.4K)$15
That Hideous StrengthC. S. Lewis16h 58m4.1 (67.9K)$2 · $0.00
EmilyEden Francis Compton7h 42m3.9 (3.9K)$17
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTONF. Scott Fitzgerald2h 10m3.7 (83.3K)$1 · $0.00
THE FLOWERS OF EVILCharles Baudelaire2h 28m4.3 (94.6K)$1.99 · $0.00
Monday or Tuesday and Other Short StoriesVirginia Woolf1h 59m3.9 (4.3K)$2 · $0.00
Land Of Big NumbersTe-Ping Chen6h 35m4.0 (12.2K)$24 · $0.00
EditedBarry Lyga7h 28m2.9 (99)$17
Short Stories (Annotated)Fyodor Dostoyevsky10h 16m$2 · $0.00