04 Feb / To Be a Man by Nicole Krauss [in Booklist]
Nicole Krauss hasn’t audiobooked since joining an all-star cast for the aural adaptation of Etgar Keret’s collection, Suddenly, a Knock on the Door (2012). She is clearly an ideal choice for narrating her own writing in this, her full aural debut, with her collection examining and exposing women’s relationships with men.
The protagonist in the titular “To Be a Man” offers a succinct, biting summary: “there was very little left that a man could give her that she really needed.”
Superfluous men appear in many of the memorable stories here. In “Zusya on the Roof,” a potentially suicidal New York immigrant sticks around for his prematurely born, sperm-donor-sired grandson; in “Amour,” two lovers assumed to be destined for each other can’t get close to forever; in “End Days,” a couple’s amicable divorce after 25 years affects, of course, their unsuspecting daughter; in “Seeing Ershadi,” a film character proves longer-lasting than real-life partners; in “The Husband,” a stranger can become a husband merely because he’s presented as such.
Traversing continents and cultures (beyond a slight bump with Japanese pronunciation), Krauss’s narration enhances an already affecting collection with personal empathy.
Review: “Media,” Booklist Online, January 26, 2021
Readers: Adult
Published: 2020