Godwin: A Novel (Unabridged)
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3.0 • 1 Rating
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- $21.99
Publisher Description
A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK • NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FINALIST • From the acclaimed author of Netherland (a New York Times Book Review Best Book of the year): the odyssey of two brothers crossing the world in search of an African soccer prodigy who might change their fortunes.
Mark Wolfe, a brilliant if self-thwarting technical writer, lives in Pittsburgh with his wife, Sushila, and their toddler daughter. His half-brother Geoff, born and raised in the United Kingdom, is a desperate young soccer agent. He pulls Mark across the ocean into a scheme to track down an elusive prospect known only as “Godwin”—an African teenager Geoff believes could be the next Lionel Messi.
Narrated in turn by Mark and his work colleague Lakesha Williams, Godwin is a tale of family and migration as well as an international adventure story that implicates the brothers in the beauty and ugliness of soccer, the perils and promises of international business, and the dark history of transatlantic money-making.
As only he can do, Joseph O’Neill investigates the legacy of colonialism in the context of family love, global capitalism, and the dreaming individual.
Customer Reviews
Odd but excellent novel thwarted by poor reading
Godwin is a slightly odd novel, but it's challenging and provocative work by an established author. The reading in this audiobook is, however, problematic: while the female part, Kanesha, is delivered well, the male part is simply a case of poor casting. Mark is characterized as a very cool, charismatic and enigmatic individual, but the reader's voice is earnest, cloying, wheedling, and the reading is further weakened either by overly-precise or inconsistent pronunciation. Perhaps this lacking is a case of rushing a new novel into audiobook publication, I'll never know. In any case, it's a shame because it distracts from the literature.