Apple, Tree, Lise Funderburg
Apple, Tree, Lise Funderburg
List: $19.95 | Sale: $13.97
Club: $9.97

Apple, Tree
Writers on Their Parents

Author: Lise Funderburg, various authors

Narrator: various narrators, Robin Miles, Elisabeth Rodgers, Kevin Kenerly, Kyla Garcia, Steven Jay Cohen, Dara Rosenberg, Janet Song, Bronson Pinchot, Feodor Chin

Unabridged: 8 hr 26 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/24/2019


Synopsis

It happens to us all: we think we’ve settled into an identity, a self, and then out of nowhere and with great force, the traces of our parents appear to us, in us—in mirrors, in gestures, in reaction and reactivity, at weddings and funerals, and in troubled thoughts that crouch in dark corners of our minds.In this masterful collection of new essays, the apple looks at the tree. Twenty-five writers deftly explore a trait they’ve inherited from a parent, reflecting on how it affects the lives they lead today—how it shifts their relationship to that parent (sometimes posthumously) and to their sense of self.Apple, Tree’s all-star lineup of writers brings eloquence, integrity, and humor to topics such as arrogance, obsession, psychics, grudges, table manners, luck, and laundry. Contributors include Laura van den Berg, S. Bear Bergman, John Freeman, Jane Hamilton, Mat Johnson, Daniel Mendelsohn, Kyoko Mori, Ann Patchett, and Sallie Tisdale, among others. Together, their pieces form a prismatic meditation on how we make fresh sense of ourselves and our parents when we see the pieces of them that live on in us.

About Lise Funderburg

Lise Funderburg is a writer and editor and a lecturer in creative writing at the University of Pennsylvania. Funderburg’s collection of oral histories, Black, White, Other: Biracial Americans Talk about Race and Identity, has become a core text in the study of American multiracial identity in college courses around the world. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Philadelphia Inquirer, National Geographic, Salon, and The Nation.

About Robin Miles

Robin Miles began her audiobook narration in 1994.  She's read over 130 titles covering many different genres and has won multiple Earphones awards.  Her many audiobook credits include Augusten Burroughs's Sellevision, Edwidge Danticat's Brother I'm Dying, and Lalita Tademy's Cane River.  Her film and television credits include The Last Days of Disco, Primary Colors, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Law & Order, New York Undercover, National Geographic’s Tales from the Wild, All My Children, and One Life to Live.  She regularly gives seminars to members of SAG and AFTRA actors' unions, and in 2005 she started Narration Arts Workshop in New York City, offering audiobook recording classes and coaching.  She holds a B.A. in Theater Studies from Yale University, an MFA in acting from the Yale School of Drama, and a certificate from the British American Drama Academy in England.

About Elisabeth Rodgers

Elisabeth Rodgers is an actress and AudioFile Earphones Award–winning narrator. After graduating from Princeton University, she completed a two-year program at William Esper Studio, where she studied with Maggie Flanigan. Her audiobook narration training came from Robin Miles, who has also directed her in several productions. She has recorded dozens of books for a multitude of publishers.

About Kevin Kenerly

Kevin Kenerly, an Earphones Award–winning narrator, earned a BA at Olivet College. A longtime member of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, he has acted in more than twenty seasons, playing dozens of roles.

About Kyla Garcia

Kyla Garcia is a film, stage, and television actress based in Los Angeles, California. She has earned an Audie Award nomination and seven AudioFile Earphones Awards for her work as an audiobook narrator. Her favorite storytelling moments include being a company member of Native Voices at the Autry, starring in the World Premiere of Sovereignty at Arena Stage, and creating the critically acclaimed one-woman show The Mermaid Who Learned How to Fly. Kyla's most recent project is the original feminist spoken-word digital series Herstory 101 featured in BUST Magazine.

About Steven Jay Cohen

Steven Jay Cohen has been telling stories his whole life, and has worked professionally as a storyteller since 1991. A classically trained actor, he has worked both on stage and behind the microphone for most of his career. Born and raised in Brooklyn, Steven now resides in scenic western Massachusetts, where he lives with his wife, kids, and too many pets to mention.

About Dara Rosenberg

Dara Rosenberg is an accomplished voice-over artist who has been recognized nationally for her extensive work in audiobooks and commercials. She has narrated over 140 audiobooks and has been the voice of dozens of national television and radio commercials. You can hear Dara's voice each day as a daily news reader for Time Magazine, SpeakPage, and Wibbitz, where she reads for the Huffington Post, CNN, and Reuters. She has a BFA in drama from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and studied at Interlochen Arts Academy, where she majored in drama and musical theater. When Dara is not in the studio recording, she spends her time enjoying life in NYC with her husband, Alex, and fat English Bulldog, Truman.

About Janet Song

Janet Song is the recipient of multiple Earphones Awards and was named one of AudioFile magazine’s Best Voices of 2008. Recent audiobooks include Euna Lee’s The World is Bigger Now and Lisa See’s Shanghai Girls. She lives and works in Southern California as an actor on stage and screen.

About Bronson Pinchot

Bronson Pinchot is an experienced narrator and actor who has appeared in multiple films and television shows. His film and television credits include Risky Business, Beverly Hills Cop, True Romance, and Perfect Strangers. A lover of Greek Revival architecture and soft shell crab, he currently resides in Manhattan.

About Feodor Chin

Feodor Chin, an AudioFile Earphones Award–winning narrator, is an actor classically trained at the American Conservatory Theater and UCLA. His acting career includes numerous credits in film, television, theater, and voice-over.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Kari

4.5*. Most of this was great. I want to visually read it instead of listen to it, though. A few stories didn’t draw me in as much as others but it probably all depends on where you are in your life and your family. No matter what, I found it fascinating to enter these writers’ worlds. “When writing......more

Goodreads review by Amy

Worthy of five stars because even though not every single essay was fantastic, so many were that the book overall deserves it. Also, the editor put this together with an eye to diversity, which makes the range all the more enlightening.......more


Quotes

“Ann Patchett, Daniel Mendelsohn and Laura van den Berg, among others, meditate on how attributes both physical and spiritual tie us to and distance us from our elders.” Washington Post

“An engrossing anthology of twenty-five delightfully diverse personal essays.” Minneapolis Star Tribune

" Apple, Tree is a sweet, smart collection, and—it has to be said—a perfect gift for a parent you love.” NPR

“A sparkling anthology…These essays, in addition to being resonant in their own right, will also move readers to recollect stories of their own parents.” Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“The narrators bring sympathetic, nuanced takes on the twenty-five writers who share their stories in this collection. Some of these stories are humorous, some sad, and all are touching in their own way…An engaging listen.” AudioFile