Cheever, Blake Bailey
Cheever, Blake Bailey
1 Rating(s)
List: $34.95 | Sale: $24.47
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Cheever
A Life

Author: Blake Bailey

Narrator: Malcolm Hillgartner

Unabridged: 27 hr 57 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/03/2009

Synopsis

Here, for the first time, is the full and unforgettable life of John Cheever (19121982), written with unprecedented access to essential sources. Cheever was a soul in conflict, a highschool dropout who published his first story at eighteen, a dire alcoholic who recovered to write the great novel Falconer, a secret bisexual who struggled with his longings and his fierce homophobia, whose groundbreaking work landed him on the covers of Time and Newsweek, a man who believed in the power of family love and sexual pleasure, a man whose desperate loneliness was never wholly offset by his faith in the joy of creation.

About Blake Bailey

Blake Bailey is the author of award-winning biographies of John Cheever, Richard Yates, and Charles Jackson, and he is at work on the authorized biography of Philip Roth. His articles and reviews have appeared in Vanity Fair, Slate, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and elsewhere. He lives in Virginia with his wife and daughter.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Liz on July 10, 2009

I should have reviewed this right when I finished it so it would all still be fresh in my head, but here goes: I have been a huge Cheever fan since I was a teenager and have always wished that he was the "venerable New England author" who lived on the street in Ipswich where I was born instead of Upd......more

Goodreads review by Peter on October 07, 2012

This took me the entire summer--picking it up, putting it down-- to read. Mainly because my capacity for vicarious depression is not as large as it once was. I have too many things to say about this, and not enough time to say them. So I'll boil it down: it's absolutely amazing that such big-hearted......more

Goodreads review by Hannah on January 31, 2009

Dangit, Blake Bailey. I am really loving Palace Walk, but you are like my goddamned idol at this point--I don't like biographies, barely care about Cheever, and am too BUSY to mess with this right now. And yet . . . sigh. What a wonderful jorb you do. Man, this guy really kills me. Blake Bailey write......more

Goodreads review by K.M. on October 18, 2013

Things I didn’t know about John Cheever before reading this biography: • He was raised in poverty, after his merchant-class father lost everything in the Depression. • He was expelled from high school before graduating and never went to college. • He published his first piece of writing as a teenager (......more

Goodreads review by Joy H. on June 22, 2011

Cheever: A Life (Audio CD) by Blake Bailey Added 4/20/11. GR description: "Blake Bailey's biography focuses on the gaping disparity between Cheever's proud Yankee social persona and his lifelong inner turmoil." READ SAMPLE OF THIS BOOK HERE: [URL not allowed] NOTE: Cheever won the......more

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