Such Kindness, Andre Dubus, III
Such Kindness, Andre Dubus, III
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Such Kindness

Author: Andre Dubus, III

Narrator: Andre Dubus, III

Unabridged: 10 hr 53 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 06/06/2023


Synopsis

A working-class white man takes a terrible fall.

Tom Lowe’s identity and his pride are invested in the work he does with his back and his hands. He designed and built his family’s dream home, working extra hours to pay off the adjustable rate mortgage he took on the property, convinced he is making every sacrifice for the happiness of
his wife and son. Until, in a moment of fatigued inattention, shingling a roof in too-bright sunlight, he falls.

In constant pain, addicted to painkillers at the cost of his relationships with his wife and son, Tom slowly comes to realize that he can never work again. If he is not a working man, who is he? He is not, he believes, the kind of person who lives in subsidized housing, though that is where he has
ended up. He is not the kind of person who hatches a scheme to commit convenience-check fraud, together with neighbors he considers lowlifes, until he finds himself stealing his banker’s trash.

Who is Tom Lowe, and who will he become? Can he find a way to reunite hands and heart, mind and spirit, to be once again a giver and not just a taker, to forge a self-acceptance deeper than pride?

Andre Dubus III’s soulful cast includes Trina, the struggling mom next door who sells her own plasma to get by; Dawn, the tough-talking owner of the local hairdressing salon; Jamie, a well-meaning pothead college student ready to stick it to “the man”; and a mix of strangers and neighbors who
will never know the role they played in changing a life. To one man’s painful moral journey, Dubus bringscompassion with an edge of dark absurdity, forging a novel as absorbing as it is profound.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Angela M on September 10, 2023

It’s easy to feel sorry for someone who is down and out, perhaps not as easy to really empathize, to know what happened to them to get them to that point, to know what’s in their head and heart. Tom Lowe, a decent hardworking family man who tried to build a comfortable home and life for them reflect......more

Goodreads review by Andrew on October 27, 2024

Tom is depressed. He knows this, and he also knows why he’s in this state. He once had it all: he and his family lived in the house of his dreams, a house he’d built himself; he was married to a loving wife, who he absolutely adored; he had a young son he could eventually endow with the skills he’d......more

Goodreads review by Chris on September 04, 2023

SUCH KINDNESS is another gem from Andre Dubus III. His compassion for his characters -- abused by an uncaring universe and the careless humans who walk the planet -- is so full and nonjudgmental that you will come to respect them and care for them in the ways we all deserve. We talk a lot in writing......more

Goodreads review by Christy on May 30, 2023

'When people are trying to survive, they don't thrive'. This is the story of Tom Lowe and his fall. His literal fall from a roofing job, leaving him in chronic pain and addicted to painkillers, and his metaphorical fall from the 'perfect' life he had built. He is a broken man. After all, he didn't de......more

Goodreads review by Nancy on April 19, 2023

I’ve been in my own jail, son. I think I’m finally finding out how to be free. from Such Kindness by Andre Dubus III Most of us live on the lip of a void, one step away from disaster. A fall leads to loss of work, which leads to loss of home. Constant pain leads to addiction to opioids and alcohol. And......more