Appointment in Samarra (1934) - John O’Hara Audiobook

Written by John O’Hara
Read by Christian Camargo
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
Release date: November 19, 2013
Duration: 06:50:07

This is John O’hara’s first novel… Introduction: Charles McGrath
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One of the great novels of small-town American life, Appointment in Samarra is John O’Hara’s crowning achievement.

In December 1930, just before Christmas, the Gibbsville, Pennsylvania, social circuit is electrified with parties and dances. At the center of the social elite stand Julian and Caroline English. But in one rash moment born inside a highball glass, Julian breaks with polite society and begins a rapid descent toward self-destruction.

Over the course of three days at Christmas, the hard-drinking member of the country club set commits a series of social gaffes, first throwing a drink in the face of a man who has lent him a notable amount of money and later fighting a disabled war veteran.

Brimming with wealth and privilege, jealousy and infidelity, O’Hara’s iconic first novel is an unflinching look at the dark side of the American dream—and a lasting testament to the keen social intelligence if a major American writer.

Christian Camargo reads John O’Hara’s portrait of the social life of a small town in the early 1930s. . Camargo’s narration is well suited to the rapid, clipped dialogue, and his subtly enhances the tension as we see Julian self-destruct. A notable novel gets a powerful reintroduction. S.N.M. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine