The Angel of Rome

And Other Stories

De: Jess Walter

Narrado por: Edoardo Ballerini, Julia Whelan

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Beautiful Ruins and The Cold Millions comes a stunning collection about those moments when everything changes—for the better, for the worse, for the outrageous—as a diverse cast of characters bounces from Italy to Idaho, questioning their roles in life and finding inspiration in the unlikeliest places.

We all live like we’re famous now, curating our social media presences, performing our identities, withholding those parts of ourselves we don’t want others to see. In this riveting collection of stories from acclaimed author Jess Walter, a teenage girl tries to live up to the image of her beautiful, missing mother. An elderly couple confronts the fiction writer eavesdropping on their conversation. A son must repeatedly come out to his senile father while looking for a place to care for the old man. A famous actor in recovery has a one-night stand with the world's most surprising film critic. And in the romantic title story, a shy twenty-one-year-old studying Latin in Rome during “the year of my reinvention” finds himself face-to-face with the Italian actress of his adolescent dreams.

Funny, poignant, and redemptive, this collection of short fiction offers a dazzling range of voices, backdrops, and situations. With his signature wit and bighearted approach to the darkest parts of humanity, Walter tackles the modern condition with a timeless touch, once again “solidifying his place in the contemporary canon as one of our most gifted builders of fictional worlds” (Esquire).

©2022 Jess Walter (P)2022 HarperCollins Publishers

Humorous but Empty at Times

The Angel of Rome was definitely the most enjoyable story in the lot. Climate change, Never Trump-isms, no religion is good religion and it’s great to be gay, got old and overused throughout. The saddest parts, parts I thought, were the stories of the women who let worthless men rule their lives and how little they actually valued themselves. Overly simple and crude in the what women really want category, nevertheless a few of the stories were extremely humorous with excellent narration. Unfortunately there was a lot of emptiness in the characters, not all, but many.

Enjoyable

I love the freedom that short storage gives you. This collection does not disappoint. I preferred male narrators, and he is one of my favorites.

A fantastic read!

Please don’t skip over this book! Every story was my favorite until I listened to the next one. And read by two of my favorite readers to boot.

Wonderful stories!

Each story is different than the next; all are interesting. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

Masterful short stories. Beautifully read.

Jess Walter sets the tone and creates a living & complex a human being with the fewest words possible. My only complaint is that the stories end too soon. I'm back to Audible to find any novels by Walter.

Uneven but great narrators

Some really great stories, some are just ok. Really moving and hysterical ones mixed in with profound. I really did enjoy it and can’t wait you read more from this author.

Just wonderful.

Each story is a gem. Beautifully performed. Laugh out loud funny and deeply thoughtful at once. I love Jess Walter books and this collection of short stories crystallizes his storytelling genius.

Excellent Read/Listen

I enjoyed all of the stories - some more than others, but the titular tale alone, "The Angel of Rome" was worth the price of admission. "The Way the World Ends" is a close second. They are the two longest, and most interesting stories in the collection.

Surprising

A great find! There was only one story I wasn’t sold on. The others were entertaining, in fact I laughed many times while listening.

The Angel of Rome

I especially enjoyed the sense of place in the Northwest stories. Characters are well written.