Pym

By: Mat Johnson

Narrated by: J.D. Jackson

Acclaimed novelist Mat Johnson is the winner of the prestigious Hurston/Wright Legacy Award. After being sacked, American literature professor Chris Jaynes discovers a slave manuscript that seemingly confirms the existence of an “island of pure and utter blackness” as described in Poe’s Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym. Soon Jaynes and a rag-tag crew embark on an epic adventure to discover the truth.

©2011 Mat Johnson (P)2011 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

“An acutely humorous, very original story …” ( Kirkus)

Shaggy dog

A contrived, meandering parable. Labored writing. Read a review that said this was funny book — not in the least. Bogged down with corny racial stereotypes and didactic “lessons.”

Interesting but strange

3.5 stars. This was a strange book. Part SF, part satire, part exploration of race relations, I found myself interested in where the book was going but also sort of apart from it. It is a bizarre mix and likely an acquired taste. Interesting ideas, interesting execution, intellectual, but odd.

I would recommend this book to a friend.

Loved the book and narration. Book will be discussed at a Black Professionals Book Club.

The imagination of this book is great

There is so much great stuff in the book. The adventure was fascinating. Mat Johnson knows how to tell a cinematic story and this sort of adventure story infused with literary critique is very interesting. While there are many parts of the story I perhaps disagreed with, whatever that means, there's no doubt that Pym is still an intellectual masterpiece with a premise only a creative genius could conceive of. This is truly a book I will not forget about reading for a long time. I recommend this book to anyone who has read and liked books such as At the Mountain of Madness or the Lost World but is sensitive to the fact that these white authors of yore, who were no doubt talented and helped set the stage for Pym, held backwards notions of race. The reading performance is also very high quality.

A new take on Pym

I stumbled upon the canon of Arthur Gordon Pym by accident--I listened to Loving Day and this book was recommended I decided to go back and listen to the books in chronological order, and this while equally far-fetched has the added interest of an analysis of race both in the previous books and In contemporary America. Definitely worthwhile.

Great story

Fun, funny and insightful. Good writing with commentary on race, humanity and an intriguing story.

Worse book I have ever had to endure.

Hideously pretentious; poorly written; boring; tedious. GHASTLY! Our whole Book Club was livid we'd made the mistake of choosing Pym.