The Last Days of August

By: Jon Ronson

Narrated by: Jon Ronson

Jon Ronson, the creator of Audible Original The Butterfly Effect, delves into the pornography industry again as he unravels the never-before-told story of what caused a beloved 23-year-old actress’s untimely death.

In December 2017, famed adult film star August Ames died by suicide in a park in the Conejo Valley. Her death came just a day after she’d been the victim of a social media pile-on by fellow porn professionals—punishment for her tweeting out something deemed homophobic.

A month later, August’s husband and pornography producer Kevin Moore connected with journalist Jon Ronson to tell the story of how cyberbullying via Twitter killed his wife. Neither of them could predict the rumors and secrets that Ronson would soon hear, revelations that hinted at a very different story—something mysterious and unexpected and terrible.

Please note: This audio features sexual content, adult language, and references to suicide and violence that may be upsetting to some listeners. Discretion is advised.

If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741-741.

©2018 Audible Originals, LLC (P)2018 Audible Originals, LLC.

Intriguing

That was a quick book!
I was engaged from the first sentence to the conclusion. Although I am satisfied that her husband didn't actually put the noose around her neck, he didn't help her in the least.
I know what it's like to have an "absent" husband. It makes a girl feel disconnected. I also have a "roommate" relationship with my husband. I hope this speaks to the absent husbands, and makes them either appreciate their wives or release them. Then they can bloom into what they should be instead of their internalizing all the wrong in their lives.

it's alright

Was kinda hoping for a deeper dive into a situation like what Ronson covers in "Publicy Shamed" but instead of going into the twitter shaming that preceded Ames's death, he focuses a lot of time on whether or not she was in a good relationship (*spoiler* probably not) and a lot of the book is about the character of her husband. but he comes off no worse than the other of the people interviewed (spoiler *thery're all a bit awful and a bit broken*).

The author eliminates all the questions raised one by one and gets to no real conclusion. Was she murdered by her husband? no. Was she abused on a porn set? kinda, not really. Did other porn stars bully her on social media? kinda, not really. Was she troubled? definitely. Did twitter drive her to suicide? inconclusive, but it certainly didn't help.

There's a lot of reverence for the dead, which makes sense, it's a sad story and nobody wants to hear about the character flaws of the tragically dead-- but without acknowledging her shortcomings the book communicates quite early on there are avenues the author is not willing to go down. Which was probably wise because it's probably really hard to do without coming off sounding disrespectful of a tragedy.

Perhaps the author felt he had already covered a lot of social media angle in his previous books but there's interesting angles I was hoping to learn more about like the trend in porn of older men having relationships with younger women. or how it even works being in a relationship with someone who has sex with other people for a living and how that reflects on the relationship that the book dances around making the center of.

I was kinda hoping for something where i'd walk away having learned something and gained a bit more compassion for my fellow human but instead I just feel kinda guilty for being entertained for 3+ hours digging around Ms.Ames's life. It's not really a deep look into the porn industry or at social media. It's mostly just a sad story about broken people.

But all in all not a bad listen.
Curious to see what he does next.

Riveting story; distracting narrator

Fascinating story, but the narrator’s voice is unpolished and distracting. I also felt like he was also too personally invested in the interviews - i.e. making suggestions about her boyfriend’s statement. The story and interview subjects make it worth a listen, but a different narrator and narrative tone would have been a big improvement.

Classic Ronson

He navigates ambiguity thoughtfully. Ronson makes people’s foibles acceptable and sometimes beautiful. Carefully, Ronson provides a non-salacious story of the porn world. Well done.

Young Porn Star Suicides. Why?

Narration: Sometimes a bit hard to understand the different speech patterns. The interviewees are sometimes well spoke but usually not. Not a fault of the producer. This is simply the reality of interviewing principals in real time.

Content: An interesting investigation into why a particular young porno star suicided. The story is less interesting for what is discovered about the details of this particular story, than it is for illustrating tactics investigative journalists use to clarify of a complicated story (e.g., vetting particulars, checking and cross checking assertions, maintaining a professional relationship with principals). This audio would be useful adjunct to a class focusing on investigative journalism. Certainly the topic would hold students' interests.

last days of August

very informative. loved it. kept changing. great interviews. very interesting. keeps you guessing the whole time

psychological journey into sad lives

Sad, interesting, different, thought provoking. Hard to pause to do something else. Makes you ponder what is reality and what is layer upon layer of illusion.

A Truly Sad but Refreshing Case

My regards to August, her family and Kevin. I’d say this was a great piece of journalism that presented seemingly all sides of a story.

It would be nice to hear more about cases, in this manner. A way that presents all sides of the story. Media has so much influence in todays society and people are mostly going with the flow. Nobody knows what the truth is anymore because people either don’t truly care about the topic or don’t bother to fact check. It’s refreshing to hear people hearing as many sides as possible, fact checking and progressing with leads as needed.

Ronson never lets me down

I’ve listened to a lot of Jon Robson’s books and enjoyed all of them. I was excited to see he had a podcast and binged that. This book stands alone but it’s especially insightful after hearing the podcast. The thing I love about him most is his genuine sense of curiosity and respect for his story and the people involved. The care he takes in handling sensitive and controversial subjects never fails to make me think deeply long after I’ve listened. I can’t recommend him enough.

Jon Ronson, about anything. Anytime.

longer than I expected the freebie to be, but that's a bonus. It is all, as usual, well portrayed, researched (as much as I can tell from mere listening), and it's captivating to follow the story.