Nick

By: Michael Farris Smith

Narrated by: Robert Petkoff

A critically acclaimed novelist pulls Nick Carraway out of the shadows and into the spotlight in this "masterful" look into his life before Gatsby (Richard Russo, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Empire Falls and Chances Are).

Before Nick Carraway moved to West Egg and into Gatsby's periphery, he was at the center of a very different story-one taking place along the trenches and deep within the tunnels of World War I.

Floundering in the wake of the destruction he witnessed firsthand, Nick delays his return home, hoping to escape the questions he cannot answer about the horrors of war. Instead, he embarks on a transcontinental redemptive journey that takes him from a whirlwind Paris romance-doomed from the very beginning-to the dizzying frenzy of New Orleans, rife with its own flavor of debauchery and violence.

An epic portrait of a truly singular era and a sweeping, romantic story of self-discovery, this rich and imaginative novel breathes new life into a character that many know but few have pondered deeply. Charged with enough alcohol, heartbreak, and profound yearning to paralyze even the heartiest of golden age scribes, Nick reveals the man behind the narrator who has captivated readers for decades.

Uneven

The early part was gripping but as characters and settings changed, it seemed to lack coherence and I lost interest in the last part and stopped listening.

Misrepresentation

No spoilers. I normally don’t write reviews but I feel like this needs to be said. The reader was good. The story was fine. But it was not a story of Nick Carraway. I feel like the author had a story that he thought was decent but could not sell, so he threw Nick‘s name on it and a couple of Gatsby quotes, and added a last chapter to tie this previously existing story to Gatsby. What an easy way to make a few bucks, hitchhiking on the Gatsby name. If you want to hear about a WW1 soldier, the “lost generation” as Gertrude Stein called them, and of the events of his life immediately after the war, then this story is OK. But if you buy this book because you want insight into the character of Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby you will be disappointed. Most of what we know about Nick Carraway’s background is replaced with an entirely different person. The Nick in the great Gatsby is a bit uptight. A Harvard man who would never introduce himself ot someone without someone else’s introduction, or at least and mutual acquaintance. The neck in the story is nowhere near that type of character.

Like a Rolling Stones Cover Band...

I wanted to like it, but the writing seemed forced, ringing hollow against the backdrop of F. Scott’s lyrical prose. Perhaps it was the performance that also left the writing flat. His tone/inflection was inconsistent which distracted from the story. Overall, this was one of my least enjoyable Audible experiences.

doesn't match with Gatsby

this is an interesting story, but there is no way this character is the one that later appears in gatsby. stories just don't match up.

Great Start but Falls Flat

It starts off amazing but the New Orleans sub plot is weird and makes you lose interest. I wish the Paris love story continued.