Loud and Clear and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more

Kindle Edition
 
   
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Loud and Clear
 
See larger image
 
Start reading Loud and Clear on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Loud and Clear [Abridged, Audiobook, Unabridged] [Audio Cassette]

Anna Quindlen (Author, Reader)
4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)


Available from these sellers.


Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition --  
Library Binding $22.95  
Paperback $11.18  
Audio, CD, Audiobook, Unabridged --  
Audio, Cassette, Abridged, Audiobook, Unabridged --  
Audible Audio Edition, Unabridged $20.95 or Free with Audible 30-day free trial

Book Description

April 6, 2004
In this remarkable book, Anna Quindlen, one of America’s favorite novelists and a Pulitzer Prize– winning columnist, once again gives us wisdom, opinions, insights, and reflections about current events and modern life. “Always insightful, rooted in everyday experience and common sense...Quindlen is so good that even when you disagree with what she says, you still love the way she says it,” said People magazine about her number one New York Times bestseller Thinking Out Loud, and the same can be said about Loud and Clear.

With her trademark insight and her special ability to convey the impact public events have on ordinary lives, Quindlen here combines commentary on American society and the world at large with reflections on being a woman, a writer, and a mother. In these pieces, first written for Newsweek and The New York Times, Loud and Clear takes on topics ranging from social change to raising children, from the political and emotional aftermath of September 11 to personal values, from the impact on individuals of global events to the growth that can be gained by spending summer days staring into the middle distance. Grounding the public in the private, connecting people to each other and to the greater world, Quindlen encourages us to develop authentic lives, even as she serves as a catalyst for political and social change.

“Anna Quindlen’s beat is life, and she’s one hell of a terrific reporter,” said Susan Isaacs, and Quindlen’s unique qualities of understanding and discernment, everywhere evident in her previous bestsellers, including A Short Guide to a Happy Life and Living Out Loud, can be found on every page of this provocative and inspiring book.


From the Hardcover edition.

Customers Who Viewed This Item Also Viewed


Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Bestselling author Quindlen (One True Thing; A Short Guide to a Happy Life; etc.), a veteran reporter and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for commentary, couldn't have picked a more apt title for her latest collection of columns from Newsweek and the New York Times. Whether or not readers agree with Quindlen's opinions on everything from youth culture to gun control, these razor-sharp musings will open avenues of debate and discussion long after the book is closed. Quindlen is at the top of her game when she turns her eagle eye on the tiny threads that make up the fiber of domestic life. After all, "The world of children and child-rearing is social history writ small but indelible, whether it's the minutia of Barbie dolls and Power Ranger action figures or the phenomenon of books like Harry Potter or The Cat in the Hat. It's a shared experience, not just for the children but for their parents, and a snapshot of where we were then." The only weak link in this memorable book is the scant connective tissue between sections. Quindlen divides the essays by theme—heart, mind, soul, voice and body—and while the individual pieces shine, the overviews of each topic provide thin explanations for why they are grouped this way. Overall, however, this is not a matter of great concern. Quindlen's columns speak for themselves, loud and clear.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

In her first retrospective essay collection since Thinking Out Loud (1993), best-selling author and Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Quindlen continues to unscramble gnarly social issues with splendid clarity and pithiness, wit and compassion, and uncommon common sense. As always, the autobiographical energizes her persuasive arguments and sense of justice, and Quindlen writes with her signature candor about her children's metamorphoses into young adults, her decision to give up her prestigious New York Times column to write novels, including Blessings (2002), her felicitous return to journalism as the back-page columnist for Newsweek, and her experiences of September 11 and its aftermath. So true is Quindlen's moral compass, and so lucid, vital, and forward-looking are her insights, that her opinion pieces not only stand the test of time but also provide an invaluable gauge of where we've been and where we're going. Here are probing essays about "overscheduled" children and homeless children, the tremendous advances women have achieved and the persistence of misogyny and sexual aggression, personality and politics, gun laws, tobacco wars, women's health issues, Barbie, pedophile priests, and Iraq. A valiant writer who addresses every aspect of our lives with both gravitas and humor, Quindlen is a tonic for mind and soul. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

  • Audio Cassette
  • Publisher: Random House Audio Voices; Unabridged edition (April 6, 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0739309285
  • ISBN-13: 978-0739309285
  • Product Dimensions: 5.9 x 2.4 x 1.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,420,782 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Anna Quindlen is the author of three bestselling novels, Object Lessons, One True Thing and Black and Blue, and three non-fiction books, Living Out Loud, Thinking Out Loud and A Short Guide to a Happy Life. Her New York Times column 'Public and Private' won a Pulitzer Prize in 1992. She is currently a columnist for Newsweek and lives with her husband and children in New York.

 

Customer Reviews

13 Reviews
5 star:
 (11)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.8 out of 5 stars (13 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Anna Quindlen Doing What She Does Best, April 8, 2004
This review is from: Loud and Clear (Hardcover)
I was a big fan of Anna Quindlen's column, Life in the Thirties. Each time I read a piece by her, it spoke to me-almost sang-made me feel like I not only knew her, but myself a little bit better. I missed her while she was "gone" but read and enjoyed her fiction as well.

This newest collection of columns/essays/speeches, Loud and Clear, is just that: Anna Quindlen loud and clear. With pieces ranging from the early 90s, interspersed with her more recent work, she allows us a glimpse back into the years when her children were still quite young-to the world she faces today as a woman in her fifties and on the threshold of an empty nest. We get to grow and evolve with her as she points out the obvious, makes clear the hazier issues, and always, with refreshing honestly, makes us feel as if we know her as well as we know our next door neighbor.

I especially enjoyed, "Fall from the Nest," (as it made me think about everything we do to protect our children) "17 going on 18," (a warning to young people who take up cigarette smoking), and "Anniversary," (which made me miss my mother, dead since 1999.)

While many won't agree with her politics, I believe Quindlen puts into words the things we all feel in our hearts, minds, bodies and souls. I highly recommend this book. Thank you for the opportunity to review it.

Michele Cozzens, Author of A Line Between Friends and The Things I Wish I'd Said.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Living Proof, July 21, 2004
By 
This review is from: Loud and Clear (Hardcover)
I am living proof that one need not agree with Anna on politics to enjoy her writing. As a Republican, I find myself at odds with just about every political stance she takes, but I so admire her style of writing that I want to read on to see how she is going to present her ideas, and I am never disappointed by that presentation. I recommend this book to all aspiring writers as a guide to the craft of essay writing.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining, Thought-Provoking and Self-Assured, April 18, 2004
By 
Bookreporter (New York, New York) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Loud and Clear (Hardcover)
Anna Quindlen --- or perhaps someone who works for her publisher --- seems to have a curious affinity for the word "loud." Her last two books of collected columns were respectively titled LIVING OUT LOUD and THINKING OUT LOUD. Now comes another serving from the same pot, LOUD AND CLEAR.

A curious choice of word --- for Quindlen does not come across as a loud literary voice.

The 65 short pieces in LOUD AND CLEAR are drawn from her popular columns in the New York Times and Newsweek. Two or three of them are obviously speeches that she delivered on unspecified occasions. They deal, from her own very personal standpoint, with a nicely varied array of subjects, many of them geared especially to women readers: childrearing, feminism, health care, welfare reform, women in the workplace. There are also comments on such issues as gay rights, gun control, the death penalty, school prayer, the sexual problems in today's Roman Catholic church, 9/11 and politics in general. Her stance is pretty much on the liberal side, but she generally avoids the hectoring, sermonizing tone that can alienate even a sympathetic reader.

Certain moments in her personal life seem to bulk large in Quindlen's thoughts --- the early death of her mother, her relationships with her siblings and with her own children, her decision to leave a dream job at the Times to become a freelance novelist. These subjects pop up in different contexts throughout LOUD AND CLEAR. The pieces are not arranged in any chronological order but only loosely by subject matter. The reader must note the date on each one to orient himself. A few of the pieces bear no date, but are still certainly worth reading.

Quindlen is a bright and quotable writer. Even those who may disagree with her views, if they appreciate good writing, will enjoy reading this book. She pleads, for example, for American kids in the midst of their frantic and over-scheduled lives, to be given "the gift of enforced boredom" --- i.e., time to simply sit back, do nothing much and savor the life around them. "From one generation to another," she observes pertly, "the complaint is always the same: They are not like us." You can call this book a bag of literary popcorn, if you wish --- available in bite-size pieces and hard to resist --- but, unlike popcorn, these small essays do make you think about life --- hers and your own.

One of the best pieces in this book is a reflection inspired by a production of Waiting for Godot, in which Quindlen's son was appearing. The lesson drawn from Beckett is that young people should look within themselves, to their own dreams and capabilities, for direction in life, and not wait for the arrival of some external event, person or seal of approval. It is a worthwhile lesson, deftly expressed.

The book is certainly not free from clichés, and Quindlen's reflections on 9/11, written immediately after the event, seem inadequate at a distance of two-plus years --- but so of course do the reflections from that time of many other writers.

Anna Quindlen's large fan club will not be disappointed in this latest potpourri of her pieces. Most of them retain their whimsy and freshness nicely between hard covers. One only hopes that her next collection will not be titled FOR CRYING OUT LOUD.

--- Reviewed by Robert Finn

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews











Only search this product's reviews



What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?


Suggested Tags from Similar Products

 (What's this?)
Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product).
 
(27)
(12)

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums





Look for Similar Items by Category


Look for Similar Items by Subject