The Night Listener [Import] [Hardcover]

Armistead Maupin (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 344 pages
• Publisher: Bantam / Transworld; Second edition (2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0593036530
• ISBN-13: 978-0593036532
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (144 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,945,588 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

66 of 72 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful, Wonderful, Wonderful, September 14, 2000

By 

Scott E. Lopriore "scottlop" (Chicopee, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Night Listener: A Novel (Hardcover)

I was so excited to hear the Armistad Maupin was coming out with another book. After reading and hearing about it, I decided to pick up a 3-part gally of his book at a bookstore I work for. Seriously, this only took me one sitting. The story surrounds a NPR radio host, Grabriel Noone, who was going through writer's block. In addition to his difficulty in writing, his boyfriend left him. After reading a gally written by a 12-year-old boy, who is a fan of Gabriel's funny and lyrical radio show, Gabriel contacts the ill-fated boy, named Pete, and becomes friends with him. As their friendship progresses, Gabriel starts telling Pete his problems and hardships in his life. Pete listens and gives advice to Gabriel, which helps him. BUT, the question is: DOES this boy exist? Is Pete an actual person? With many people doubting Pete's extistence, Gabriel goes out to find pete, and prove he exists. This is a FANTASTIC piece of work from Armistad Maupin. Gabriel goes through a journey of life, in dealing with his ex-boyfriend, his family (particuarly his father), and himself. THE NIGHT LISTENER is a triumph, with a climax that will make you think and wonder for days. This is one book you will have a hard time putting down, let alone wishing it never ended.

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I speaks to universal themes, in an unusual package, October 11, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Night Listener: A Novel (Hardcover)

This book was startlingly good. Not that I would ever think that Armistead Maupin could write a book I wouldn't like (he could write a book about paint drying and it would be interesting in some way), but I was wondering if I'd find the story as interesting as the TOTC series.

After reading a couple of chapters, thinking I'd finish it upon returning home, I was hooked. Before I knew it I had read 1/2 the book. I finished it the next night. When I was done, I was in shock. I have read many books, but NONE have ever made me feel the emotions I felt reading this book. No book ever made me actually cry, and for an extended period of time too.

People should read this book even if they think its subject matter (gay relationships, child abuse, famous authors, etc.) would not appeal to them.

I'm not gay, I don't know anyone who has been abused like Pete Lomax was as a child, and I am not a published author, and yet I found this book and the emotions and feelings it described were universal themes relevant to my own life and things I was going through at the time I bought the book and previously. It was a very moving experience .

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fiction within Fiction!!!, November 15, 2000

By 

Joseph J. Hanssen "Joe" (Upstate New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Night Listener: A Novel (Hardcover)

Maupin is such an expert at blurring the lines between the truth and fiction. Can this be based on his own life, or is it just more fiction and not really fact? We really don't know when we are done reading this book, but what a wonderful experience it is. Maupin's books are always full of surprises, and this one is no exception. If you want closure when you read this book, you are going to be disappointed. However, that can be good because when you're done reading this book, you're going to be really thinking and wondering for a long time about the details of this story, and that's the sign of a great book that you're not going to forget. There is nothing predictable here, and I promise you that you won't be able to put the book down till you're finished. I didn't. It's a very touching story, full of emotion, and lots of love. Gabriel Noone's emotional relationship in helping an ailing thirteen year old boy, Pete Lomax, who has suffered terrible abuse by the hands of his parents, is a very moving story.

Armistead Maupin is one of the best authors we have today. I always look forward to his next book. Now I just want to know when the movie will be released!!!