Audio Club Selection
Featured May 10, 2004
The Partly Cloudy Patriot
by Sarah Vowell
About the Book
Listen to a sample
Buy the book: $20.12

Capturing the hilarious and moving things that happen when Vowell confronts the rhythms of American life past and present, this is a book of essays that manages to be at once reassuring and unnerving, acerbic and heartwarming. Unabridged. 5 CDs.

 

The words of "The Partly Cloudy Patriot" are wonderful! -- funny and insightful. Yes, US history is the thread here -- a theme to stitch together all kinds of fun observations about life. But "patriotism" to Ms. Vowell goes beyond any assumed focus on "war" ... instead it means experiencing all aspects of American culture: holidays like Thanksgiving and treasures like the Statue of Liberty.

I'm not sure about Ms. Vowell's audio voice, though. Yes, I see that it's earned credits on NPR and elsewhere. On Monday, I had a hard time resisting hitting the "delete" key ... the voice is high, nasal and halting. But by today, I concede that it adds a comedic quality to her already-funny words, and I've moved up to undecided.

Whatever form -- audio or printed -- I'll pursue this book!

The reader needs to be more fluent in her reading. She has no expression. I am not pursuing this book.