Winesburg, Ohio


Read by LibriVox Volunteers

(4 stars; 21 reviews)

Published in 1919, and listed on the Modern Library roster of the 20th century's 100 greatest novels in English, Winesburg, Ohio presents a series of loosely related character studies of the inhabitants of a fictional Midwestern town that together form a novel of unusual unity and vision. The inarticulate and lonely citizens of Winesburg, each with his or her own secret tale to tell, frequently relate those tales to, or through their interactions with, the character of George Willard, a young Winesburg citizen on the cusp of manhood with dreams of becoming a writer. Thus Winesburg tells the story of the townspeople's loneliness and alienation in parallel with the tale of George's own coming of age. The citizens of Winesburg are described obliquely as "grotesques," but as the introductory chapter makes clear, "The grotesques were not all horrible. Some were amusing, some almost beautiful . . ." (Description by Stewart Wills) (7 hr 21 min)

Chapters

Book of the Grotesque, The 8:08 Read by Stewart Wills
Hands 15:22 Read by Stewart Wills
Paper pills 7:20 Read by Rosalind Wills
Mother 23:43 Read by Lucy Burgoyne (1950 - 2014)
Philosopher, The 15:17 Read by David Rowland
Nobody knows 8:26 Read by Patti Brugman
Godliness 23:23 Read by Gigi Minden
Godliness, Part II, also concerning Jesse Bentley 23:20 Read by webslog
Godliness, Part III Surrender, concerning Louise Bentley 19:01 Read by Stewart Wills
Godliness, Part IV Terror, concerning David Hardy 12:45 Read by David Barnes
Man of Ideas, A 17:50 Read by Craig Summers
Adventure 17:32 Read by Sandra
Respectability 16:00 Read by Steve Karafit
Thinker, The 32:36 Read by John Lieder
Tandy 7:27 Read by Betsie Bush
Strength of God, The 18:32 Read by Chris Hughes
Teacher, The 19:40 Read by Chris Hughes
Loneliness 22:27 Read by Betsie Bush
Awakening, An 18:12 Read by J. M. Smallheer
Queer 20:38 Read by ML Cohen
Untold Lie, The 16:55 Read by Martin Rink
Drink 19:58 Read by Miguel Rodriguez
Death 26:33 Read by Cori Samuel
Sophistication 23:27 Read by Val Grimm
Departure 6:36 Read by ranchmutt

Reviews

The most well known 20th Century short story collection.


(4 stars)

This book was an extremely influential short story collections. Several of the readers are excellent. Others aren't. The setting of the stories is the American Midwest. it sounds weird when a British or Irish reader tries their hand at it.

GRIM Doesn't Come Close


(2 stars)

I couldn't listen to more than a third of this story. Supposed to be one of the top 100. Everything was grim or grim coupled with pain. Very well written. The authour had me THERE with him, but I had to leave.