Audiobook Sample
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- Title: Rules of Civility: A Novel
- Author: Amor Towles
- Narrator: Rebecca Lowman
- Length: 12:00:00
- Version: Abridged
- Release Date: 26/07/2011
- Publisher: Penguin Audio
- Genre: Fiction & Literature, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Coming of Age
- ISBN13: 9.78E+12
There’s a particular alchemy that happens when a great novel meets the perfect narrator – it becomes something more than words on a page, transforming into an intimate performance that lingers in your mind like the memory of a perfect sunset. Amor Towles’ “Rules of Civility” and Rebecca Lowman’s narration achieve this rare synergy, creating an audiobook experience that transported me back to the smoke-filled jazz clubs of 1938 Manhattan with startling vividness.
As someone who’s spent years chasing stories across continents – from listening to García Márquez in the Atacama to absorbing family histories in Oaxaca’s evening storytelling sessions – I can say with certainty that Lowman’s performance captures that same mesmerizing quality of oral tradition. Her voice embodies Katey Kontent’s wry intelligence with such natural precision that I found myself looking around twice when I first pressed play, half-expecting to see the sharp-eyed protagonist sipping a martini at my neighborhood bar.
Towles’ novel unfolds like a series of perfectly composed black-and-white photographs, each chapter revealing new depths about class mobility, self-invention, and the price of ambition. Through Katey’s eyes, we navigate a New York where chance encounters in jazz bars can alter destinies, where a working-class girl might find herself suddenly rubbing elbows with Manhattan’s elite. The writing thrums with the energy of a city rebounding from the Depression, every sentence polished to a high shine like the Art Deco fixtures in the story’s upscale apartments.
Lowman’s narration deserves particular praise for how she handles the novel’s tonal shifts. She delivers Katey’s dry wit with the timing of a seasoned comic (“I’d take complex over complicated any day of the week” lands with perfect punch), then slips effortlessly into moments of quiet melancholy when the story turns reflective. Her portrayal of Tinker Grey – that golden boy with secrets lurking beneath his polished surface – avoids caricature, letting us hear both the charm and the cracks in his facade.
What makes this audiobook special is how completely it immerses you in its world. Listening while walking through modern Manhattan, I found myself seeing double – the sleek high-rises of today superimposed with the 1938 skyline Towles describes. The clatter of silverware at a diner became the sound of Katey’s first breakfast with Eve; the blast of a taxi horn transformed into the soundtrack of that fateful New Year’s Eve. It’s that rare historical fiction that doesn’t just describe a bygone era but resurrects it with all its glamour and grit intact.
The novel’s exploration of self-reinvention particularly resonated with me, recalling my own early days arriving in New York with nothing but a backpack and a borrowed typewriter. Like Katey, I learned that in certain corners of the city, what you know will always matter more than who you know – provided you know the right things. Towles captures this truth with elegant precision, showing how his heroine uses her quick mind as both compass and passport.
If I have any critique, it’s that some supporting characters occasionally verge on type – the bohemian artist, the icy society matron – but Lowman’s performance consistently adds nuance even to these roles. And while the pacing luxuriates in its atmospheric descriptions (a strength in my book), listeners craving constant action might find certain sections deliberately slow.
Compared to similar coming-of-age-in-New-York stories like “The Great Gatsby” or “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”, “Rules of Civility” stands out for its working-class heroine’s perspective and its unromanticized view of social climbing. Where those stories mythologize, Towles demystifies – showing both the thrill of the ascent and the vertigo that follows.
For fellow travelers who appreciate literary journeys, this audiobook is like discovering a secret speakeasy behind an unmarked door – an invitation to step into another time, another life. Whether you’re commuting cross-town or dreaming of New York from afar, let Lowman’s voice be your guide through Towles’ glittering, razor-sharp world.
With one ear always tuned to the music of good stories, wherever they may lead us,
Marcus Rivera
