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Title details for The Trout by Peter Cunningham - Available

The Trout

A Novel

by Peter Cunningham
Jeff Harding
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
1 of 1 copy available
After the publication of his most recent book, Alex Smyth receives a trout fly in the mail at his home address in rural Canada - with no message and no return address. It stirs a fear in him that he is being stalked, and it awakens deeply buried, inchoate memories from his childhood in Ireland, a time before he was old enough to understand the adult world around him. It also evokes the guilt that he may have murdered a man, a feeling so strong it changes him and threatens his marriage. Soon, in hopes of solving the mysteries that surround him, Alex feels that he has no choice but to return home to Ireland and to his estranged father. A novel of great literary beauty that is structured as a tense psychological thriller, The Trout is a tale of predators and prey, deception, and the hidden crimes that can shape a life.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    July 4, 2017

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781666606010
      • File size: 155759 KB
      • Duration: 05:24:29

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      May 15, 2017
      Writer Alex Smyth, the narrator of this satisfying novel from Irish author Cunningham (Capital Sins), grew up in Ireland but has settled in rural Bayport, Ontario. One day he receives a letter postmarked in Toronto containing only a fishing lure, which stirs up unsettling childhood memories, some of which involve another boy, Terence Deasy. Alex thinks he “murdered someone” when he was seven, but he can’t remember. As he tells his wife, Kay, “It’s like there are big holes in my brain.” He also feels uncomfortable that his first novel falsely eulogizes his elderly and estranged father, Dr. Patrick Smyth. Leaving Kay at home in Bayport, Alex returns to Ireland to seek answers from his father and to track down the key players from his childhood, including Terence. Cunningham artfully spins several stories at once: Kay, alone in Bayport with her doubts about their marriage and fears of a stalker; Alex seeing people and events from both a child’s and an adult’s perspective. Brief, cogent paragraphs about trout provide a connecting thread in this thoughtful, exquisitely told tale.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Irish writer Alex Smythe reflects on a childhood tragedy, his larger-than-life father, and the relationship that led him to abandon the seminary and flee to Canada. Narrator Jeff Harding makes a number of choices that jolt the listener out of the story. Why, for example, does Alex's wife, Kay, have an Irish accent while Alex has a Canadian one if they left Ireland at the same time? In addition, Harding's artificially high voice for several prominently featured child characters is jarring. His sing-song delivery throughout diminishes the lyrical writing and the tension and emotional impact of the novel, and his failure to differentiate between brief exposition on trout and the main narrative may cause confusion. An unfortunate miss. E.C. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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