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Title details for Mouth to Mouth by Antoine Wilson - Available

Mouth to Mouth

A Novel

by Antoine Wilson
Edoardo Ballerini
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2022 * An NPR and Time Best Book of the Year * Longlisted for the 2022 Scotiabank Giller Prize (Canada) * Finalist for CALIBA's 2022 Golden Poppy Awards

A successful art dealer confesses the story of his meteoric rise in this "powerful, intoxicating, and shocking" (The New York Times) novel that's a "slow burn à la Patricia Highsmith" (Oprah Daily). "You'll struggle not to rip through in one sitting" (Vogue).
In a first-class lounge at JFK airport, our narrator listens as Jeff Cook, a former classmate he only vaguely remembers, shares the uncanny story of his adult life—a life that changed course years before, the moment he resuscitated a drowning man.

Jeff reveals that after that traumatic, galvanizing morning on the beach, he was compelled to learn more about the man whose life he had saved, convinced that their fates were now entwined. But are we agents of our fate—or are we its pawns? Upon discovering that the man is renowned art dealer Francis Arsenault, Jeff begins to surreptitiously visit his Beverly Hills gallery. Although Francis does not seem to recognize him as the man who saved his life, he nevertheless casts his legendary eye on Jeff and sees something worthy. He takes the younger man under his wing, initiating him into his world, where knowledge, taste, and access are currency; a world where value is constantly shifting and calling into question what is real, and what matters. The paths of the two men come together and diverge in dizzying ways until the novel's staggering ending.

Sly, suspenseful, and "gloriously addicting" (BuzzFeed), Mouth to Mouth masterfully blurs the line between opportunity and exploitation, self-respect and self-delusion, fact and fiction—exposing the myriad ways we deceive each other, and ourselves.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    January 11, 2022

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781797137780
      • File size: 140718 KB
      • Duration: 04:53:09

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      October 18, 2021
      Wilson (Panorama City) explores the intertwined fates of two inscrutable men in the Los Angeles art world of the early 2000s in this shifty work of psychological suspense. The unnamed narrator, a novelist delayed at the airport on his way to Berlin, runs into an old college acquaintance, Jeff Cook. Jeff invites the narrator to the first class lounge, where he tells him a long story. Twenty years earlier, while strolling along the beach, Jeff resuscitated a drowning stranger, Francis Arsenault, a successful art dealer who showed no interest in his savior. Jeff, by contrast, attempted to learn everything about Francis, and ingratiated his way into Francis’s gilded life—insisting to the narrator that his motives, though obscure even to himself, were not necessarily mercenary. Francis is a prickly figure, a “master manipulator” whose bullying and shady business practices caused the upright Jeff to belatedly question whether Francis was worth saving. Though the frame narrative can feel contrived, and Francis might not be as memorably monstrous as, say, Graham Greene’s Harry Lime, the extended scenes of self-fashioning and occluded vision make good use of Patricia Highsmith’s influence. There’s plenty of satisfaction in watching the characters navigate the blurred line between plausibility and truth.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      How do we tell our stories? Are there moments that irrevocably change our lives? Are we honest in the retelling of these events? These questions are addressed in this captivating audiobook. Narrator Edoardo Ballerini perfectly matches the tone and pacing of an unnamed narrator who runs into an old acquaintance while delayed at JFK airport. They haven't seen each other in more than 20 years. As they wait in the first-class lounge, the acquaintance tells the narrator a story about the time he saved a man from drowning. Ballerini does an excellent job of navigating the shifts between the past and present, and of portraying the narrator as relatable. K.S.M. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
    • Library Journal

      March 1, 2022

      An unnamed journalist has a chance encounter at JFK Airport with Jeff Cook, an elegant man who had been in his class at UCLA. They scarcely knew each other in college, and 20 years have passed since they last saw each other, but when their flight is delayed Jeff invites the journalist to join him in the first-class lounge. As Jeff drinks cocktails and the journalist drinks nonalcoholic beer, Jeff relates the story of his complicated and serendipitous adult life, emphatically stating that he has never told anyone his story. After graduation Jeff was traumatized by a single event that changed the trajectory of his life. As he walked aimlessly on the beach, he saw a man vigorously swimming. Suddenly, the man was lying face down and being pushed by the waves. Jeff pulled him out of the water and gave him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, saving his life. The listener does not know where this story is going until the surprise ending. Edoardo Ballerini's smooth reading of this puzzling and suspenseful novel will completely engage listeners. VERDICT Patrons who enjoy suspense and psychological dilemmas will appreciate.--Ilka Gordon

      Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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