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The American Boy
- Narrated by: Alex Jennings
- Length: 16 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Genre Fiction
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Critic reviews
A Richard and Judy Book Club selection
"Jennings reads with such enormous variety that we are consumed by his characterizations.... The listener becomes completely absorbed with the persona of the novel." (AudioFile)
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What listeners say about The American Boy
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- blueskythinker
- 07-08-08
Excellent!!
This is a thoroughly enjoyable listen. The narrator does a great job and keeps the listener engrossed.
The plot weaves its way with many twists and turns. Although Edgar Allen Poe is a relatively minor character in the story, I have been inspired to find out more about his life as a result of listening to this.
This is a highly recommended book. It successfully combines a gripping crime story with a fascinating historical perspective.
17 people found this helpful
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Overall
- greengranny
- 15-05-11
modern wilkie collins
This is a thoroughly enjoyable book,very well narrated,which immediately reminded me of Wilkie Collins.There are bank collapses,women constrained by the expectations of a rigid society,harsh schools,murder,speculative house building and much more. We even get to meet the young Edgar Alan Poe.Unlike with Wilkie Collins,the characters in this book are allowed 'normal' feelings and fantasies and the book has clearly got a modern author,but the breadth and colour of the plot owes a lot to the past but it is no pastiche.
14 people found this helpful
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Overall
- The Fool
- 23-04-06
An absolute must
An exceptional book and recording. The reader is the best I have heard - and I'm a keen Audible fan! - and the plot very well constructed. What's the audio equivilent of 'un-put-downable'? This would be a great gift to someone not too sure if they wanted to go the audible route. It displays, so well, what a blast a well read audio book can be. So, I guess you can see I liked it!!
37 people found this helpful
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Overall
- JANET
- 09-10-11
Good sense of Victorian England
Good sense of the period. I liked the narrator and cared about his fate. It lacked tension at times and, to be frank, rather than finding the ending satisfying, I was glad when I got through it. It felt rather long.
7 people found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 22-10-17
Such a disappointment
I love Wilkie Collins so was excited by the prospect of this book. Unfortunately it was a very poor imitation and really dragged through the bulk of the story. At the end I was left wondering why I had persevered with it. I think the author tried to be too clever at the cost of an exciting plot. Many hours I will never get back- the only positive was the narrator who was excellent.
6 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Ben The Cat
- 11-02-11
Wilkie Collins is not dead...
... but back here in the modern form of Andrew Taylor. It was a compelling mystery that I'd recommend to any fans for Conan-Doyole or Collins - not to mention Poe of course!
4 people found this helpful
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- Rachel Redford
- 12-06-21
Enjoyable Gothic mystery
This Gothic murky murder mystery is full of as much Wilkie Collins and Edgar Allan Poe gothic as you could imagine, and plenty of Andrew Taylor's own. This is Taylor's 2003 award-winning The American Boy with the extra dimension of Alex Jennings's narration which produces all the voices (male and female, young and old), accents, pace and nuance required for a first rate narration.
Thomas Shield is a young school master in whose class is The American Boy, Edgar Allan Poe and his shy friend Frant in whose lives the young man is to become dangerously embroiled.
Andrew Taylor can be relied on for authentic historical background which makes you feel that you are absolutely there with all the vivid details of daily life and historical background - here it is Regency England in 1819 and financial affairs in America. There's all you could wish for in gothic mystery: murder, deceit, passion, loveless marriage, dangers, old mansions with rambling gardens and outhouses, jealousies, old grievances ... At the very end an Epilogue tells us just how much of the Edgar Allan Poe story is fact.
3 people found this helpful
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- Vicuña
- 25-09-20
Long winded and occasionally dreary
I found it difficult to remain engaged with this book. It’s a complex and sometimes dark tale of love loss and murder.
Because I struggled to listen I found it confusing at times and had to repeat sections to get the gist of the plot. It’s a twisting tale and fortunes go up and down. Well narrated.
3 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Sydney
- 15-11-09
Good book, great reading
This is a decent Victorian thriller/mystery with an excellent sense of period and a nice twist, but what sets it apart is the really exceptional narrator. Taylor uses a spectacular range of voices and accents to milk the text for all its worth. Terrific listen.
3 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Alison
- 10-08-12
Such a compelling book
This is a perfect mix of 'Dickensian' narrative and rattling yarn. The story is woven through with real details and yet of course, it's highly florid fiction! Perfection is reached by combining this clever and complicated story with the narration, which is really excellent. I was very sorry to reach the end.
2 people found this helpful
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Overall

- Jayne
- 06-09-08
Engrossing,historical mystery
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The writing is incredibly vivid and totally enthralling. It is a mystery, with many threads. It is not fast paced, but clues and details are gradually revealed until finally it all comes together at the end.
Much of the pleasure of the listen comes from the historical backdrop for the story. I love the details of life in the early 19th century. The author draws a fabulous picture of society, the social conventions, the dress and acceptable etiquette observed by the affluent through to the extreme poverty, filth and violence endured by the poor. Life in a boys school and the acceptability of thrashing and the apparent inevitability of bullying are also fascinating to hear about.
The narrator is quite wonderful too. He does a great job with portraying the various English, American and Irish accents of the characters and he really added to my enjoyment of the book.
I have to admit that the involvement of the schoolmaster throughout the story is at at times a little contrived but this did not detract from my enjoyment. The child Edgar Allen Poe does appear throughout the story and although he is integral to the tale, any child would have served to play the part just as well. So don't read this just because you are a fan of Poe, that may result in disappointment.
All in all a rich and vivid picture of early 19th century London, with a cleverly woven mystery to keep you guessing.
7 people found this helpful
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Overall

- Vivian
- 12-07-05
Repeat of
Not word for word at first but the same plot and people. And finally the same words. So if you have bought "An Unpardonable Crime" dont get this.
13 people found this helpful
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- RPF
- 15-05-21
Great, fun story, well narrated
Loved it, the narrator added another dimension in fleshing out the characters. The story had twists and turns, but they never felt gratuitous.