Insomniac City cover art

Insomniac City

New York, Oliver, and Me

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Insomniac City

By: Bill Hayes
Narrated by: Stephen Bel Davies
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About this listen

Bill Hayes came to New York City in 2009 with a one-way ticket and only the vaguest idea of how he would get by. But, at 48 years old, having spent decades in San Francisco, he craved change.

Grieving over the death of his partner, he quickly discovered the profound consolations of the city's incessant rhythms, the sight of the Empire State Building against the night sky, and New Yorkers themselves, kindred souls that Hayes, a lifelong insomniac, encountered on late-night strolls with his camera.

And he unexpectedly fell in love again, with his friend and neighbor, the writer and neurologist Oliver Sacks, whose exuberance - 'I don't so much fear death as I do wasting life,' he tells Hayes early on - is captured in funny and touching vignettes throughout. What emerges is a portrait of Sacks at his most personal and endearing, from falling in love for the first time at age 75 to facing illness and death (Sacks died of cancer in August 2015).

Insomniac City is both a meditation on grief and a celebration of life, a love song to the New York City and to all who have felt the particular magic and solace it offers.

©2017 Bloomsbury US (P)2017 Audible, Ltd Essays Nonfiction New York Funny
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I really enjoyed listening to this book. It’s heartfelt, funny, sad and sweet all at once. Told beautifully with a great narrator. It took me straight to the streets of New York.

Short and sweet

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this beautifully and heartfelt novel is just absolute bliss from start to finish, it made me laugh and cry and I felt I was totally accompanying Hates through his journey - heaven............

enjoyed every precious moment

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For me this was an education: that same-sex love is just the same as the love of heterosexual couples. It is tender and seems honest. I liked it for those reasons.

A love story.

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Fabulous to get an intimate perspective of Oliver Sachs both a man ahead of his time and trapped by time. A truly compassionate story blended well with NYC.

A terrific insight into a great man and NYC

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I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I had a smile on my face a lot of the time while listening. I also really enjoyed the narrator. I often struggle with the narrating, having to try and hear the words separate to the narrating but Stephen was wonderful. Really enhanced my listening experience. Thank you. A delight.

Loved it!

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