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The Accidental Tourist

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The Accidental Tourist

By: Anne Tyler
Narrated by: Joe Barrett
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About this listen

How does a man addicted to routine - a man who flosses his teeth before love-making - cope with the chaos of everyday life? With the loss of his son, the departure of his wife and the arrival of Muriel, a dog trainer from the Meow-Bow dog clinic, Macon's attempts at ordinary life are tragically and comically undone.

A heartfelt novel from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Amateur Marriage and Breathing Lessons, now available as an audiobook.

 Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Satire Marriage Comedy Heartfelt

Critic Reviews

Her masterpiece
Brilliant, funny, sad and sensitive
Anne Tyler gets better with every book, and this one is a triumph – funny, profound, sad and ultimately reassuring
Warmly entertaining and sharply organised against cuteness or mush
The Accidental Tourist is one of Anne Tyler’s best books
A beautiful, incandescent, heartbreaking, exhilarating book… The Accidental Tourist cuts so close to the bone that it leaves one aching with pleasure and pain. Words fail me: one cannot reasonably expect fiction to be much better than this
Everything this author writes is shot through with intelligent insight, humour and humanity
I’m inspired by every word that she writes
This is a classic Anne Tyler novel that plays with the tension between the comic and the sentimental
All stars
Most relevant
Could definitely identify with the frustration of waiting for Edward to settle on the perfect spot for a pee! Otherwise I didn't find the book as enjoyable as when I first read it. Very heavy going and Makin is largely very self centred.

Not exactly uplifting

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A masterclass in character, voice and a gently humming story that shows the power of acceptance and finding love and compatibility in the face of tragedy.

Deliciously uplifting

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A beautifully written and acutely observed novel about love, pain and the importance of embracing the chaos and uncertainty of life. Impeccably and sensitively narrated.

Beautifully Written

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Joe Barrett, when voicing the female’s is so bad I can no longer finish listening. He makes all the female characters sound whiney and pathetic and it distracts from the story.

Narrator can’t do female voices

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