Every Monday through Friday, AudioFile’s editors recommend the best in audiobook listening. We keep our daily episodes short and sweet, with audiobook clips to give you a sample of our featured listens.
In Don DeLillo’s The Silence, a group of people is meeting in New York for Super Bowl 2022 when the world’s electronics go down. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss a multicast audiobook that chronicles a return to a world without modern technology. Listen as survivors of a plane crash are treated in a clinic also impacted by the blackout. Neighbors are forced to interact, and DeLillo reflects on the nature of humanity and who we’ve become. Marin Ireland’s centering narrative anchors the stellar performances, including Jay O. Sanders’s gruff sports gambler, reduced to watching a blank screen, and Jeremy Bobb and Robin Miles, a couple who survived the plane crash. The collective performances make the story resonate more deeply.
***
To listen to the rest of the episode, as well as the whole archive of Behind the Mic with AudioFile Magazine, subscribe and listen on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or wherever else you find your favorite podcasts.
Support for AudioFile’s Behind the Mic comes from Penguin Random House Audio, dedicated to producing top-quality fiction and nonfiction audiobooks written and read by the best in the business. Visit penguinrandomhouseaudio.com/audiofile now to start listening.