Booth Tarkington has 5 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 5 narrators. The most-rated is Penrod.
The Magnificent Ambersons
Summary
The Magnificent Ambersons chronicles the changing fortunes of three generations of an American dynasty. The family serves as a metaphor for the old society that crumbled after the Industrial Revolution, as a Midwestern town spreads and darkens into a city. George Amberson Minafer is the spoiled and arrogant grandson of the founder of the family's magnificence. Eclipsed by a new breed of industrial tycoons and land developers, whose power comes not through family connections but through financial dealings and modern manufacturing, George descends from the Midwestern aristocracy to the working class. As the wheels of industry transform the social landscape, the definitions of ambition, success, and loyalty also change. Orson Welles based his classic film of the same name on Tarkington's novel.
(P)2007 Blackstone Audio Inc.
Alice Adams
Summary
Pulitzer Prize Winner, The Novel, 1922 Plucky and romantic Alice tries to rise above the crudities of her hopelessly shabby background in this Pulitzer Prize-winning classic about ambition and self-delusion. The lower-middle class Adams family faces a slow disintegration in a small Midwestern town. Alice, a social climber, is ashamed of her unsuccessful family and determined to distinguish herself. Lacking the social props she needs to shine in society, Alice attends a dance and lies about her background, hoping to attract a wealthy husband. But in the end, her high aspirations must be tempered by the reality of her situation. Alice Adams' resiliency of spirit makes her one of Tarkington's most compelling female characters.
Public Domain (P)2008 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
The Magnificent Ambersons
Summary
This Pulitzer Prize-winning novel focuses on materialism and the fortunes of a Midwestern family in the early 20th century. Horseless carriages were just appearing on the scene, the strata of society was in a constant state of flux, and the inherent values of the Amberson family were fast becoming a thing of the past.
Public Domain (P)1993 Audio Book Contractors, LLC
The Magnificent Ambersons
Summary
Set in the Midwest in the early 20th century - the dawn of the automobile age - The Magnificent Ambersons begins by introducing the Ambersons, the richest family in town. Exemplifying aristocratic excess, the Ambersons have everything money can buy - and more. But George Amberson Minafer, the spoiled grandson of the family patriarch, is unable to see that great societal changes are taking place and that business tycoons, industrialists, and real-estate developers will soon surpass him in wealth and prestige. Rather than join the new mechanical age, George prefers to remain a gentleman, believing that "being things" is superior to "doing things". But as his town becomes a city, and the family palace is enveloped in a cloud of soot, George's protectors disappear one by one, and the elegant, cloistered lifestyle of the Ambersons fades from view and finally vanishes altogether. The book won the 1919 Pulitzer Prize for fiction and inspired the Orson Welles film of the same name.
Public Domain (P)2010 Tantor
Penrod
Summary
Penrod is a collection of comic sketches by Booth Tarkington that was first published in 1914. The book follows the misadventures of Penrod Schofield, an 11-year-old boy growing up in the pre-World War I Midwestern United States, in a similar vein to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Like most children, Penrod gets caught up in his own elaborate lies with hilarious results. His friends and his dog accompany him on his many jaunts, from the stage as "the Child Sir Lancelot", to the playground, to school. They make names for themselves as "bad boys" who, fittingly, always have the most fun. This humorous, thoughtful story is a wonderful example of the real-life characterization and attention to detail for which Tarkington is celebrated. More than a century after it was first published to incredible popularity and acclaim, Penrod remains wildly funny and entertaining to adults and children alike.
Public Domain (P)2020 Blackstone Publishing