About Schmidt

By: Louis Begley

Narrated by: George Guidall

Louis Begley’s perceptive novel hums with emotional energy and shimmers with haunting images. A National Book Critics' Circle Award finalist, About Schmidt is a powerful meditation on loneliness, desire, and transformation.

Old-school lawyer Albert Schmidt has spent years carefully climbing the ladder of success. But now, at what should be the pinnacle of his career, his life is in chaos. Within months, he is widowed and forcibly retired from his firm. He harbors painfully mixed feelings about his ambitious daughter’s impending marriage. Suddenly, in the midst of this turmoil, a seductive young woman asks Smitty what he wants.

Far from being a time of satisfaction and complacency, the middle age encountered by Begley’s hero is the beginning of a new journey—tantalizing, yet unnerving. From the first step, Begley draws the listener deeply into a man’s quest for new ways to understand an unstable world.

©1996 Louis Begley (P)1997 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

“Begley guides the narrative with aplomb and dry humor … His discerning intellect and lapidary prose distinguish this powerful story.” ( Publishers Weekly)

Not like the movie

I got this book because I loved the movie. However it is really really different from the movie, and I far prefer the movie. I did laugh a few times but by the end I still did not see the point of it. I only kept listening because I love the narrator’s voice, he could read the phone book and I might like it! But this book was not a good use of my time. (And does the author really pronounce his first name as Louise?!)

Tried to listen 3 times and just couldn't

Would you try another book from Louis Begley and/or George Guidall?

I adore George Guidall but I'm done with Begley.

What could Louis Begley have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

This was just not my cup of tea so I don't think changing it would have worked for me.

What didn’t you like about George Guidall’s performance?

Guidall never does a anything I would change

Any additional comments?

I'm going to see Nicholson in the movie -- maybe I'll like it better.