The Angel of Rome

And Other Stories

By: Jess Walter

Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, Julia Whelan

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Beautiful Ruins and The Cold Millions comes a stunning collection about those moments when everything changes—for the better, for the worse, for the outrageous—as a diverse cast of characters bounces from Italy to Idaho, questioning their roles in life and finding inspiration in the unlikeliest places.

We all live like we’re famous now, curating our social media presences, performing our identities, withholding those parts of ourselves we don’t want others to see. In this riveting collection of stories from acclaimed author Jess Walter, a teenage girl tries to live up to the image of her beautiful, missing mother. An elderly couple confronts the fiction writer eavesdropping on their conversation. A son must repeatedly come out to his senile father while looking for a place to care for the old man. A famous actor in recovery has a one-night stand with the world's most surprising film critic. And in the romantic title story, a shy twenty-one-year-old studying Latin in Rome during “the year of my reinvention” finds himself face-to-face with the Italian actress of his adolescent dreams.

Funny, poignant, and redemptive, this collection of short fiction offers a dazzling range of voices, backdrops, and situations. With his signature wit and bighearted approach to the darkest parts of humanity, Walter tackles the modern condition with a timeless touch, once again “solidifying his place in the contemporary canon as one of our most gifted builders of fictional worlds” (Esquire).

Humorous but Empty at Times

The Angel of Rome was definitely the most enjoyable story in the lot. Climate change, Never Trump-isms, no religion is good religion and it’s great to be gay, got old and overused throughout. The saddest parts, parts I thought, were the stories of the women who let worthless men rule their lives and how little they actually valued themselves. Overly simple and crude in the what women really want category, nevertheless a few of the stories were extremely humorous with excellent narration. Unfortunately there was a lot of emptiness in the characters, not all, but many.

Enjoyable

I love the freedom that short storage gives you. This collection does not disappoint. I preferred male narrators, and he is one of my favorites.

Great writing and narration

I like a collection of short stories, especially one where you know up front that you’ll get upbeat endings! Jess Walter is a wonderful writer and Edoardo and Julia are two of my favorite narrators. Highly recommend this collection!

Fantastic

Every story has something to offer. Some will stay with you after listening to them.

Perfection

What a wonderful, quirky collection of stories. I loved every one. Great narration too. Interesting characters and fun twists in each story.