The Privileges

A Novel

By: Jonathan Dee

Narrated by: David Aaron Baker

Jonathan Dee is the critically acclaimed author of Palladio. With The Privileges, Dee crafts a “suspenseful, melancholy, and acidly funny tale” (Booklist). In it, ambitious couple Adam and Cynthia Morey marry straight out of college and have two children. Then Adam, unfulfilled with his job at a private investment firm, becomes involved in insider trading and gains excessive wealth for his family. But as Adam and Cynthia discover, money can’t buy happiness.

©2010 Jonathan Dee (P)2010 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

“Thoughtful and bracingly unpredictable.” ( Kirkus Reviews)

Terrible Narrator

The narrator of The Privileges was dreadful. His women and children voices sounded like mockeries. I would have stopped listening to it but I was on a long drive and I had run through my podcasts.
The story was interesting enough for a long drive. Not great literature but entertaining.
It would not be the first book I would recommend, I have listened to worse.

What a silly ending.

I really was enjoying this book right up to the end. It felt lazy and made me wish I hadn’t wasted my time. So many unlikable characters.

Fantastic.

It’s one of those books that are about life. I can’t explain it, I’m definitely going to check out the author’s other works.

A little boring

What disappointed you about The Privileges?

I just had trouble getting into the story..

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of David Aaron Baker?

I liked him as the narrator. I just do not think changing would have made a difference/

Franzen without the meat

If you like John Franzen novels, you might get excited as I did toward the beginning when the author introduces many interesting and well thought out characters. The somewhat ironic or at least aloof writing style very Franzen-esque.... The problem with this story though is that there is no point.. There are no lessons learned or really interesting consequences to anything... In fact the author seems to tease us with things that almost go terribly terribly wrong, but nothing ever really does... This family seems to just bounce around through life until the book ends..

Not sure if I could go back in time, would I buy this book.

Narration was great, and admittedly is probably the only reason I made it all the way through it