This Census-Taker
Written by China Miéville
Narrated by Matthew Frow
4/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this audiobook
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR
In a remote house on a hilltop, a lonely boy witnesses a profoundly traumatic event. He tries-and fails-to flee. Left alone with his increasingly deranged parent, he dreams of safety, of joining the other children in the town below, of escape.
When at last a stranger knocks at his door, the boy senses that his days of isolation might be over.
But by what authority does this man keep the meticulous records he carries? What is the purpose behind his questions? Is he friend? Enemy? Or something else altogether?
Filled with beauty, terror, and strangeness, This Census-Taker is a poignant and riveting exploration of memory and identity.
Praise for This Census-Taker
"China Miéville is a magician . . . who can both blow your mind with ideas as big as the universe and break your heart with language so precise and polished, it's like he's writing with diamonds."-NPR
"The book haunts the reader; what actually happened seems always just out of reach, glimpsed in shadow as it rounds a corner ahead of our vision."-Los Angeles Review of Books
"[Mieville's] been compared to Karen Russell and George Saunders, and rightfully so."-The Huffington Post
"Marvellous."-The Guardian
"Lingers in the mind like an unsettling dream."-Financial Times
"A thought-provoking fairy tale for adults . . . [This Census-Taker] resembles the narrative style, quirkiness, and plotting found in the works of Karen Russell, Aimee Bender, or Steven Millhauser."-Booklist
"Brief and dreamlike . . . a deceptively simple story whose plot could be taken as a symbolic representation of an aspect of humanity as big as an entire society and as small as a single soul."-Kirkus Reviews
China Miéville
China Miéville lives and works in London. He is three-time winner of the prestigious Arthur C. Clarke Award and has also won the British Fantasy Award twice. The City & The City, an existential thriller, was published to dazzling critical acclaim and drew comparison with the works of Kafka and Orwell and Philip K. Dick. His novel Embassytown was a first and widely praised foray into science fiction.
Related to This Census-Taker
Related audiobooks
Crave You (A Daisy Fortune Private Investigator Mystery—Book 3) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Last Wish (A Kaylie Brooks Psychological Suspense Thriller—Book 3) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Last Chance (A Kaylie Brooks Psychological Suspense Thriller—Book 2) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nowhere Certain (A Harley Cole FBI Suspense Thriller—Book 7) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Nowhere Sound (A Harley Cole FBI Suspense Thriller—Book 9) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Last Shot (A Kaylie Brooks Psychological Suspense Thriller—Book 4) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Praying for Mrs. Mombasa Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStill Hope (A Lily Dawn FBI Suspense Thriller—Book 2) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Target Four (The Spy Game—Book #4) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Claim You (A Daisy Fortune Private Investigator Mystery—Book 2) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Target Two (The Spy Game—Book #2) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Still Awake (A Lily Dawn FBI Suspense Thriller—Book 3) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Under An Italian Sky: Escape to beautiful Italy with bestseller Lisa Hobman Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Shadowseer: London (Shadowseer, Book One) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Still Mad (A Lily Dawn FBI Suspense Thriller—Book 5) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nina Simone's Gum: A Memoir of Things Lost and Found Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hearts and Bones: Love Songs for Late Youth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Perfect Mask (A Jessie Hunt Psychological Suspense Thriller—Book Twenty-Four) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bruised Spirits (A Daisy Gumm Majesty Mystery, Book 11): Historical Cozy Mystery Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNowhere Left (A Harley Cole FBI Suspense Thriller—Book 2) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Still Here (A Lily Dawn FBI Suspense Thriller—Book 4) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Beached Ones Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fragile Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Choose You (A Daisy Fortune Private Investigator Mystery—Book 4) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Target Three (The Spy Game—Book #3) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nowhere To Hide (A Harley Cole FBI Suspense Thriller—Book 6) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Thirteenth Chair Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Thames Path Killer: an absolutely gripping mystery and suspense thriller Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Stolen Child Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Fantasy For You
A Court of Mist and Fury Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Court of Silver Flames Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Court of Wings and Ruin Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Good Omens Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Court of Frost and Starlight Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fairy Tale Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Court of Thorns and Roses Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fourth Wing Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Stardust Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5From Blood and Ash Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Name of the Wind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good Omens: A Full Cast Production Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Parable of the Sower Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Hobbit Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Alchemist Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Legends & Lattes: A Novel of High Fantasy and Low Stakes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Return of the King Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Gods: The Tenth Anniversary Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Outlander Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5American Gods [TV Tie-In]: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of The Oxford Translators' Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Is How You Lose The Time War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Two Towers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The House in the Cerulean Sea Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure (The "Good Parts" Version) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Silmarillion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Neverwhere Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Starling House: A Reese's Book Club Pick Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for This Census-Taker
8 ratings1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mieville has quickly become one of my favorite writers. This story has a very good narrator as well. Enjoy!