The Land of Later On
Written by Anthony Weller
Narrated by Robin Bloodworth
3.5/5
()
About this audiobook
Kip—a New York jazz pianist whose career was cut short by a neurological disease—returns from a failed suicide attempt with a vivid, detailed memory of his journey through the afterlife. Resembling the world as he knows it, but unlimited in space and time, it’s unlike any eternity he has contemplated. Its residents are those who choose not to reincarnate, which would erase all memory of who they once were. Kip has a quest: to find his beloved Lucy, a yoga teacher who shared his apartment for years but died of leukemia before he took his own life. Is she still here? Has she waited for him, or “gone back” to become someone else? In his odyssey across centuries and locales (Istanbul to the Marquesas Islands, India to Oklahoma and New Guinea) to find her, Kip is guided by Walt Whitman—who urges him to write this memoir on his return.
Anthony Weller
Anthony Weller was born in 1957. His books include novels—The Garden of the Peacocks, The Polish Lover, and The Siege of Salt Cove—and a travel memoir of India and Pakistan, Days and Nights on the Grand Trunk Road. He is also well known as a musician. His poems and stories have appeared widely. As a journalist he traveled through Europe, Asia, the Middle East, the Pacific, Central America and the Caribbean, for National Geographic, G.Q., Forbes, GEO, the Paris Review, the New York Times Magazine, etc. He recently edited two books of his father’s Pulitzer Prize-winning reporting. First into Nagasaki: The Censored Eyewitness Dispatches on Post-Atomic Japan and Its Prisoners of War (introduction by Walter Cronkite) was named by Kirkus one of the best books of 2006, followed by Weller’s War: A Legendary Foreign Correspondent’s Saga of WWII on Five Continents.
Related to The Land of Later On
Related audiobooks
Cult Classic: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5House Fires Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Child Who Never Spoke: 23 ½ Lessons in Fragility Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Shape of Time Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTerminus: A "The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher" Essay Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wastelands: The New Apocalypse Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Life with the Spirits: The Adventures of a Modern Magician Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Witch of Portobello Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Every Third Thought Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Mark Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The House on Widows Hill [Dramatized Adaptation]: An Ishmael Jones Mystery 9 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ashes to Admin: Tales from the Caseload of a Council Funeral Officer Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Disoriental Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5One Word Kill Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Impulse Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ghost Train to the Eastern Star: On the Tracks of the Great R Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Quicksilver Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Raziel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Notes from the Tilt-a-Whirl: Wide-Eyed Wonder in God's Spoken World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Witch In Time Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Shadow out of Time Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFear of Flying Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Full of Grace Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Close Enough to Hurt Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Angel of the Overpass Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Stand Tall: Fighting for My Life, Inside and Outside the Ring Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred, the Vampire Accountant Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nutshell Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wisey's Game Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Literary Fiction For You
The Bell Jar Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Remarkably Bright Creatures: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Demon Copperhead: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes: A Hunger Games Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Parable of the Sower Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tom Lake: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stardust Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Song of Achilles: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Man Called Ove: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Poisonwood Bible Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Yellowface: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Alchemist Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Measure: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Leave the World Behind: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Road Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Picture of Dorian Gray: Classic Tales Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cloud Cuckoo Land: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Name of the Wind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Their Eyes Were Watching God Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Overstory Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dutch House: 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 stars4/5The House in the Cerulean Sea Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hang the Moon: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Flowers for Algernon Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5All the Sinners Bleed: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Land of Later On
17 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Interesting premise, amusingly written. The Land of Later On concerns a journey into the afterlife one man takes in search of his beloved wife, with Walt Whitman standing in for Virgil. A light meditation on marriage and mortality.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Since I've written a novel speculating about life and the hereafter, I thought I'd read other takes on the subject. The Land of Later On offers a unique proposal for the afterlife experience, and a cycle of reincarnation that differs from the religious that espouse such types of soul recycling. The writing flowed and was well edited. The characters were fleshy with added spice of music appreciation and nostalgic romance. In essence, this was an interesting and well crafted story.
As plot and pacing goes, the substance was stretched to novel length, making it seem a bit thin in places. It could have used more plots and subplots, additional conflicts, etc to make a novel. At times I felt I was reading a shaggy dog story. Some novels pull off shaggy dogs, but the meandering must be made amazing, which was lacking here. A bit too straight forward and lacking of gold nuggets or pearls. That said, when the goal was reached, the author pulled out a surprise, and for that, I was grateful. 3.5 stars, but I can't say it lifted to a four for me, which was frustrating due to the potential of several characters that were drawn, pointed the way like a road sign, then forgotten. I would have liked to have known them....instead of the neat and tidy ending which seemed to be the author dwelling on a gimmick. Give me a messy, fun ride over dotted eyes any day, and I'd give a 4 or 5 star rating.....