The God of War, Marisa Silver
The God of War, Marisa Silver
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The God of War
A Novel

Author: Marisa Silver

Narrator: Scott Brick

Unabridged: 6 hr 2 min

Format: Digital Audiobook (DRM Protected)

Published: 04/29/2008

Categories: Fiction

Synopsis

In a scruffy desert town in 1978, twelve-year-old Ares Ramirez lives in a trailer with his mother and younger brother. In this desolate, forgotten place, government fighter planes and helicopters make training runs by night using live ammunition.When an anonymous dead body floats in from the sea, Ares, on the cusp of his adolescence, is inspired to enact elaborate fantasies of mortal combat. But it is his troubled family that makes Ares a casualty of a different kind of war. His brother, Malcolm, is mentally handicapped, and his mother, distrusting authorities, chooses not to do anything about it, leaving the burden to Ares to protect his vulnerable brother from a world that sees him as “a retard.”As he fights to define himself and to see a future for himself outside of the suffocating box of his home, Ares befriends a dangerous older kid, and what was once play becomes terrifyingly real as violence changes his life forever.

About Marisa Silver

Marisa Silver is a regular contributor to the New Yorker, with six stories published there to date. Her nonfiction writing will soon be featured in the magazine as well. She is the author of Babe in Paradise and No Direction Home.

About Scott Brick

Scott Brick, an acclaimed voice artist, screenwriter, and actor, has performed on film, television, and radio. He attended UCLA and spent ten years in a traveling Shakespeare company. Passionate about the spoken word, he has narrated a wide variety of audiobooks. winning won more than fifty AudioFile Earphones Awards and several of the prestigious Audie Awards. He was named a Golden Voice by AudioFile magazine and the Voice of Choice for 2016 by Booklist magazine.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Roxanne on February 05, 2009

This was an excellent book and I never want to read it again.......more

Goodreads review by Judy on November 19, 2010

Marisa Silver's second novel made a huge emotional impact on me. I was alternately enthralled and annoyed but by the end I could not recall what had annoyed me. Laurel is a single mom raising two sons in a cramped trailer on the Salton Sea in the late 1970s. The story is told by her older son, twle......more

Goodreads review by David on May 13, 2013

On the plus side, the characters seem reasonably well developed. No one is evil, everyone is trying to do good and failing. The narrator's adolescent rebellion was relatable, all that stuff, even if it's impossible to believe that the speaker is male. The big problem is the sentences. Some examples:......more

Goodreads review by Karen on February 08, 2013

I picked up Marisa Silver's "The God of War" at a Goodreads book exchange several years ago. I just grabbed it on a hunch and it has been sitting on my bookshelf. I am very happy to have picked it up and to have finally read it, because it is a fantastic book. Set by the desolate Salton Sea in Califo......more

Goodreads review by Dillwynia on October 14, 2012

Being a contemporary US writer, I was a little apprehensive to start with (after my foray with Conroy), but the apprehension quickly disappeared. The story & characters are believable, particularly the guilt of Ares and how he processes and atones for it. The narrative moves at a quick but acceptable......more

Quotes

“Silver’s…tough, tight style suits the material well…She lets the details of her storytelling subtly suggest its larger implications. In The God of War, seemingly insignificant moments, carefully observed, are used to scavenge value and insight from the neglected and the obscure.”  New York Times Book Review

“The novel is fueled by the irrepressible, if at times mournful, energy of Ares’ growing physiology…A moving exploration of fraying family bonds deftly balanced with an elegiac parable, one whose desert backdrop lends resonance to Silver’s ruminations on the mysteries of violence and loss, love and rage, guilt and blame.”  Los Angeles Times Book Review

“An elegantly observed coming-of-age story steeped in poverty and violence…a poignant and often heartbreaking account…The characters are painted with compassion and unflinching honesty, and the climax is pithy and consequential.”  Publishers Weekly

“Scott Brick’s narration of this beautifully written novel turns it from an ordinary coming-of-age story into a soulful dirge…Brick’s performance brings just the right touches of melancholy and self-pity to Ares, highlighting his confusion, fury, longing, and hope. A fine YA or adult offering.” AudioFile

“Stunning…Finely wrought characters and an illuminating portrait of the secret world of autism makes for a powerful, often tragic tale.” Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Awards

  • AudioFile Earphones Award
  • Los Angeles Times Book Prize
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