Alligator Candy: A Memoir
Written by David Kushner
Narrated by Bronson Pinchot
4.5/5
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About this audiobook
David Kushner grew up in the early 1970s in the Florida suburbs. It was when kids still ran free, riding bikes and disappearing into the nearby woods for hours at a time. One morning in 1973, however, everything changed. David’s older brother Jon biked through the forest to the convenience store for candy, and never returned.
Every life has a defining moment, a single act that charts the course we take and determines who we become. For Kushner, it was Jon’s disappearance—a tragedy that shocked his family and the community at large. Decades later, now a grown man with kids of his own, Kushner found himself unsatisfied with his own memories and decided to revisit the episode a different way: through the eyes of a reporter. His investigation brought him back to the places and people he once knew and slowly made him realize just how much his past had affected his present. After sifting through hundreds of documents and reports, conducting dozens of interviews, and poring over numerous firsthand accounts, he has produced a powerful and inspiring story of loss, perseverance, and memory. Alligator Candy is searing and unforgettable.
David Kushner
A contributing editor of Rolling Stone, David Kushner also writes for publications including The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Wired, The New York Times Magazine, New York, GQ, and Esquire. Kushner served as the digital culture commentator for National Public Radio’s Weekend Edition Sunday, and has taught journalism at Princeton University and New York University. He has been featured in The Best Business Writing, The Best American Crime Reporting, and The Best Travel Writing, and his ebook The Bones of Marianna: A Reform School, a Terrible Secret, and a Hundred-Year Fight for Justice. His books include The Players Ball; Alligator Candy: A Memoir (an NPR Best Book of the Year); Jacked: The Outlaw Story of Grand Theft Auto; Levittown: Two Families, One Tycoon, and the Fight for Civil Rights in America’s Legendary Suburb; Jonny Magic and the Card Shark Kids: How a Gang of Geeks Beat the Odds and Stormed Las Vegas; and Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture.
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Reviews for Alligator Candy
22 ratings4 reviews
What our readers think
Readers find this title to be a well-written and heartfelt memoir, although some sections are made less enjoyable by the overly dramatic delivery of the narrator. The book explores themes of grief and childhood trauma, reminding readers to appreciate the joy of their own children. It is an incredibly moving and brilliantly written journey that captures the deep love between siblings. Overall, the book is an excellent read that evokes powerful emotions.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This was the most emotionally difficult book I have ever read. So sad but something more than that. I hope you can or have found the strength to enjoy the joy of your children even as they find their own independence. Peace to you and your family.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Excellent read! As a parent of young kids in this overscheduled society this book reminded me that we still need to live!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5One of the most heartbreakingly beautiful books I've ever read. David Kushner shares the loss, grief and love his family endured after an unspeakable tragedy. Written with tenderness and aching honestly. Bronson Pinchot's reading is without peer.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A well-written and obviously heartfelt memoir revolving around the dynamics of grief and the processing of childhood trauma, with entire sections, unfortunately, made near-insufferable by Bronson Pinchot's over-the-top emotive delivery. To me, Pinchot's overly dramatic approach does the material a disservice at crucial points in the narrative, which is lamentable, as he is quite pleasant to listen to in the parts where he doesn't overdo it.
1 person found this helpful