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    The Little Book
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    The Little Book
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    The Little Book
    Audiobook15 hours

    The Little Book

    Written by Selden Edwards

    Narrated by Jeff Woodman

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    An irresistible triumph of the imagination more than 30 years in the making, The Little Book is a breathtaking love story that spans generations, ranging from fin de siecle Vienna through the pivotal moments of the 20th century.

    The Little Book is the extraordinary tale of Wheeler Burden, California-exiled heir of the famous Boston banking Burdens, philosopher, student of history, legend's son, rock idol, writer, lover of women, recluse, half-Jew, and Harvard baseball hero. In 1988 he is 47, living in San Francisco. Suddenly he is - still his modern self - wandering in a city and time he knows mysteriously well: fin de siecle Vienna. It is 1897, precisely 91 years before his last memory and a half-century before his birth.

    It's not long before Wheeler has acquired appropriate clothes, money, lodging, a group of young Viennese intellectuals as friends, a mentor in Sigmund Freud, a bitter rival, a powerful crush on a luminous young American woman, a passing acquaintance with local celebrity Mark Twain, and an incredible and surprising insight into the dashing young war-hero father he never knew.

    But the truth at the center of Wheeler's dislocation in time remains a stubborn mystery that will take months of exploration and a lifetime of memories to unravel and that will, in the end, reveal nothing short of the eccentric Burden family's unrivaled impact on the very course of the coming century. The Little Book is a masterpiece of unequaled storytelling that announces Selden Edwards as one of the most dazzling, original, entertaining, and inventive novelists of our time.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateAug 14, 2008
    ISBN9781436265485
    Unavailable
    The Little Book
    Author

    Selden Edwards

    Selden Edwards is a former English teacher and headmaster. A graduate of Princeton, he has served as secretary of his class for more than forty years. He lives in Santa Barbara, California.

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    Reviews for The Little Book

    3.5/5

    283 ratings42 reviews

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    • 4/5
      The Little Book has a whole lot of history, a little romance, and some moments of pure beauty. Edwards cleverly weaves real people with hefty significance into Wheeler’s story, and he successfully imagines his characters into the historic events of 1897 Vienna with skill and style. This is a sprawling story that in some ways reminded me of John Irving’s books, but I think it could have been tightened up just a bit. Edwards’s writing is strong and well-paced, and he’s telling a tale that is certainly fun to read if a little slow at times.Read my full review at The Book Lady's Blog.
    • 2/5
      I was surprised I kept going on this one. Wheeler is quite a guy - Ivy League baseball star, rock and roll star, famous writer. Somehow he gets transported to late 1800s Vienna in order to meet his father and Freud and his grandmother and no, he's not his own grandpa, though he does get to meet "the child Hitler." He also turns out to be a fabulous psychoanalyst. The forced Boston Brahmin accent that the reader used for many of the characters was grating. Painful.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this time-slip story based in turn-of-the-century Vienna. The characters and details were rich, the story developed over time (which can be hard to do with a story like this), and I learned a lot about Vienna.

      The one main complaint I have about the writing may stem from the fact that this book was written over many years, revisited by the author, Edwards, over and over again, constantly revised. This can lead to the same things being described over and over again in the same detail, or even the same exact language, when really they only need to be referred to, as the reader has already had the situation explained. This happened often with the timeline of Eleanor Putnam's life, certain investments, Dillie Burden's accomplishments, etc. Instead of just saying "and then he explained XYZ" we had to hear every detail of the point being told, sometimes for the third or fourth time! I think at least 30 pages could have been cut from the book if those descriptions were a little more succinct.

      Other than that, I enjoyed the book, the plot twists, and figuring out how everything came together and how everyone felt about it.
    • 5/5
      An impossible but quite enjoyable story.
    • 3/5
      What a hook for a time travel book! It was good, but not great. I often felt the writing was awkward and stilted.
    • 4/5
      I do like to dip into time travel novels as a fun bit of escapism so I downloaded an audiobook copy of this book from my local library system to listen to during my daily walking commute. The concept of a modern Renaissance man - if I can label Wheeler Burden as such - finding himself in turn of the century Vienna during that city's amazing historical-cultural nexus of intellectual and artistic impulses that have shaped much of the "Modernist" movement is a great idea for a time travel novel. Edwards admits that this book was a 30-year process of writing, editing and further refinements before it was finally published. The historical content - the political, cultural, architectural and intellectual bones of this book - are built on solid research, as are the historical figures. His fictional characters fit well in their 'normal' time periods and exhibit the usual wonderment/ dilemma in the time period they find themselves transported to. I really loved the early chapters in the book that focus on young Wheeler Burden's growing years, first in small town California, then in a stuffy Boston boys prep school and after that on to the hallowed halls of Harvard. Those are actually my favorite parts of the story and I can recommend those section to anyone that enjoys stories around community/ school baseball. The Vienna story - this book really is a bunch of different stories contained in one book - is heady with its sweeping artistic and intellectual components. This book, in particular the Vienna bits, can be described as "intellectual escapism" for philosophy, cultural and psychology enthusiasts. The details Edwards includes in the story - like Freud's development of his psychoanalytical theory - and the shifting timelines to explain parts of the story, started to wear on me after a while. With the focus on the details I started to think I was back in school receiving an education and the shifting timelines started to come across as an easier writer's mechanism to make the pieces of the story fit together. Not all that easy for the listener of an audiobook to follow, just sayin'! The love story angle is different, I will say that, and it makes me wonder if Edwards included it because of Freud's presence in the story. I also had some difficulty accepting our main character as being 47 years old when he travels back in time. He come across as a much younger man in his mid 20's, or as a kid that just never truly grows up. To enjoy this book a reader has to suspend belief that it is perfectly okay to spill the beans of one's time travel to one or two individuals in the past and assume that it won't have an impact. Lastly, I felt that the story seems to continue on beyond a couple of logical ending points. Yes, it would have meant one or two minor points might not have been tidied up but given that Edwards does finally end this one with a very faint whisper of more to come makes me think this story could have been condensed somewhat. After putting so much negativity into this review, I have to say that this was never a disappointing story to listen to... it was rather enjoyable on the whole, and one I looked forward to listening to over the week but I think it might be more suited for reading as opposed to listening to given the wealth of information the story contains. I was rather surprised to realize that this audiobook didn't allow me to utilize the 30 second rewind feature I am rather used to having built into my audiobooks. Something to possibly discuss with Penguin audio......
    • 3/5
      A talented and fairly eccentric character goes back in time to 1897 Vienna where he meets Sigmund Freud, Gustav Mahler, Adolf Hitler, among other famous personages. I liked how this book explores familial and historical interconnections and relationships in both past and present, and, of course, asks the age-old question, "Can the future be altered?"
    • 5/5
      this will be one of my favorite books. i'm completely into the time line thing. this book was incredibly well written. it made you feel you were there. it gives you a taste of all the times that your on. if you like the timeline thing, this book is for you. as a bonus by the end you can't put it down.
    • 4/5
      Time travel fiction is not an easy undertaking and the time the author took, 30 year to be exact, can be seen in this well written piece of fiction that can have you believe in the plausibility of time travel and the thin line one must tread or bear the consequences of the change that can ensue. The characters created are three dimensional to the depths of the secrets that are revealed through out the intertwining story of Wheeler Burden and his legendary father Dilly Burden. Wheeler finds himself in Vienna, Austria of the late 1890's at the cusp of a cultural apex of music, philosophy of which he must find an immediate way to fit in to the times. He runs into his father Dilly, his grandfather Frank, his grandmother Weezie as well as his mentor "the Haze". I also enjoyed the mythology and psychoanalysis that is weaved in with his visits to Sigmund Freud that are used to hold Wheeler's character together as he tries to determine why Vienna. I can see why Pat Conroy felt this was a must read and astounding piece of fiction. Looking forward to reading the authors next book The Lost Prince.
    • 5/5
      this will be one of my favorite books. i'm completely into the time line thing. this book was incredibly well written. it made you feel you were there. it gives you a taste of all the times that your on. if you like the timeline thing, this book is for you. as a bonus by the end you can't put it down.
    • 4/5
      More, please. MORE.
    • 5/5
      \t;:;c;
    • 5/5
      Wheeler Burden, an exiled member of the famous old Boston Burden family, grew up in San Francisco on a farm with his Jewish mother. His father, a living legend at the schools he went to and during the war, where he was captured by the Nazis while working with the French resistance, but died being tortured to death for information he would not give them. His grandfather Burden is a hard anti-Semite and therefore, Wheeler's mom had nothing to do with him. His grandmother, on the other hand is a sweet and wonderful woman that he gets to know once his grandfather dies and his mother agrees to send him to St. Gregory's private school, where the Burdens had gone to and like his father, he makes his mark there in baseball and academics. One of the professors, known as Hage teaches certain students about his time in Austria before the turn of the century, when everything was perfect. He takes Wheeler under his wing, as he did his father before him.Wheeler grows up to be a rock musician who was at Woodstock and got stabbed at Altamont. In the mid-seventies he gave it all up for seemingly no reason. Around this time he inherits the work of his professor and sets about to make it into a book. This takes about fifteen years of hard work and it becomes a hit. When he is walking home from a book signing in the mid-eighties, he suddenly finds himself in a strangely familiar place. It is 1897 in the fin de siècle Vienna. He has no idea how he got here, but he quickly steals a suit and some money from an American. In this amazing city, the cultural center of Europe, he meets famous thinkers and creators of the time in the coffee houses, he goes and visits Freud, before he becomes famous and has just come up with his Oedipus Complex. He tries to help Freud make his theories more clear and understandable. His mother was part of a group that helped Freud escape to London during the war and they spent lots of time trying to decipher Freud's work. He also meets the love of his life, a girl named Emily James from Amherst, Massachusesttes. When they kiss for the first time, she becomes frightened of her feelings for him and disappears for a while. Then he finds out she is his grandmother Burden. But she isn't the only one he meets. His father appears as well. On the real time line, he has just been tortured by the Nazis and left for dead and in his last moments of life he thinks of this place that the Hage told him about and then he is there. His father, Dilly, tells him a few family secrets and how important his grandmother will be in the future and how he must not interfere with her marrying Burden, who is also in Vienna.Wheeler finds it hard to let her go and in the end, the decision is made for him. But he is grateful to have gotten a chance to meet and get to know the mythical father who is now shown to be quite human and to fall in love with one of the most wonderful women of the century. He keeps a diary that comes back to haunt him in a way and passes through many hands, until Wheeler's mother gets it at the end of the book.This was a fabulous book that really made you feel you were in the Ringstrasse in Vienna, a time of great political turmoil, where the rise of anti-Semitism is predicting the future of the 400,000 Jews in the city at that time, that will diminish to 124 after World War II. Mahler is there directing the symphony to Wagner in amazing ways, right before he becomes famous. Famous artists and thinkers of that time are there and you can really feel yourself there. I knew little about Austria before reading this book, but now I feel like I have lived there at the height of its existence. This is a tremendously good book written over the course of forty years by the author who started it in college as a short paper and then over the years added more and more as information became available about that special place in time. It was well worth the wait and I hope to find more books from this author without the long wait.
    • 4/5
      The Little Bookby Selden EdwardsPublished 08/14/2008 by Dutton/Penguin Group (USA)WHO: Frank Standish Burden, III a.k.a. “Wheeler” Burden a.k.a. Harry Truman: Student at St. Gregory’s prep school, Harvard drop-out, Noted athlete, rock star, author/editor…WHAT: Finds himself having traveled back in time…WHERE: From an entryway at an apartment building in San Francisco to the Ringstrasse in Vienna where he meets luminaries of Fin de Siecle thought and practice as well as certain ancestors…WHEN: From 1988 to 1897… WHY: “We’ve had a chance to see what each of us is like”… "We… thought we could change the world around us"… "We thought we were omnipotent."HOW: Speculatively, the shift in time/space was a matter of strong self-will; perhaps one of pre-determination; perhaps no more than a sub-conscious impulse made manifest as a coping mechanism or to make sense of things.+ Tightly constructed novel on both a basic narrative level and on an allegorical level: The story is well crafted to tether moments, relationships and things from the past with those in the future; The psychological allegory along Freudian lines is masterful.+ Descriptive passages are rich with detail that tantalize the reader into wishing s/he were there (interesting sort of uber meta experience in itself) - Impossible to describe and do the novel justiceOTHER: Purchased hardback edition from Elliot Bay Book Company, Seattle, WA. I receive no monies, goods or services in exchange for reviewing the product and/or mentioning any of the persons or companies that are or may be implied in this post.
    • 3/5
      Imagine walking down the street in 1988 San Francisco, seemingly lifting your foot to take a step … and when you put that foot down you have been transported to 1897 Vienna. This is exactly what happens to Stan “Wheeler” Burden. While in Vienna he has encounters with the current mayor and just-stirring anti-semite Karl Lueger, the artist Klimt, and finds himself taking room and board with Sigmund Freud. Add to this mix his grandparents (could he really fall in love with his grandmother? … hmmm, Freud’s Oedipal complex personified?) and his deceased father, who died in a WWII prison camp. Obviously his father has some very strong feelings about Adolf Hitler, who in 1897 happens to live less than one hour outside of Vienna and is 9 years old.

      I found this book an interesting read. BUT – like all time travel books, which I find thought-provokingly frustrating but which I continue to read - it led to a lot of “what would I do” type questions about the pros and cons of changing history.
    • 5/5
      Wheeler Burden suddenly finds himself transported from America in 1988 to Vienna in 1897. How he gets there he doesn’t know. But 1897 Vienna is very familiar to him from the lectures of his favorite prep school teacher, Arnauld Esterhazy, “The Haze.” Soon he’s fitting in with a crowd of young thinkers and doers, some whom he’s read about, others whom he knew in his old life. During the course of the book, we learn Wheeler’s story, along with those of his parents and paternal grandparents, all of whom play important roles. Along the way, we also encounter historical figures as diverse as Buddy Holly and Sigmund Freud. We also see Wheeler navigate the streets and coffee houses of 1897 Vienna.I’m a huge fan of time travel narratives. The Little Book is now my new favorite, Selden Edwards replacing Jack Finney and Connie Willis. The plotting is intricate, the characters amazing, the writing top-notch.
    • 3/5
      Sometimes I’m just not sure if it’s the book or if I’m not in the mood. This one started off slow and I had a hard time staying interested. It got better as it went along and I ended up liking it, for the most part.

      It’s a fairly interesting plot, a time travel story told from different character perspectives, as well as times. The author manages to make it very easy to follow. I think that’s part of the problem for me. The style seemed very Blockbuster Summer Reading, like he was afraid of losing anyone and carefully explained everything. What could have been big twists seldom were because I saw them coming so far in advance.

      I’m still not totally sure what was going on with the plot, and certain things don’t make sense to me, but it is a time travel story. The characters didn’t have a lot of depth, as they were mostly super heroes of some sort, with the occasional villain.

      One of those books that seems to have everything I want, and not a bad book at all, but I just couldn’t get that excited about it.

      bb
    • 4/5
      Wasn't sure I'd be able to finish this book, but got hooked. Amazing turns throughout. It takes incredible mental agility to loop this altogether credibly, and the author did just that.
    • 4/5
      This book was highly unique and original. In fact, it was quite mind bending! The premise is that a father and son go back in time and ultimately meet up with the grandparents in Vienna in 1897. To make it more interesting, the son had never actually known his father as he had died when he was three years old. The family is one of historical significance and how they achieved this status is ultimately revealed through the pages of this book.
    • 2/5
      The blurb on the back promised a really exciting story about time travel and it began really strongly. But I have problems with the author's writing style and I don't think it's a positive sign that he spent three decades labouring over different drafts. There were too many digressions into baseball for this British reader as well, distracting from the more interesting Viennese chapters. On a flick ahead, it didn't look like this would change, so have given up after 80 pages.
    • 4/5
      Who would think that time travel, pre-Nazi occupation Vienna and the arts would come together in one novel to create such a captivating and mind boggling story? I remained puzzling to the end... is it time travel or something else? Highly recommended.
    • 1/5
      I am giving up on this book after about 100 pages. Even 100 pages in, I am still trying to figure out who is who. Main new characters are still being introduced. The primary character is referred to by multiple names (a given name, full family name, nickname) making it more confusing. The writing is also very verbose and unnecessarily ornate. Here is a one sentence example..."Vienna was, and had long been, as the Haze described it, a community of contrasts in which the privations and squalor of the proletarian mass contradicted the splendors of an affluent minority."I picked up this book based on a recommendation and because the "blurb" was interesting. Perhaps, it still might have been if I had kept going. I don't like to give up on a book, but when I find myself not reading for a few days, it's an indication that the book is not for me. So, unfortunately an abandoned book.
    • 2/5
      The Little Book is a popular recommendation for Jack Finney's classic "Time and Again", however, this novel falls short in its strength of characters and cohesive plot. The protagonist of the story is Wheeler Burton, a talented young man from the 1980's who awakens in Vienne of the late 1800s. The author, Selden Edwards, wrote this book over the course of 34 years. He states in the Author's note "...as I expanded, refined, and embellished the story, finishing a draft every five years or so, real historical events began weaving their way into the plot I was inventing as I went." This must be why the central storyline is disjointed and does not flow well. New information seems to suddenly pop up and then taper off, such as the search for the 8-year old Adolf Hitler. With great historical figures such as Hitler, Gustav Mahler, and Sigmond Freud in one story, the reader EXPECTS more but the author never accomplishes greatness.Loose ends of various characters together with revelations of shallow developed subplots keep this story from being the great one it could have been!
    • 4/5
      The beginning of this book is amazing. Learning about Wheeler and Dilly is just great storytelling. However, half way through the book starts to get a bit out there and, some might say, ridiculous. It never gets off the rails but it wobbles. The first part i give a 5 out of 5 and the second half a 3 out of 5. It is a good book about time travel and Vienna and the turn of the century. I really enjoyed almost all of the book and would recommend it to others.
    • 4/5
      Wheeler Burden is an eccentric individual from a long line of exceptional ancestors. His grandfather was an athlete in the first modern olympic games, his father was an athlete and war hero and his mother and grandmother were strong willed women. Wheeler is a chip of the old block, he is a hero on the pitching mound, a rock idol in concert halls and the editor of an influential book. He also time travels to Vienna and meets all the artists and great thinkers in the city at that time. The most important person Wheeler meets is the beautiful Emily James, the love of his life. He tells himself that he can not interact to much with these people, especially Sigmund Freud, but he can't help himself.This novel was written as an historical fiction about a modern man traveling through time to 1897 Vienna, but the time travel aspect lends the novel a spiritual element. All of our lives are inter-connected and we meet one another many times.I enjoyed reading this novel. I learned a lot about Vienna and how the political and social conditions influences europe during World War I and II. The only problem I had with the story was the excessive use of foreshadowing. I always saw the twists and turns coming from a mile away.
    • 2/5
      I'm not sure I even have it in me to review this one. It seemed promising at first, but perhaps that was partially wrapped up in Pam's recommendation - she loved it. Me, not so much.
    • 4/5
      This novel, involving time travel by three generations of the Burden family, begins in 1898 Vienna, then touches on every major event of the first half of the 20th Century. The story is told by the mother of Wheeler Burden. He is a bit of a cardboard character, as are the others: scholar, incredible athlete, rock star, a perfect character following in the footsteps of his perfect father, who was also a war hero who died at the hands of the Gestapo. Wheeler leaves 1969 San Francisco and suddenly finds himself in 1898 Vienna. The concept, that the Burden family affected almost every historical event of the time, is interesting but at times a bit strained. I found it hard to follow the debates between Wheeler and Freud. I don't want to be a spoiler but Wheeler Burden's love affair was very disturbing, even creepy. But in spite of all that, I really enjoyed the book and couldn't put it down. The author's description of fin de siecle Vienna is fascinating. The plot is very clever and I thought he dealt with the details of time travel, how it can affect the past and the future, very well.
    • 5/5
      I loved this book! The story plot continued to delight me and hold me captive...even when I had some premonition about what might happen. I also enjoyed reading about the culture and times of Vienna at the end of the 19th century. It is written that this book is the author's life work...he can be proud!
    • 4/5
      I liked this book somewhat in spite of myself - the main character is a character thoroughly convinced of his own rightness, who never engages in introspection or suffers doubt about his ability to do something the way he wants - and that kind of character always drives me crazy. So I kept wanting to be able to roll my eyes and say, "ugh."But I just couldn't. Edwards' clever plot was engaging and surprising - even for someone who's read a bunch of time travel stories. And the prose, though it reflected some of the protagonist's character, could be unexpectedly charming. It's an engaging read, and a clever story - you won't be sorry you picked it up.
    • 3/5
      Although set almost entirely in Vienna in 1897, this is definitely an American novel. It deals with those two most important themes: the American as hero; and, the American heritage – where did I come from? Every character in this book appears to be the very best at whatever they do, feted, praised and honoured almost beyond measure. Every character in this book presents himself or herself as someone they are not and many discover themselves to be someone other than they thought they were.The two heroic loners in the book are presented almost as caricatures; so heroic, so lonesome. When they find that they are both not the sons of their illustrious fathers is the message that heroes are made not born? Or those legends are made from the flimsiest of materials? Frankly, I was too busy with my plot scorecards and family tree to think too deeply about this.Time travel stories involving incest (technical, if not actual), closed repeating loops in time and the prospect of never-ending reincarnation in various gardens of delight I find hard to swallow. The narrator, a character we want to learn more about, but never do, is the one who never enters this relativistic maelstrom.Selden Edwards has spent a lifetime writing this book and from his included notes looks like he may never write another. I am unsure whether this warms me or not. On balance, this is a good first novel, although in need of editing (repeated descriptions of events and characters, mainly. Oh, and thanks for telling me Mick Jagger is the lead singer with a rock group called The Rolling Stones).If you believe America won the Second World War single-handed, this book is for you. Even if you don’t, it is an interesting and complexly plotted read.