Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    Carry Me Across the Water
    Unavailable
    Carry Me Across the Water
    Unavailable
    Carry Me Across the Water
    Audiobook (abridged)6 hours

    Carry Me Across the Water

    Written by Ethan Canin

    Narrated by Ron Rifkin

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    "Take the advice of no one," August Kleinman's mother says to him while August is still a young boy in Germany, and with these words to guide him, he escapes Nazi Germany and goes on to build a fortune, a family, and life on his own terms in America. At the defining moments that reveal character and shape fate - a shocking encounter with a Japanese soldier in a cave during World War II, the audacious decision to start a brewery in Pittsburgh and a violent reaction against threats to its independent success, a vacation in Barbados, during which his beloved wife mysteriously wanders off, the birth of his grandson - August's instincts are determinative in a way that illuminates how lives unfold at the deepest levels. This is a brilliant, suspenseful, surprising novel by one of America's finest writers. Publisher's Weekly called Ethan Canin's For Kings and Planets "Masterful … a classic parable of the human condition," and the same can be said about Carry Me Across the Water.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateMay 1, 2001
    ISBN9780375419232
    Unavailable
    Carry Me Across the Water

    Related to Carry Me Across the Water

    Related audiobooks

    Sagas For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      10 Best Books Of February: The Monitor's Picks

      Feb 13, 2018

      From a history of the war in Afghanistan, to a story about a 1950s road race in Australia, to a young adult novel about a teen who loves crossword puzzles, here are our top 10 picks among new February releases.

      2 min read

    • Article

      New Titles

      Oct 9, 2019

      By George Keithley George Braziller, Inc. “The Donner Party is one of the three or four finest book-length American poems ever written.”—Poetry. “Out of the western migration of the 1840s…Keithley has made a lean, taut narra-tive poem that moves with

      4 min read

    • Article

      10 Best Books Of May: The Monitor's Picks

      May 9, 2018

      From a bestselling Chinese memoir to a study of precision engineering, here are the 10 May titles that most impressed the Monitor's book critics.

      2 min read

    • Article

      Powerful Women Writers Dominate The 10 Best Books Of January

      Jan 17, 2020

      Get 2020 off to a roaring start with the 10 best new books out in January. Classic authors like Zora Neale Hurston pair well with dazzling debuts.

      2 min read

    • Article

      Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Alvarez, Zhang, Scanlan, Lepucki, and More

      Apr 7, 2020

      This week brings new books from from the likes of Julia Alvarez, C Pam Zhang, Kathryn Scanlan, and our own Edan Lepucki. The post Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Alvarez, Zhang, Scanlan, Lepucki, and More appeared first on The Millions.

      4 min read

    • Article

      Enough To Go On

      Sep 19, 2021

      Enough To Go On
      2 min read

    • Article

      Great Read

      May 19, 2021

      Great Read
      5 min read

    • Article

      Great Read

      May 19, 2021

      Great Read
      5 min read

    • Article

      Two Fathers’ Broken Hearts Guide Them Toward Heroic Empathy

      Mar 5, 2020

      Colum McCann deftly weaves together the true story of a Palestinian and an Israeli who each lost daughters in the conflict – and found their calling.

      2 min read

    • Article

      Diane Armstrong

      Apr 8, 2024

      Diane Armstrong
      3 min read

    • Article

      The Best Fiction Reads Of 2018: The Monitor's Picks

      Dec 5, 2018

      A reimagining of 'Beowulf' and Anne Tyler's latest are two of the works of fiction that made the cut for our list.

      2 min read

    • Article

      Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Scott, Bucak, Zeh, Steinberg, and More

      Aug 20, 2019

      An intriguing near-future dystopian thriller, two innovative short story collections, and a remarkable portrait of Britain at its Brexit inflection point. The post Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Scott, Bucak, Zeh, Steinberg, and More appeared firs

      5 min read

    • Article

      Tuesday New Release Day: Starring McCarthy, Chen, Samatar, and More

      Oct 25, 2022

      Here’s a quick look at some notable books—new titles from Cormac McCarthy, Kevin Chen, Sofia Samatar, and more—that are publishing this week. Want to learn more about upcoming titles? Then go read our most recent book preview. Want to help The Millio

      4 min read

    • Article

      Animating the Atlantic Archives

      May 2, 2018

      Some of the most notable and enduring works from the magazine’s past come to life in a new series of videos.

      5 min read

    • Article

      2020 summer reading preview

      Apr 25, 2020

      2020 summer reading preview
      4 min read

    • Article

      From Mystery To Mastery: March’s 10 Best Books Thrill, Intrigue, And Satisfy

      Mar 24, 2023

      1. Birnam Wood, by Eleanor Catton In New Zealand, guerrilla gardeners cross paths with an American billionaire secretly up to no good. As the characters debate ideals, weigh choices, and battle their own and others’ egos, the tale gathers speed. Expe

      2 min read

    • Article

      Paperbacks

      Jun 29, 2022

      Lea Ypi’s memoir, Free: A Child and Country at the End of History (Penguin, 336pp, £9.99) is about growing up during Albania’s transition from totalitarian communism to liberal capitalism. Albania, wrote Max Strasser in the New York Times, ‘followed

      1 min read

    • Article

      10 Best Books of September: The Monitor's Picks

      Sep 21, 2017

      From Tsarist Russia to Trump's America, and from evocative short stories to the best of expository prose, here are the 10 September releases most highly recommended by the Monitor's book critics.

      2 min read

    Reviews for Carry Me Across the Water

    4/5

    65 ratings10 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      CARRY ME ACROSS THE WATER is yet another book to savor for its beauty and exquisite craftmanship. Canin's writing could be compared to the meticulous workmanship of a fine Swiss watch, all of its parts fitted so finely together, in such a manner that there is no wasted space, nothing extra to impede the movement. He has put it together in much the same way my aged mother works a jigsaw puzzle - first the borders, the outside edges of the story, the background, always working toward the centerpiece of the puzzle.In this case that central, pivotal piece of the puzzle that is protagonist August Kleinman was a horrific and unforgettable moment in a cave on a Japanese island in the closing days of WWII, an experience that served to define who and what he became and haunted him for the rest of his life.Kleinman was a Jewish immigrant/refugee from Germany who chose in later life to disavow much of his heritage, albeit with mixed emotions. He discovered in himself at a young age a capability for violence which was, in the end, perhaps what kept him alive during his wartime service in the Pacific Theater of war - that and the knowledge that "the other men were relying on him. This was the fundamental trick of the military ... the honor of camaraderie." In this defining time of unbelievable fear, stress and uncertainty, Kleinman thought of home, family and his girlfriend Ginger, vowing "that if he ever made it home, he would marry her, live a quiet life, and bring children into the world."These portrayals of military camaraderie and physical danger and demonstrations of courage and survival skills served to suck me even deeper into Augie Kleinman's story, probably due to my own army years. But this is a much more complex creation than just those things. Kleinman did get home, marry the girl and have children. And he heeded his mother's counsel to take advice from no one. He built his own business (a small brewery empire) and accumulated considerable wealth. Kleinman was a good man, one who realized the importance of family, "that the real reason he was on earth was to guard her, her and her children, for as long as he lived." But he was often mystified by them, stymied by the differences between his children. And near the end of his life he realized "how ignorant he still was of the human being." There is a lot going on in this slender novel, things one could ponder and study at length. Like names. Augie. Was Canin tipping his hat to an earlier Augie, the one brought to life by another Jewish writier, Saul Bellow? And what about Augie's real last name: Gertzmann, a fiercer, larger-than-life name than the Kleinman taken from his gentle, more traditionally Jewish adoptive father?Yes, like that fine Swiss movement, the characters, events and emotions of this carefully crafted little book will continute to tick softly in your subconscious for a long time after you close its covers. In CARRY ME ACROSS THE WATER Ethan Canin has created, I believe, a small masterpiece.
    • 4/5
      Ethan Canin has done a remarkably good job of combining so many world issues into one reasonable story without overloading it or simplifying the issues to a point of superficiality. So much pain, so much joy, so much wisdom brought together into one well-told story about a lonely old man trying to connect to his son and grandson. This is a fine, fine book.
    • 4/5
      The nucleus of the story is exquisite, the background not very well developed and the setting is distracting.
    • 5/5
      What a masterful work. I'm in awe.
    • 5/5
      In Carry Me Across the Water, Canin finally finds a voice other than his own to carry this delicately structured and intimate tale. The voice belongs to August Kleinman, a man in his 70's who as he looks back over over his life, dips into memories like pools of warm water. This book is such a refreshing turn for Canin; there is a restraint to the language used to evoke August's life that reads as a true and honorable attempt to give voice to a character that, in the wrong hands, would have become a mere literary cliche. From August's flight from Nazi Germany as a child, to his school years in New York, to his time as a soldier in Japan during WWII, his struggles and successes as a Pittsburgh businessman, the loss of his wife, and at last to his final years alone in Boston -- we are dipped into his memories bit by bit. His story builds in layers that skip back and forth over years, like memories surging and retreating. Carry Me Across the Water is a fine achievement from an author who is proving he is not afraid to explore all the freedoms the form of a novel can offer.
    • 5/5
      This is a lovely character-driven book with wonderful and evocative writing. The main character is beautifully human and well drawn.
    • 4/5
      While the plot is compelling and the character of August Kleinman is both strange and revealing, so much of the man pivots on being rich. He earned his millions honorably and is sharing some before his will leaves the balance to his three children Yet, he does not buy the lovely paintings of the son of the unarmed Japanese soldier he killed during World War II.And, why did he decide to bayonet this final soldier when he could easily have taken him prisoner?The plot moves quickly between the times of his life with too much foreshadowing making outcomes too predictable.
    • 5/5
      A character study that is told in little pieces back and forth across time, a jigsaw puzzle that the writer and reader put together, from his life as a Jewish boy in Germany to the present time of the novel (2000) when he is a 78 year old man trying to connect with his first grandchild as well as his son. This is a novel but it also can be seen as a number of short stories broken into even smaller vignettes that tie the pieces of the man's life together. There are little puzzles and mysteries in here. What a portrait Ethan Canin has painted here in a unique way. An excellent book that resonated with me. This will be in my top ten books of the year.
    • 3/5
      Delicate and ponderous, this is a strangely fast read that spans decades and moves in a non-linear exploration of the major moments in one elderly man's life. Without becoming maudlin, or even necessarily predictable, the book acts as an in-depth character study of a single man's response to war, independence, love, and aging. The problem is simply that there is more character study than plot, and more examination than sympathy. In the end, I was left wanting far more, as engaged as I'd been with various moments and characters in the novel.
    • 5/5
      Thoroughly enjoyed this quiet, reflective novel. Canin is just a suburb writer that reading his works is an experience really. I love the paring back of the layers in relationships and this one had a lot of that. August was a fascinating character. The other thing I liked about this story is while the relationships were by no means perfect, everyone tried the best they could, to love each other. Somewhat rare in writing these days. Although it made for a bit of a sleepy plot, it was a nice change of pace.