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Title details for The Patron Saint of Used Cars and Second Chances by Mark Millhone - Available

The Patron Saint of Used Cars and Second Chances

A Memoir

by Mark Millhone
Ray Porter
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available

Welcome to the tragedy-of-the-month club! In one nine-month period, Mark Millhone's youngest son nearly dies from birth complications, his oldest son is injured in a household accident, his father is diagnosed with prostate cancer, and his mother has a heart attack and passes away. In the aftermath of this year-from-hell, his marriage also begins to fray.

He deals with this as only a "real man" could: he logs on to eBay and bids on his dream car. The like-new BMW becomes more than a car for Millhone—it's almost a prayer to the patron saint of used cars and second chances to make his family like new again. Joined by his estranged dad, he embarks on a dysfunctional family road trip to pick up the car—a comedy of errors that gives Millhone life-affirming perspectives on how to navigate the road of life's bumpy patches.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    July 7, 2009

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781481552820
      • File size: 157389 KB
      • Duration: 05:27:53

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Ray Porter's masterful delivery of Millhone's memoir--about a series of personal tragedies that culminate in a road trip with his father--saves it from being a maudlin account of one man's "year from hell." Instead, Porter's natural presentation offers the listener access to incidents that elicit universal emotions and a feeling of connection. His tone and pace are conversational, punctuated by increases in volume and intensity where appropriate to the events and language of the text. His equally skillful handling of wry humor, muttered asides, and musings adds to his authenticity as Mark Millhone. Porter also does especially convincing presentations of Mark's father and Rose, Mark's wife. The final product is both funny and poignant--a slice-of-life listeners will identify with and enjoy. M.O.B. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      July 6, 2009
      Millhone, an NYU professor and columnist for Men's Health
      , writes about family crises, stress, anxieties and what he calls “our year from hell” when his son nearly died shortly after birth, his father was diagnosed with cancer, his mother died, his dog bit his oldest son in the face and his marriage was crumbling. Millhone felt he had “a subscription to a tragedy-of-the-month club,” so his solution was to buy a car and travel with his dad. On the road, there are flashbacks to old songs, childhood toys, his marriage and his mother: “Mom had a black belt in backhanded compliments.” As for the trip itself, chapter headings are misleading: the “Vicksburg” visit takes place inside an Applebee's and “Katrinaville” offers only a two-paragraph glimpse of New Orleans from the freeway. Millhone occasionally delivers a funny line amid many strained and strange attempts at humor, such as calling the scattering of his mother's ashes “The Sprinkling.” More often, in a curious contradiction, the tragedy cancels out the comedy, and vice versa, while the road trip reads like a postcard scribble.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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