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Extraordinary Adventures
Extraordinary Adventures
Extraordinary Adventures
Audiobook10 hours

Extraordinary Adventures

Written by Daniel Wallace

Narrated by David Aaron Baker

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

3/5

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About this audiobook

Edsel Bronfman works as a junior executive shipping clerk for an importer of Korean flatware. He lives in a seedy neighborhood and spends his free time with his spirited mother. Things happen to other people, and Bronfman knows it. Until, that is, he gets a call from operator 61217 telling him that he's won a free weekend at a beachfront condo in Destin, Florida. But there's a catch: the offer is intended for a couple, and Bronfman has only seventy-nine days to find someone to take with him. The phone call jolts Bronfman into motion, initiating a series of truly extraordinary adventures as he sets out to find a companion for his weekend getaway. Open at last to the possibilities of life, Bronfman now believes that anything can happen. And it does. A large-hearted and optimistic novel, Extraordinary Adventures is the latest from the New York Times bestselling Daniel Wallace
LanguageEnglish
Release dateMay 30, 2017
ISBN9781501946165
Extraordinary Adventures
Author

Daniel Wallace

Daniel Wallace is the author of five novels. His first, Big Fish, was made into a motion picture of the same name by Tim Burton in 2003, and a musical version on Broadway in 2013. He is a contributing editor to Garden & Gun magazine and is the J. Ross MacDonald Distinguished Professor of English at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where he teaches and directs the Creative Writing Program. Visit his website at DanielWallace.org.

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Reviews for Extraordinary Adventures

Rating: 3.206896427586207 out of 5 stars
3/5

29 ratings2 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURES by Daniel Wallace is a strange, funny, weird and surprisingly likable book by the author of BIG FISH. I have not read anything else by Mr. Wallace, but I did see the movie based on his story, and so I found myself wondering what this tale might provide. It gave me a strange but likable main character in Edsel Bronfman, an odd situation (he has "won" a vacation to a condo time-share resort, all he has to do is listen to a sales talk for an hour while there) and a complication to his story (he must bring a female companion with him to the resort). But the biggest complication is, although he is 34, Edsel has never had a female companion, yet alone one he could ask along on this trip. This is Edsel's life in search of a new way of living. He has a computer entry job that would seem to be totally anonymous, boring, even soul-suckingly drab, and no friends beside Thomas Edison, his next door neighbor in the terrible apartment block where they both live. His only female companion is his increasingly whacked out mother who is rapidly sliding into dementia. His father was a one night stand that now appears to be, literally, haunting his mother. Edsel determines to use this vacation and so sets out to somehow alter his life and get involved with a woman, any woman, but someone he could see himself actually liking and who would like him in return. If BIG FISH was a search for the reality of a father, this is a search for self. Edsel must look into himself, his reasons for being and decide how to change. This is a journey fraught with dangers, either from snobby artists or drug dealers, thieves and cops, or a mother increasingly lost to herself and him and taking her own semi-private journey. Somehow Mr. Wallace manages to make sure this tale is never glum, that there is a promise of a brighter tomorrow throughout, and that the hero of the piece is someone that, while we might actually want to be friends with, we might approve of their trek. This is a surprisingly thoughtful and delicate story.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    “Extraordinary Adventures” by Daniel WallaceI would like to thank BookBrowse and St. Martin’s Press for the Advanced Reading Edition of “Extraordinary Adventures” by Daniel Wallace. The genres of this book are fiction, humor and satire. I find that the author introduces us to some intriguing, quirky, and complicated characters. The main character, Edsel Bronfman can be described as a predictable, boring, unimaginative and appears to have an uneventful life. Edsel’s job and his mother seem to be the constant factor in his life. One day, Edsel gets a call from a company called “Extraordinary Adventures”, and the operator tells him he has won a weekend by the beach in Florida. The only strings attached is he has to sit for a speech on condo opportunities and he must bring a companion. Now Edsel is in a pickle. He really has no friends, or girlfriends. Edsel’s mother is quite a “firecracker”, and highly spirited. Some complications appear in Edsel’s life. His mother seems to be getting dementia, making her unpredictable. Edsel hires help for his mother and is determined that somehow, someway he will find a companion to take on his free vacation. Edsel is having some interesting adventures. At times I found myself feeling sorry for Edsel, or frustrated that he seemed like an “afterthought”. As Edsel gets more confidence, he has more hope and is optimistic. He feels anything can happen. There are positive and negative things that occur. Daniel Wallace uses subtle satire and humor through his descriptions, and I find that I enjoyed this novel and would recommend it. Does Edsel get to Florida? You will have to read this to find out!!