THE GREAT WAVE The Era of Radical Disruption and the Rise of the Outsider

Tavia Gilbert, who has narrated works by this author twice before, clearly gets her informed and impassioned voice and neatly emulates her literary style. Gilbert's even tone captures the seriousness of this ambitious endeavor. Kakutani offers listeners a version of cultural history that entwines two phenomena--radical disruptions in media and the arts and the rise of the outsider in fiction, film, and politics. This audiobook serves as a kind of pulse taking of contemporary life and its discontents. Kakutani cleverly connects the outsiders in TV's "The Wire," "The Sopranos," and "Breaking Bad" to shifts in the political narrative demonstrated by Black Lives Matter, Occupy Wall Street, and the Arab Spring--all representing significant cultural shifts. While it can occasionally be opaque, this audiobook is worth listening to. A.D.M. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine [Published: MARCH 2024]