Bucky F*cking Dent: A Novel
Written and Narrated By: David Duchovny
Length: 6 hrs and 18 mins
What a great book! Laughter, tears, you name it…!
I always get twitchy when I’m up to bat for choosing our next Listen for our little audiobook club. And I was reeeeally twitchy when I suggested Bucky F*cking Dent cuz almost every review of it over on Audible is laced with gratuitous profanity. Make no mistake, I totally go to town in the swears-like-a-sailor bit, but hey: We’re talking my MOM here. Sure, she’s chosen a few that were profanity-laced and fraught with shameless bed-hopping, but…
And yup, there’s plenty of swearing in this not-to-be-missed Listen, but it’s all sooo in keeping with each character, in keeping with the developing storylines, that I stopped worrying early on and just focused on how much fun I was having.
Even with David Duchovny’s somewhat robotic narration. I mean, like the dude doesn’t even TRY to differentiate between characters, and as there are many sections of back and forth dialogue between characters that go by pretty fast (And believe it or not, I eschewed my beloved x1.25 speed for x1!), every now and again I got a bit lost. That said, however, I could follow along by the content of the dialogue, as each character maintained a certain style of conversation, a certain use of words, that was emblematic of great writing, even if it did show a trifle unfortunate delivery. But don’t even get me started on the sex scene as both man and woman sound the same, and as they’re both a tad spastic about the whole deal, even as one seeks to control the other kinda sorta in a very nice way, it was way hard to keep up. Seriously, at x1 speed! I mean, either Duchovny really could’ve changed his voice up (Just a bit; I’m beggin’ ya!), or I’m the one with the “processing” problem.
Let’s get on with the story though, shall we? Ted is a man of a certain age, known as Mr. Peanut for being the guy who chucks peanuts out to customers during the baseball game, even as he struggles to write The Next Great Novel. To say that he’s an underachiever, would be a gross understatement; the man had potential, but now he’s simply wallowing, letting life pass him by at a steady clip. His agent says he needs more life experience, and as life would have it: Here comes his estranged father, dying of cancer. Ted fleetingly wonders if Life is about to happen to him, maybe there’s a story in it somewhere, but soon settles into the situation. And it’s a tale of a father who could not love, and a little boy who DESperately wanted that paternal love and attention.
Dad, Marty, apologizes even as he’s UNapologetic as all get-out, but as the two struggle along, a closeness develops. And Marty’s dying belief is that the Red Sox will win big, that at that point, and no other, he can be at peace with dying. So there’s a bit of a story with Ted getting Marty’s friends and some neighbors (And one foul-mouthed newspaper kid) into a scheme whereby a new-fangled machine, a VCR, is used to show old games where the Sox win.
I did so love the Gray Panthers, as those friends called themselves, and I dearly loved the earnest yet deeply flawed Marty. At first, I kinda struggled with Ted as he was so judgmental and unyielding, but I started to see the hurt kid in him, the flailing and unhappy adult. And when the Grief Counselor is in the picture? Well, her story shows a life of heartbreak and grief as well.
The characters are memorable, and their developing bonds are believable. And when Marty partakes of The Pot with Ted, that’s just plain adorable and hilarious.
So the audiobook was a hit for our little group, kinda giving us some heartfelt levity and unabashed sentimentality that was missing after our last few Listens (Do I even need to say that American Dirt was like getting bashed over the head in a woeful and repetitive fashion? Or that Insane Clown President had me sooo disheartened and hopeless that I started looking at shoelaces and started seeing little nooses?).
You want a great listen? Here ya go: barely 6+ hours of David Duchovny somewhat-droning but totally-rocking at the same time!
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