I didn't immediately realize that this was an old collection brought newly to audio, but I was grateful for the opportunity to listen.

I was given a NetGalley widget for this one a year ago and I just got around to reading it and dangit it was so good. I am so thankful for the opportunity to have consumed this wildly relevant fictional tale, which felt not at all fictional, more like historical fiction, due to the times. The cover initially was what drew me in, but I'm so thankful to have stuck with it because the outcome was magical. I always love listening to audiobooks and when they sweep me off my feet, I'm just utterly captivated!

Andre Aciman knows quite a bit about displacement, as his family were refugees, expelled from Alexandria, Egypt, in the mid-1950s. They first transferred their citizenship to Italy, and then spent several years in Rome, before making their way to the United States. Although he now identifies as American, his writing feels very European to me, as his roving mind and sharp intelligence linger on topics of identity, space, and time.

A friend of his notes that he would rather be in New York dreaming of Paris than be in Paris. He recognizes that this is true, and it is clear that although he is grounded by home and a loving family, he has a restless mind, and catches himself dreaming of other places. Aciman’s explorations of this longing, and its genesis, make up the emotional core of many of the essays found here.

He is at his best when he is discussing place—and I particularly enjoyed the lovely story he tells about the synchronicities of his visit to Bordighera, Italy, in search of Monet’s inspiration (the painter had spent time in the town in the 1880s), and the first, wonderful, chapter on scent and memory. I also enjoyed the personal essays about traveling with his wife and three sons, and one of the later meditations on the impact of the quiet home when the last of his sons leaves for university.

As passive agressive as it sounds, I love it when authors take themselves way too seriously, and Aciman is the clearest example of this. I couldn't really tell you what this collection is actually about, nor could I tell you I took anything from it, but the evident devotion Aciman has for his own capacity for writing is what makes Alibis somewhat impressive, even if, at times, it sounded like nonsense to me. Obviously self-involved, as all his works tend to be, but very heartfelt, and you can feel the love Aciman has for tiniest things, the most random things, he chooses to talks about. Really loved the first essay, Lavender---think I would have liked it altogether more if I had just read it by itself, but oh well, good book for annoying people.

I was intrigued by the concept and blurb. I really enjoy thoughtful essay collections, and thought this would be a great fit. Unfortunately, I really struggled with the audiobook... I think I might have done better with a print book. I didn't mind the narrator but he didn't do anything for me either, and the combination of his reading and the subject matter just did not work for me. I could not stay engaged at all and was not able to finish.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan audio for this audiobook ARC! I’m a big fan of André Aciman after reading Call Me Be Your Name and Find Me. This was a lovely collection of essays and stories of André’s life of travel, childhood and love of art. I really enjoyed the narrator of this story as well.