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Sign up todayThe Ski Jumpers
A Novel
Narrator
Robert Fass
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Length
13 hours 24 minutes
Language
English
A writer and former ski jumper facing a terminal diagnosis takes one more leap—into a past of soaring flights and broken family bonds
A brilliant ski jumper has to be fearless—Jon Bargaard remembers this well. His memories of daring leaps and risks might be the key to the book he’s always wanted to write: a novel about his family, beginning with Pops, once a champion ski jumper himself, who also took Jon and his younger brother Anton to the heights.
But Jon has never been able to get past the next, ruinous episode of their history, and now that he has received a terrible diagnosis, he’s afraid he never will.
In a bravura performance, Peter Geye follows Jon deep into the past he tried so hard to leave behind, telling the story he spent his life escaping. It begins with a flourish, his father and his hard-won sweetheart fleeing Chicago—and a notoriously ruthless gangster—to land in North Minneapolis. That, at least, was the tale Jon heard, one that becomes more and more suspect as he revisits the events that eventually tore the family in two, sending his father to prison, his mother to the state hospital, and placing himself, a teenager, in charge of thirteen-year-old Anton.
Traveling back and forth in time, Jon tells his family’s story—perhaps his last chance to share it—to his beloved wife Ingrid, circling ever closer to the truth about those events and his own part in them and revealing the perhaps unforgivable violence done to the brothers’ bond.
The dream of ski jumping haunts Jon as his tale unfolds, daring time to stop just long enough to stick the landing.
As thrilling as those soaring flights, as precarious as the Bargaard family’s complicated love, as tender as Jon’s backward gaze while disease takes him inexorably forward, Peter Geye’s gorgeous prose brings the brothers to the precipice of their relationship, where they have to choose: each other, or the secrets they’ve held so tightly for so long.
Peter Geye is author of award-winning novels Safe from the Sea, The Lighthouse Road, Wintering (winner of the Minnesota Book Award), and Northernmost. He teaches the yearlong Novel Writing Project at the Loft Literary Center. Born and raised in Minneapolis, he continues to live there with his family.
Winner of the prestigious Audie Award (for History and Audio Drama), veteran actor Robert Fass is equally at home in a wide variety of styles, genres, characters, and dialects. A seven-time Audie nominee with over 100 unabridged audiobooks to his credit, Robert has also earned multiple Earphones Awards, including for his narration of Joe Golem and the Drowning City by Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden. Robert has given voice to modern and classic fiction writers alike, including Ray Bradbury, Joyce Carol Oates, John Steinbeck, Carlos Fuentes, Isaac Asimov, Ellery Queen, Steve Berry, Jeffrey Deaver, and Nele Neuhaus, plus bestselling nonfiction works in history, politics, health, journalism, philosophy, and business.
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Reviews
“The Ski Jumpers is a remarkable story about love: between two brothers, and between a father and son. But it’s also about the intense love of place, and a time in three lives when gravity had less hold and a spirit might fly. Peter Geye brilliantly captures the physicality of our connection to a landscape and to the moments when—despite incalculable loss—we bring the best of ourselves.”
“Like its ski jumping protagonists, this family saga takes flight with a hammering heart and soars through questions of debt, failure, courage, and reconciliation. It’s both distinctly Minnesotan and hugely humane…I was deeply moved.”
“This elegiac waking dream of a writer and former ski jumper colliding with his own mortality is a timeless, weightless leap into the winter air of memory…[An] achingly beautiful story of city and north woods, of complex family relationships, surprising sacrifices, and strengths.”
“As Robert Fass narrates this wintry audiobook, he invigorates the characters through intelligent pacing and a fine storyteller’s tone and empathy…Fass creates an immersive listening experience. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.”
“Geye writes brilliantly about the action of ski jumping and the mix of fear and wonder young athletes encounter.”
“An ideal novel to savor by a fireplace with a warm blanket and hot cup of coffee as the snow beats the windows.”
“A story about love and alienation between brothers and their love for their father, a former champion jumper."
“Filled with complex family relationships, sacrifices, and love, The Ski Jumpers is a heart-wrenching novel that everyone should read."
“The perfect novel to help readers get excited about another Wisconsin winter. Geye is a former ski jumper, just like the book’s narrator, and his experience allows descriptions of the sport to soar sky-high.”
“If you’re a fan of arresting family dramas with a bit of a twist, complex and provocative characters, breathtaking landscapes wrapped in luminous prose, The Ski Jumpers is your next read.”
“By moving back and forth in time, Geye gradually brings clarity to Jon’s past…[and] compassionately articulates Jon’s feelings of isolation.”
“Peter Geye writes full-hearted novels made for winter, and The Ski Jumpers is his best to date.”
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