This discomfiting modern classic is both more disturbing and profound in audiobook format
If you've ever been steamrolled by obnoxious innuendos from a man you wish you'd never met, then you already know a little about the experience of listening to Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, the audio version of the critically acclaimed David Foster Wallace short story collection. The "interviews" consist of men sharing their innermost thoughts about sex and relationships, often exposing — flasher-like — their twisted motivations and desires. Something about the audio format — maybe it's the way it cannot be slammed shut like a book, or hurled at the wall — intensifies its characters' hideousness to a whole new level.

For literati still reeling from David Foster Wallace's 2008 suicide, a small measure of comfort can be taken in precisely that: the way his essays, short story collections, and novels —including Infinite Jest, Broom of the System and Girl with Curious Hair — take on new life in new adaptations or multiple readings. This is especially true given the author's trademark tendency to treat writing as an intellectual and linguistic petri dish, a flair for invention that earned him numerous awards, including a MacArthur Fellowship.

Even still, some fans might mistakenly believe the recently released film version of Brief Interviews (directed by John Krasinski, of The Office fame), renders the audiobook less interesting. Nothing could be further from the truth. While both pare down the collection, they both manage to push different emotional buttons. The movie, for its part, brings all the disembodied voices together into a coherent narrative arc, with a female protagonist conducting scientific research via the interviews. The result: a greater distance between the audience and these men. By contrast, the audiobook allows the interviews to stand as disembodied voices, disconnected from one other except by their shared themes. The effect is arguably more disturbing, and more profound.