Review of The Night Listener

The Night Listener is a riveting, suspense-filled novel

The Night Listener is a riveting, suspense-filled novel that explores the depths of the human heart. The author tells the story through a variety of stylistic devices and turns, the majority of which revolve around Gabriel Noone, a writer, and host of a well-known radio program, and Pete, who lives with his adoptive mother, Donna. Examining Pete and Dona’s friendship is one approach to examine the book.

Donna and Pete’s Strange Relationship

Donna is Pete’s adopted mother, and the two remain in Wisconsin after his biological parents are imprisoned for selling him to pedophiles. The relationship of Pete and Donna can be said characterized as strange and probably Pete only existed in the imagination of Donna. The relationship between the two is illuminated in the novel when Gabriel agrees to blurb Pete’s book, and a telephone relationship develops between them. Gabriel’s former partner is the first to question the relationship between Pete and Donna and wonders whether Pete exists at all. After speaking to them for twenty minutes Jess remarks, ’’Pete and Donna have the same voice.’’ When Gabriel says it is because of the Flat Midwestern thing, Jess affirms that they are the same person. ’’No. I mean it’s the same person.’

The Empathetic Relationship between Donna and Pete

The relationship between Donna and Pete is also characterized with empathy, where she feels obliged to adopt the boy, as she was a social worker dealing with his case. His biological parents had sexually abused him. Dianna helps the boy develop a fatherly relationship with Gabriel, which occurs over the phone. However, he is not able to meet the boy who later dies in a controversial manner, raising the question of whether he is not a deranged imagination of Donna.

Conclusion

Through the strange relationship between Donna and Pete, the author tells a story that almost defeats human reasoning and imagination.