The Coma Monologues

By: Mario Milosevic

Narrated by: Michelle Babb

Length: 7 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

For Gary Hawken, life in a coma comes with few perks. Nurses care for him and people sit by his bed and tell him stories, but the glorious mess of life passes him by. In a world where survival depends on his ability to understand his stories, Gary must recognize the value of his own soul. A hypnotic tale of one man's struggle to find the truth in his own epic life.

©2011, 2014 Mario Milosevic (P)2015 Mario Milosevic

Whether To Wake Or Not To Wake

Where does The Coma Monologues rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Right up there! It was an amazing experience and I could not imagine experiencing this particular book in any other way... Unless it was watching it on a stage :)

Who was your favorite character and why?

The centaur because he was so far from the mythological being as to truly be comedic just for existing :)

What does Michelle Babb bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

She brings loads of nuance and expression to the characters that I would totally miss. Her performance makes.the characters seem much more.alive than myself reading the book ever could!!

If you could take any character from The Coma Monologues out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Melody to ask.her how she could stay so positive and keep the faith for so long! I cannot fathom sacrificing so much and being so hopeful in such an arduous situation :)

Any additional comments?

This book is a loosely strewn together collection of essays on a common theme in chronological order. I believe if to be a stand alone novel.


What I find most intriguing about this book is that it could be easily acted out as a play with little effort. There wouldn't need to be any real conversion of the work. It also could be used as audition pieces as each essay is really only person giving a monologue as per the premise of the book.


Gary is in a coma. His wife desperately wants him to wake up and rejoin the land of the living. She devises a plan to get various people from his life.to come and talk to him. She hopes that he will hear something that will make him want to wake up. She also records the conversations for later playback to Gary in case repetition helps to hasten the process. Will her plan succeed? Can her hear them? Will he wake up? Does he want to? Or will he die without ever waking up again?


***This book is suitable for adult readers who enjoy hopeful and dramatic novels full of joy, disappointment, humor and angst tempered with grief and paranormal aspects :)




°°°The performance contained within this audio book was varied and engaging evoking both happiness and grief as well as humor and frustration alternately. I believe books like this lend them self easily to narration as they are basically written for the stage already :) I look forward to more! Both from the author and this incredibly talented narrator :) °°°

Unique Talks to the Subconscious

I found this story to be quirky because of all the characters who come into talk to Gary while he is in a coma some are real and some not so much. This book definitely puts a new perspective on what can a person in a coma actually hear or dream about. Michelle Babb did and excellent job because that was a lot of voices. This book may be a little long but some of the monologues are funny, touching and absolutely ridiculous. I highly recommend this book. I received this book for free and this is my honest unbiased review.

Very quirky story.

I was given this audio book in exchange for an honest review. The book is about Gary Hawken, who is in a coma after having been in a car wreck. His wife, Melody, has decided that rounding up people from his past to carry on one-sided conversations by his bedside will help him come out of the coma.
This concept was something I could comprehend. It threw me for a loop, however, when some of the "people" who came to talk to him were mythical, historical and basically made-up. The author was losing me. He managed to rope me back in. Eventually, it all made some sort of bizarre sense and I was glad I stuck with it. My favorite monologue was that of Gary's mother. My least favorite was that of God talking to Gary. I really have been debating with myself whether this story is just strange or brilliant. You'll have to decide for yourself. I do believe the ending was brilliant in it's brevity.
The performance by narrator Michelle Babb was fantastic. It totally blows me away when someone can come up with that many variations of voices.

Confusing at times.

There were chapters in the book which didn’t make sense until you got to the end and the author explained it. That to me is not a book. It is a collection of stories. And maybe that was the author’s intention, but take the comatose patient out of the collection.
The narrator was excellent.

an orginal read...

This book is conversations from people who knows or knew a coma patient at some point in their life. The souse feels something someone says might wake the patient up. While this is an original (to me) story plot, I found the book more dull than exciting. There are some good parts in it, also some very strange ones. I did like the ending however.

The author, Mario Milosevic had a fairly good idea when it came to writing this book, but I feel it could have been a little more exciting. The narrator, Michelle Babb did a good job on the delivery, but a really great narration starts with the writer.

I received this audio book free in exchange for a honest and unbiased review.

Come on, Gary, wake up already!

The Coma Monologues, by Mario Milosevic, is an interesting concept for a book. Coma patient, Gary Hawken, is visited by a variety of individuals each trying to give him the will to wake up and resume his life. Visitors include the usual parade of family and acquaintances but Milosevic includes a few unusual characters as well, a centaur, a crow who has witnessed the accident that caused the coma, Gary's dead mother and even Scheherazade. Will any of the visitors be compelling enough to cause Gary to waken? The story is unique and pretty well keeps a reader's interest. Be aware there is some foul language. Michelle Babb does a great job of narration on the audiobook, giving each of the individuals a unique voice. Her voice is easy to listen to and makes the listening experience a pleasant one.

life review

A review of Gary's life (he's in a coma) as seen through the eyes of his visitors. Eye opening! I'm ambivalent as to whether I'd want to experience this if I were in Gary's place!! I felt a great deal of empathy for the truck driver. It moved me to tears. I voluntarily listened to a free copy of this and am giving an honest review. The narrator did a great job.

The most unique book I've encountered for ages

Would you listen to The Coma Monologues again? Why?

Yes. Took me a while to get into this book and now I'd like to go back and fill in some fuzzy memories I have of different characters.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The author. Won't say why as it would be a spoiler.

What about Michelle Babb’s performance did you like?

Although I HATED listening to God, I loved the choice to make him/her sound robotic.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No. Needed to get my head wrapped around parts of it but it still managed to be a pretty easy listen.

Any additional comments?

I've already talked about this book to several friends. I can see it not being a lot of people's cup of tea, but I love that I loved it. Makes me feel smarter somehow.
"This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of Audiobook Blast."

Help Me! I've Fallen and I Can't Wake Up!!!!!!!

Would you listen to The Coma Monologues again? Why?

Probably not. While I enjoyed this book , for me it was the type that I would only read once because of all the characters and knowing the outcome.

What did you like best about this story?

The whole premise of his wife having friends and loved ones etc.come in and make recordings for him.

What about Michelle Babb’s performance did you like?

The way she can glide from one character to another.With this book I would think it would be difficult.

If you could take any character from The Coma Monologues out to dinner, who would it be and why?

DEFINITELY MELODY! I would love to talk to a woman who loves her husband the way she loves him!

Any additional comments?

Yes, while I loved the idea for the book I feel it could have been a few chapters shorter. Some of the characters I thought were unnecessary. Otherwise, a very enjoyable listening!Thank you I need to add that I was given this book to review.

Interesting story line

At first I was not sure about this book, but then I got hooked. There were some visits / chapters that I enjoyed much more than others. The question is" Will Gary wake up? You will have to read the book to hear the interesting ending.

Michelle Babb's is one of my favorite narrators. She makes the story interesting with the different character voices. I have enjoyed many books narrated by Michelle.

I was given a copy of this book at my request and have volunatrily left this review.