Flashlight by Susan Choi: audiobook vs book, which should you choose?
The story covers sixty years, three countries and four points of view, and the father goes by three different names.
Short answer: for the Flashlight audiobook vs book choice, we say read it on Kindle (64% confidence, close call). Eunice Wong reads it solo and unabridged in 17 hours 52 minutes (17h 52m), and Kirkus praised her reading. The story rotates between four viewpoints and keeps circling back in time, and one narrator reads all of it. Those points narrowly outweigh the praised reading. Print heads each section with the character’s name and sets the prologue in italics.
Read it on Kindle
The book has four viewpoints and a timeline that keeps circling back, and one narrator reads all of it. On the other side are a praised reading and a 528-page book.
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Confidence 64%, which puts it in the close call band. Bands run from close call at 50 to 64, through leaning at 65 to 79 and clear at 80 to 94, up to clear cut at 95 and above.
The audiobook at a glance
| Recording | UK edition, our verdict (Penguin Audio) | US edition (Macmillan Audio) |
|---|---|---|
| Narrator | Eunice Wong, solo | Eunice Wong, solo |
| Length | 17 hours 52 minutes (17h 52m) | 17 hours 53 minutes (17h 53m) |
| At 1.5x | about 11h 55m | about 11h 55m |
| At 2x | 8h 56m | about 8h 57m |
| Abridged or unabridged | Unabridged | Unabridged |
| Audio publisher and year | Penguin Audio (Vintage Digital), 10 July 2025 | Macmillan Audio, 3 June 2025 |
| Print length | 528 pages (Vintage paperback) | 464 pages (FSG hardcover) |
Both editions are read by Eunice Wong; whether they are one recording is not confirmed.
Lengths checked 15 October 2026. Speed times are calculated from the listed length.
Flashlight
Susan Choi
- Genre
- Literary fiction, family saga
- Published
- 2025
- Length
- 528 pages (Vintage paperback)
- On audio
- 17 hrs 52 mins
- Narrated by
- Eunice Wong
- Prizes
- Shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2025 and the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2026
On this page
Why we reached this verdict
Every book on this site is checked against the same thirteen questions. They are based on research into what most people find easier to follow in each format, not on whether the book is any good.
Listening: award-winning or praised narration (6), long book (3), 9 points. Reading: jumping timelines (8), three or more points of view, one narrator (8), 16 points. 64% of the confirmed points favour reading, so the verdict is read it on Kindle at 64% confidence (close call).
The recording in detail
- Narrated by
- Eunice Wong, solo, unabridged
- Narrator’s record
- Audie Award winner (2024), nine AudioFile Earphones Awards, more than 100 audiobooks
- Listener rating
- 4.4 from 372 ratings on Audible UK, as of October 2026
- What audio adds
- One performer voicing four viewpoints and every age from childhood up
- What you miss
- The italic prologue, the character-name headings as a visual cue, and the references list at the back
What this book actually is
Flashlight is a standalone family saga by Susan Choi, who won the National Book Award in 2019 for Trust Exercise. It was published in the US by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in June 2025 and in the UK by Jonathan Cape in July 2025, with the 528-page Vintage paperback following in February 2026.
It follows one family from the 1940s to the 2000s across Japan, Korea and the United States, starting from a night on a breakwater. It began life as a 2020 New Yorker short story, which became the prologue.
It was shortlisted for the 2025 Booker Prize and the 2026 Women’s Prize for Fiction, longlisted for the 2025 National Book Award, and was a finalist for the 2026 Orwell Prize for Political Fiction.
The case for reading it
The structure is the main reason to read it in print. Sections rotate between Serk, Anne and Louisa, with occasional sections from Tobias, and each is headed with the character’s name. In print that heading tells you whose perspective you have before you read a word. Time is harder to follow. We found no dated headings, so you work out when each section is set from school grades and events, while the book keeps returning to the breakwater. Being able to flick back and check is worth a lot over 528 pages.
Then there are the names. The father is Seok at birth, Hiroshi in Japan and Serk in America, and the book uses more than one of them. Seeing the spelling makes his three lives easier to keep apart. The prologue is set entirely in italics before the story switches to roman type, so in print you can see where the frame ends. The references list at the back is also easier to use in print.
The case for listening to it
If any narrator can read a book like this well on her own, it is Eunice Wong. She has more than 100 audiobooks behind her, a 2024 Audie Award and nine AudioFile Earphones Awards, and Kirkus praises both the patience of her reading and her range across ages. The Booker Prize’s reader-picked feature on the best Booker audiobooks names her performance too.
Length is the other factor. At 17 hours 52 minutes it is the longest listen on the 2026 Women’s Prize shortlist, but it comes in under nine hours at 2x, and some readers find a long family saga easier to commit to as an audiobook than as a 528-page paperback.
The audiobook in detail
Penguin Audio published the UK edition under its Vintage Digital imprint on 10 July 2025, the same day as the Cape hardback. It runs 17 hours 52 minutes, unabridged: about 11 hours 55 minutes at 1.5x and 8 hours 56 minutes at 2x. Macmillan Audio’s US edition, also read by Wong, came out on 3 June 2025 at 17 hours 53 minutes; whether it is the same recording is not confirmed.
As of October 2026 it is rated 4.4 from 372 ratings on Audible UK. One UK listener felt the English accents were “not done so well”, a single opinion rather than a pattern. Whether the recording reads out the character-name headings or the references list is not stated.
Who should ignore this verdict
Listeners who already know Eunice Wong’s work and trust her with a big cast. She is the reason to try a sample. Anyone who gets through long literary novels mainly on walks and commutes, and would rather listen for eighteen hours than leave a 528-page paperback unread. And anyone coming back to the book a second time, who already knows that Seok, Hiroshi and Serk are one man and where the breakwater fits.
Read differently from most people? The app, coming soon, will let you switch off any of the thirteen checks. Get notified →
Related verdicts
The Correspondent
It won the 2026 Women’s Prize, and our verdict is to listen.
John of John
It has several viewpoints and a language that is spelled out in print, so our verdict is to read it.
Heart the Lover
It was on the same shortlist and is a third of the length, and our verdict is to listen.
Start hereHow we decide
The thirteen questions behind every verdict on this site.
Questions people ask
Who narrates the Flashlight audiobook by Susan Choi?
Eunice Wong reads the Flashlight audiobook, solo and unabridged, in both the UK edition (Penguin Audio) and the US edition (Macmillan Audio).
How long is the Flashlight audiobook?
The Flashlight audiobook is 17 hours 52 minutes (17h 52m) in the UK edition, about 11h 55m at 1.5x and 8h 56m at 2x (calculated). The US edition runs 17 hours 53 minutes.
Is the Flashlight audiobook abridged?
No. Both the UK and US editions are unabridged.
Should I read or listen to Flashlight?
Read it on our checks (64% confidence, close call). The book rotates between four viewpoints and keeps circling back in time, and one narrator reads all of it. That narrowly outweighs a praised reading and a long book.
Did Flashlight win the Booker Prize or the Women’s Prize?
No, it was shortlisted for both. Flesh by David Szalay won the 2025 Booker Prize, and The Correspondent by Virginia Evans won the 2026 Women’s Prize for Fiction.
Is Flashlight based on a short story?
Yes. It began as a short story published in The New Yorker in 2020, which became the novel’s prologue.
Do you agree with this verdict?
We said read it on Kindle. One tap, no sign-up.
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How this verdict was reached
Every book on this site is checked against the same thirteen questions, set in advance and applied identically to every title. They are based on research into what readers and listeners generally find easier to follow in each format, not on personal preference, and they are published in full so you can check the reasoning yourself. Verdicts are never paid for, sponsored or influenced by affiliate partners.
- The criteria: read the thirteen questions in full.
- What we checked for this book: the Penguin Audio and Macmillan Audio listings on Audible UK and Audible US, Penguin UK and FSG edition details, the Kirkus review of the recording, the Booker and Women’s Prize shortlists, and the publisher’s extract for how sections are headed.
- Verdict last reviewed: 23 October 2026. Editions and narrators change, so verdicts are rechecked annually.
- Prefer different criteria? The app, coming soon, will let you change which of the thirteen questions matter to you.
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