We Are Not Ourselves
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months
Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
We Are Not Ourselves
Buy for $26.24
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Mare Winningham
-
By:
-
Matthew Thomas
About this listen
Destined to be a classic, this "powerfully moving" (Chad Harbach, The Art of Fielding) multigenerational debut novel of an Irish-American family is nothing short of a "masterwork". (Joshua Ferris, Then We Came to the End).
Born in 1941, Eileen Tumulty is raised by her Irish immigrant parents in Woodside, Queens, in an apartment where the mood swings between heartbreak and hilarity, depending on whether guests are over and how much alcohol has been consumed.
When Eileen meets Ed Leary, a scientist whose bearing is nothing like those of the men she grew up with, she thinks she’s found the perfect partner to deliver her to the cosmopolitan world she longs to inhabit. They marry, and Eileen quickly discovers Ed doesn’t aspire to the same, ever bigger, stakes in the American Dream.
Eileen encourages her husband to want more: a better job, better friends, a better house, but as years pass it becomes clear that his growing reluctance is part of a deeper psychological shift. An inescapable darkness enters their lives, and Eileen and Ed and their son, Connell, try desperately to hold together a semblance of the reality they have known, and to preserve, against long odds, an idea they have cherished of the future.
Through the Learys, novelist Matthew Thomas charts the story of the American Century, particularly the promise of domestic bliss and economic prosperity that captured hearts and minds after WWII. The result is a riveting and affecting work of art; one that reminds us that life is more than a tally of victories and defeats, that we live to love and be loved, and that we should tell one another so before the moment slips away.
Epic in scope, heroic in character, masterful in prose, We Are Not Ourselves heralds the arrival of a major new talent in contemporary fiction.
©2014 Matthew Thomas (P)2014 Simon & SchusterListeners also enjoyed...
-
A Prayer for Owen Meany
- By: John Irving
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 27 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 10,830
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 9,008
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 8,996
Of all of John Irving's books, this is the one that lends itself best to audio. In print, Owen Meany's dialogue is set in capital letters; for this production, Irving himself selected Joe Barrett to deliver Meany's difficult voice as intended. In the summer of 1953, two 11-year-old boys – best friends – are playing in a Little League baseball game in Gravesend, New Hampshire. One of the boys hits a foul ball that kills the other boy's mother. The boy who hits the ball doesn't believe in accidents; Owen Meany believes he is God's instrument. What happens to Owen after that 1953 foul ball is extraordinary and terrifying.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Outstanding
- By Alan on 03-28-11
By: John Irving
-
Tom Lake
- A Novel
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Meryl Streep
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 16,593
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 15,357
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 15,343
In the spring of 2020, Lara’s three daughters return to the family's orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
So incredibly boring
- By Rhonda Morrison on 08-05-23
By: Ann Patchett
-
The Covenant of Water
- By: Abraham Verghese
- Narrated by: Abraham Verghese
- Length: 31 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 9,925
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 8,680
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 8,668
Spanning the years 1900 to 1977, The Covenant of Water is set in Kerala, on South India’s Malabar Coast, and follows three generations of a family that suffers a peculiar affliction: in every generation, at least one person dies by drowning—and in Kerala, water is everywhere. At the turn of the century, a twelve-year-old girl from Kerala’s long-existing Christian community, grieving the death of her father, is sent by boat to her wedding, where she will meet her forty-year-old husband for the first time.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Story Telling At Its Best
- By Regina on 05-06-23
By: Abraham Verghese
-
Let the Great World Spin
- A Novel
- By: Colum McCann
- Narrated by: Richard Poe, Gerard Doyle, Carol Monda, and others
- Length: 15 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 733
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 650
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 654
In the dawning light of a late-summer morning, the people of lower Manhattan stand hushed, staring up in disbelief at the Twin Towers. It is August 1974, and a mysterious tightrope walker is running, dancing, leaping between the towers, suspended a quarter mile above the ground. In the streets below, a slew of ordinary lives become extraordinary in bestselling novelist Colum McCann’s stunningly intricate portrait of a city and its people.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Wish I'd chosen the book, rather than audio.
- By narrowback slacker on 02-23-17
By: Colum McCann
-
Hello Beautiful
- A Novel
- By: Ann Napolitano
- Narrated by: Maura Tierney
- Length: 15 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 6,773
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 6,040
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 6,038
William Waters grew up in a house silenced by tragedy, where his parents could hardly bear to look at him, much less love him—so when he meets the spirited and ambitious Julia Padavano in his freshman year of college, it’s as if the world has lit up around him. With Julia comes her family, as she and her three sisters are inseparable: Sylvie, the family’s dreamer, is happiest with her nose in a book; Cecelia is a free-spirited artist; and Emeline patiently takes care of them all.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Book was great, performance terrible
- By Amazon Customer on 03-17-23
By: Ann Napolitano
-
The Lincoln Highway
- A Read with Jenna Pick (A Novel)
- By: Amor Towles
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, Marin Ireland, Dion Graham
- Length: 16 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 23,047
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 20,323
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 20,200
In June, 1954, eighteen-year-old Emmett Watson is driven home to Nebraska by the warden of the juvenile work farm where he has just served fifteen months for involuntary manslaughter. His mother long gone, his father recently deceased, and the family farm foreclosed upon by the bank, Emmett's intention is to pick up his eight-year-old brother, Billy, and head to California where they can start their lives anew. But when the warden drives away, Emmett discovers that two friends from the work farm have hidden themselves in the trunk of the warden's car.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
I'm totally opposite
- By Meaghan Bynum on 10-10-21
By: Amor Towles
-
A Prayer for Owen Meany
- By: John Irving
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 27 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 10,830
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 9,008
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 8,996
Of all of John Irving's books, this is the one that lends itself best to audio. In print, Owen Meany's dialogue is set in capital letters; for this production, Irving himself selected Joe Barrett to deliver Meany's difficult voice as intended. In the summer of 1953, two 11-year-old boys – best friends – are playing in a Little League baseball game in Gravesend, New Hampshire. One of the boys hits a foul ball that kills the other boy's mother. The boy who hits the ball doesn't believe in accidents; Owen Meany believes he is God's instrument. What happens to Owen after that 1953 foul ball is extraordinary and terrifying.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Outstanding
- By Alan on 03-28-11
By: John Irving
-
Tom Lake
- A Novel
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Meryl Streep
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 16,593
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 15,357
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 15,343
In the spring of 2020, Lara’s three daughters return to the family's orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
So incredibly boring
- By Rhonda Morrison on 08-05-23
By: Ann Patchett
-
The Covenant of Water
- By: Abraham Verghese
- Narrated by: Abraham Verghese
- Length: 31 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 9,925
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 8,680
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 8,668
Spanning the years 1900 to 1977, The Covenant of Water is set in Kerala, on South India’s Malabar Coast, and follows three generations of a family that suffers a peculiar affliction: in every generation, at least one person dies by drowning—and in Kerala, water is everywhere. At the turn of the century, a twelve-year-old girl from Kerala’s long-existing Christian community, grieving the death of her father, is sent by boat to her wedding, where she will meet her forty-year-old husband for the first time.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Story Telling At Its Best
- By Regina on 05-06-23
By: Abraham Verghese
-
Let the Great World Spin
- A Novel
- By: Colum McCann
- Narrated by: Richard Poe, Gerard Doyle, Carol Monda, and others
- Length: 15 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 733
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 650
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 654
In the dawning light of a late-summer morning, the people of lower Manhattan stand hushed, staring up in disbelief at the Twin Towers. It is August 1974, and a mysterious tightrope walker is running, dancing, leaping between the towers, suspended a quarter mile above the ground. In the streets below, a slew of ordinary lives become extraordinary in bestselling novelist Colum McCann’s stunningly intricate portrait of a city and its people.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Wish I'd chosen the book, rather than audio.
- By narrowback slacker on 02-23-17
By: Colum McCann
-
Hello Beautiful
- A Novel
- By: Ann Napolitano
- Narrated by: Maura Tierney
- Length: 15 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 6,773
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 6,040
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 6,038
William Waters grew up in a house silenced by tragedy, where his parents could hardly bear to look at him, much less love him—so when he meets the spirited and ambitious Julia Padavano in his freshman year of college, it’s as if the world has lit up around him. With Julia comes her family, as she and her three sisters are inseparable: Sylvie, the family’s dreamer, is happiest with her nose in a book; Cecelia is a free-spirited artist; and Emeline patiently takes care of them all.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Book was great, performance terrible
- By Amazon Customer on 03-17-23
By: Ann Napolitano
-
The Lincoln Highway
- A Read with Jenna Pick (A Novel)
- By: Amor Towles
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, Marin Ireland, Dion Graham
- Length: 16 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 23,047
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 20,323
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 20,200
In June, 1954, eighteen-year-old Emmett Watson is driven home to Nebraska by the warden of the juvenile work farm where he has just served fifteen months for involuntary manslaughter. His mother long gone, his father recently deceased, and the family farm foreclosed upon by the bank, Emmett's intention is to pick up his eight-year-old brother, Billy, and head to California where they can start their lives anew. But when the warden drives away, Emmett discovers that two friends from the work farm have hidden themselves in the trunk of the warden's car.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
I'm totally opposite
- By Meaghan Bynum on 10-10-21
By: Amor Towles
-
Darktown
- A Novel
- By: Thomas Mullen
- Narrated by: Andre Holland
- Length: 11 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 711
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 642
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 637
Responding to pressure from on high, the Atlanta Police Department is forced to hire its first black officers. It's a victory of sorts, though the newly minted policemen are met with deep hostility by their white peers, and their authority is limited: They can't arrest a suspect unless a white officer is present; they can't drive squad cars; they can't even enter the station through the front door.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
EXCELLENT Historical Police Procedural
- By shelley on 12-13-17
By: Thomas Mullen
-
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
- By: Junot Diaz
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis, Staci Snell
- Length: 16 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 4,919
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,288
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 3,305
Oscar is a sweet but disastrously overweight ghetto nerd who—from the New Jersey home he shares with his old world mother and rebellious sister—dreams of becoming the Dominican J.R.R. Tolkien and, most of all, finding love. But Oscar may never get what he wants. Blame the fukú—a curse that has haunted Oscar’s family for generations, following them on their epic journey from Santo Domingo to the USA.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Wondrous Book!!!
- By Robert on 06-22-12
By: Junot Diaz
-
What's Mine and Yours
- By: Naima Coster
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
- Length: 12 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 611
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 550
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 545
A community in the Piedmont of North Carolina rises in outrage as a county initiative draws students from the largely Black east side of town into predominantly White high schools on the west. For two students, Gee and Noelle, the integration sets off a chain of events that will tie their two families together in unexpected ways over the span of the next 20 years.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Wonderful book!!
- By Susan 🎧Audible-a-holic🎧 Crowe on 03-15-21
By: Naima Coster
-
The Bee Sting
- A Novel
- By: Paul Murray
- Narrated by: Heather O’Sullivan, Barry Fitzgerald, Beau Holland, and others
- Length: 26 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,534
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,410
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 1,410
The Barnes family is in trouble. Dickie’s once-lucrative car business is going under—but Dickie is spending his days in the woods, building an apocalypse-proof bunker with a renegade handyman. His wife, Imelda, is selling off her jewelry on eBay and half-heartedly dodging the attention of fast-talking cattle farmer Big Mike, while their teenage daughter, Cass, formerly top of her class, seems determined to binge drink her way through her final exams. As for twelve-year-old PJ, he’s on the brink of running away.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Bone Clocks meets Jonathan Franzen
- By Cranson on 10-26-23
By: Paul Murray
-
East of Eden
- By: John Steinbeck
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 25 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 18,403
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 16,288
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 16,282
This sprawling and often brutal novel, set in the rich farmlands of California's Salinas Valley, follows the intertwined destinies of two families - the Trasks and the Hamiltons - whose generations helplessly reenact the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Why have I avoided this Beautiful Book???
- By Kelly on 03-25-17
By: John Steinbeck
-
The Corrections
- A Novel
- By: Jonathan Franzen
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 21 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 2,998
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,596
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 2,604
The Corrections is a grandly entertaining novel for the new century--a comic, tragic masterpiece about a family breaking down in an age of easy fixes. After almost 50 years as a wife and mother, Enid Lambert is ready to have some fun. Unfortunately, her husband, Alfred, is losing his sanity to Parkinson's disease, and their children have long since flown the family nest to the catastrophes of their own lives. Enid has set her heart on an elusive goal: bringing her family together for one last Christmas at home.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
"Grandly Entertaining"? Really?
- By Georgia Burns on 10-08-13
By: Jonathan Franzen
-
The Picture of Dorian Gray
- Penguin Classics
- By: Oscar Wilde
- Narrated by: Ben Barnes
- Length: 8 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 531
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 459
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 452
Enthralled by his own exquisite portrait, Dorian Gray exchanges his soul for eternal youth and beauty. Influenced by his friend Lord Henry Wotton, he is drawn into a corrupt double life; indulging his desires in secret while remaining a gentleman in the eyes of polite society. Only his portrait bears the traces of his decadence. The novel was a succès de scandale, and the book was later used as evidence against Wilde at the Old Bailey in 1895. It has lost none of its power to fascinate and disturb.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Recommend this version
- By Selene Willingham on 06-16-20
By: Oscar Wilde
-
Commonwealth
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Hope Davis
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 7,913
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 7,115
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 7,115
One Sunday afternoon in Southern California, Bert Cousins shows up at Franny Keating's christening party uninvited. Before evening falls, he has kissed Franny's mother, Beverly - thus setting in motion the dissolution of their marriages and the joining of two families.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Patchett and Me--In-sympatico
- By Mel on 09-18-16
By: Ann Patchett
-
Heft
- By: Liz Moore
- Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne, Keith Szarabajka
- Length: 11 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 4,961
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 4,534
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 4,534
Forrmer academic Arthur Opp weighs 550 pounds and hasn’t left his rambling Brooklyn home in a decade. Twenty miles away in Yonkers, seventeen-year-old Kel Keller navigates life as the poor kid in a rich school and pins his hopes on what seems like a promising baseball career - if he can untangle himself from his family drama.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Intriguing--Captivating--Altering
- By Mel on 04-19-12
By: Liz Moore
-
The Kite Runner
- By: Khaled Hosseini
- Narrated by: Khaled Hosseini
- Length: 12 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 20,536
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 14,332
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 14,338
Why we think it’s a great listen: Never before has an author’s narration of his fiction been so important to fully grasping the book’s impact and global implications. Taking us from Afghanistan in the final days of its monarchy to the present, The Kite Runner is the unforgettable story of the friendship between two boys growing up in Kabul. Their intertwined lives, and their fates, reflect the eventual tragedy of the world around them.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
A Worhty Read
- By P. C..S. on 08-17-03
By: Khaled Hosseini
-
Cutting for Stone
- A Novel
- By: Abraham Verghese
- Narrated by: Sunil Malhotra
- Length: 23 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 13,607
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 10,249
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 10,241
Marion and Shiva Stone are twin brothers born of a secret union between a beautiful Indian nun and a brash British surgeon. Orphaned by their mother’s death and their father’s disappearance, bound together by a preternatural connection and a shared fascination with medicine, the twins come of age as Ethiopia hovers on the brink of revolution.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
An Epic Medical Novel
- By Audiophile on 07-11-09
By: Abraham Verghese
-
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
- By: Betty Smith
- Narrated by: Kate Burton
- Length: 14 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 8,246
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 6,889
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 6,852
A moving coming-of-age story set in the 1900s, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn follows the lives of 11-year-old Francie Nolan, her younger brother Neely, and their parents, Irish immigrants who have settled in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. Johnny Nolan is as loving and fanciful as they come, but he is also often drunk and out of work, unable to find his place in the land of opportunity.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Book: flawless. SKIP THE RECORDED INTRO!!
- By Wild Wise Woman on 09-04-11
By: Betty Smith
What listeners say about We Are Not Ourselves
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars
-
Story4 out of 5 stars
- Paula
- 11-29-14
Profound Narrative of FantisizingTragedy, Regret
In this narrative story, there is no great mystery to resolve, no thrilling moments of climax. If these are things you need in a story, don't select this one. However, if you enjoy life stories and how the characters in these stories chart the direction of their lives, this is one you won't want to miss. Matthew Thomas has written a really good novel.
This is a narrative (well performed by Mare Winningham) about a girl who works hard, has many life challenges and fantasizes about her future. As a woman, she cannot seem to stop the fantasizing about what might be in order to enjoy her present life. She is perpetually seeking perfection, or more, or different than she has in the moment; from her husband, son, neighbors, employers, friends. Eileen Leary cannot just live for the moment, enjoy the moment, and relish what is present instead of wishing for what might be. In the end, she has regrets. Many, many regrets. In the end, these things shape the future life of her son.
Thomas' writing exposes us to how this obsession with "what might be" can shape lives and outlooks on life. Perhaps it is a life lesson neatly presented to us as "We Are Not Ourselves."
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
19 people found this helpful
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars
-
Story4 out of 5 stars
- onlineshopper
- 01-05-15
i never wanted it to end
If you could sum up We Are Not Ourselves in three words, what would they be?
very thought provoking
Who was your favorite character and why?
Eileen. Her strength in all situations, having to grow up so quickly, her work ethic, her perseverance.
Have you listened to any of Mare Winningham’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
Not that I can rememember.
Who was the most memorable character of We Are Not Ourselves and why?
Ed...his descent into losing his memory.
Any additional comments?
I have listened and read so very many books in this last year and I cant remember one that has stayed with me as long as this one has.
(Spoiler alert)The topic of Alzheimers is interesting to me as I am aging, and those around me are dealing with it within their families. But, it wasn't just that. It was the family dynamic between the main character Eileen, her husband Ed, and her son Collen(spelling?).
This book is so well written. As you enter the world of each character through the author's telling, and then hear about it, in the same way through another characters interpretation of the same- you realize, or at least remember, how different everyone's experience is in a family.
We are Not Ourselves follows the life of a woman and man, through their ups and downs, and their disappointments with each other. They have a boy, and they extend those circumstances as we all do in the raising of this child.
Before the characters in the story do, we begin to realize that something is wrong with Ed, and, well...that it is his mind--this most cherished part of his intellectual life.
What follows is such in incredible narrative of his descent, and the effect it has on all who surround him.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Patrick
- 05-12-23
Fantastic
I wish the author would write another book. I hope he’s well. This is a masterpiece.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall3 out of 5 stars
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars
-
Story3 out of 5 stars
- Kara
- 05-17-19
Plot good, dragged on....
Good story, would have been better if it was half the length. very hard to keep interest with so little plot.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story4 out of 5 stars
- W Perry Hall
- 02-12-15
Somber, Poignant Novel on Timely Topic
An elegiac novel to a committed wife/mother whose husband suffers early onset Alzheimer's. I could relate to her pain and loneliness as all the past and passion slowly slipped away and found particularly poignant her coping with the loss of her dreams of a dashing, successful professor husband with a beautiful home in the perfect suburb.
A pure work of artistry in development of the characters of the wife, the husband and their son. My one complaint: it is a bit slow.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- kathleen phillips
- 08-12-15
Exceptional
Loved the story as well as the narration. I will listen to this one again.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall3 out of 5 stars
-
Performance2 out of 5 stars
-
Story2 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 04-27-16
Dreary Main Character/Hard to Care
Would you try another book from Matthew Thomas and/or Mare Winningham?
No, Matthew Thomas bored me throughout most of the book. He forgets about secondary characters for long stretches, then they reappear. Events unfold and then drift away, never having a resolution. Relationships aren't mentioned and then suddenly they're supposed to be important to the main character. The main character, Eileen, is snobbish and unpleasant most of the time. Mare Winningham's dreary reading of the book matches Eileen's personality band that doesn't make it any easier to take.
What was most disappointing about Matthew Thomas’s story?
Worst of all, for endless chapters of the book, Eileen, who is a nurse, remains clueless about the fact that her husband has a major issue that she should have picking up on. I could have diagnosed the illness months or years faster than she does, if it were my husband.
Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Mare Winningham?
Anyone besides the super annoying Brene Brown.
If this book were a movie would you go see it?
No
Any additional comments?
This book needed a better editor. There's nothing "epic" about dragging a story out forever.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Ole Andreasen
- 10-25-17
Lives... Big and small. I enjoyed it to the full.
21 hours of life - and death. Success and defeat. Ups and downs... Life.
Beautifully written by Matthew Thomas, and wonderfully read by Mare Winningham.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall3 out of 5 stars
-
Performance3 out of 5 stars
-
Story3 out of 5 stars
- Jean
- 04-12-16
Very depressing
It probably was a very good book. Well written. However, I couldn't help to notice that every time I would listen to it a darkness, a sadness, came over me. Maybe this is what the author wanted. If so, than it was a success.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Gail
- 01-06-15
Engaging What Is
This is a wonderful story full of realism and a role model of relationship & engaging while clinging to self-preservation as a caregiver of several family elders with dementia.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful