Anonymous

Could not stop listening

Reviewed: 07-30-24

A vital, crucial, and impeccable book about motherhood, marriage, and the devastation wrought by a covert, liberal, art-boy-man misogynist. What did we do to get “All Fours” and “Liars” in one summer?? There is a god. And she is a woman ready for a marriage apocalypse. Rave! Rave! Rave!

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could have used more subtlety

Reviewed: 01-07-24

This book was enjoyable, but cringe. It harshly (albeit necessarily) critiques what we now consider "dated" feminist politics of the mid-to-late aughts. But I was distracted by how the author's politics ALSO feel dated, even though they feel closer to our current time's understanding of gender. Overt political statements might have been better illustrated as concepts and shown via character development and plot. The characters were very thin. However, the queer representation was appreciated and beautifully rendered.

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A beautiful read

Reviewed: 10-22-23

I loved this smart thriller, but the ending was a little hard to follow by audio. I might have preferred to read this rather than listen. However Rebecca Lowman is one of the all time great readers, so her performance is delicious as always. I find abstract books can sometimes be better read than listened to.

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2 people found this helpful

wish it were better

Reviewed: 10-20-23

Is this Franzen light? Complete with cliche depictions of women? Yes. Is it enjoyable? Yes. Do I wish it was better? Yes.

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left in tears, grateful tears

Reviewed: 09-16-23

All I want is for a book to make me cry. And this one did. The ending is pure poetry—or even better... prose worthy of Virginia Woolf. Groff is truly, and inarguably, one of the great geniuses of our time. The narrator—LaVoy, does her a great service. I love reading Lauren Groff, but I am so glad I listened to this. I think listening made the book even more powerful. It felt like a sermon. I have heard Lauren Groff say that literature is her religion. And it is mine too. This book will forever be in my cannon.

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2 people found this helpful

Extremely listenable and left me thinking

Reviewed: 09-15-23

I enjoyed the book. I found many of the questions Taranto poses through his flawed characters to be very thought provoking. The book is funny in the way of Gary Shteyngart, which I appreciated. The only thing that bothered me was a male writer tackling masculinity through the perspective of his female main character. I am not sure that was entirely successful—or at least it made me chuckle to myself in ways I am not sure the author intended. There might even be a "manic pixie dream man" problem here. But still... this book is great.

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1 person found this helpful

Very Loorie Moore... and yet very not

Reviewed: 06-23-23

The voice is back, but back with more surrealism than I ever knew to hope for from Loorie Moore. Her deep dive into death is buoyed by her distinct brand of humor, odd beauty, and comforting intellect. It is odd how closely two of our greatest fiction writers, Saunders and Moore, came together with the subject matter or their last two novels. What a strange and delightful pairing they've made together. I never expected Lincoln literature to be such a balm to our time. Again, this book is both familiar and surprising.

I am not sure what I appreciate more about Moore. Her writing, or her influence on all the writers I adore. We owe her for both. I feel like this book will give permission to many writers to harder, go weirder, go....sadder.

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1 person found this helpful

Meandering — but that's the point

Reviewed: 05-27-23

You will be plopped into the life of a messy, narcissistic 20 year old. It will be a fascinating, suspenseful, and titillating ride.

Cline's unique and brilliant eye for detail rattled a sense of claustrophobia in me...but in a good way. The unsavory but beautiful avatar is trapped in a web of consequences, some of her own making, and some made by class. I felt trapped in the girl's mind, and also in the book's expert pacing as she took me on a tour of an unwelcoming and monied vacation town.

But the ending — it just felt so unsatisfying compared to the intelligence and craft of the rest of the book. However maybe that feeling is the point.

Worth the read. It will linger.

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2 people found this helpful

Profound

Reviewed: 05-03-23

I am stunned with the way Hanna weaves small, realistic moments into something grandly profound. We live in an epidemic of addiction, so you are sure to have known a relationship like the one at the center of this book — or been in one yourself. So much is to be learned from this book. And I loved the setting at the creative writing program of University of Wisconsin Madison. It makes for a very meta experience of reading (or listening). But the best part— the book offers mini crash courses on love, creativity, pain, addiction, ambition, and hope. After reading her last two books, I am now a Hanna Halperin fan forever.

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2 people found this helpful

Life changing

Reviewed: 01-08-23

As an artist approaching motherhood, I am left deeply changed by this book. It was exactly what I needed to read in this moment. Marnye Young brought me on the most beautiful journey—pain, hope, fear, transcendence. What an important, MUST read for women artists. By the end I was in tears, I was so moved and thankful for what the author had laid out. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

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