Among the Ten Thousand Things
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Hillary Huber
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By:
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Julia Pierpont
About this listen
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE AND THE HUFFINGTON POST
For fans of Jennifer Egan, Jonathan Franzen, Lorrie Moore, and Curtis Sittenfeld, Among the Ten Thousand Things is a dazzling first novel, a portrait of an American family on the cusp of irrevocable change, and a startlingly original story of love and time lost.
Jack Shanley is a well-known New York artist, charming and vain, who doesn’t mean to plunge his family into crisis. His wife, Deb, gladly left behind a difficult career as a dancer to raise the two children she adores. In the ensuing years, she has mostly avoided coming face-to-face with the weaknesses of the man she married. But then an anonymously sent package arrives in the mail: a cardboard box containing sheaves of printed emails chronicling Jack’s secret life. The package is addressed to Deb, but it’s delivered into the wrong hands: her children’s.
With this vertiginous opening begins a debut that is by turns funny, wise, and indescribably moving. As the Shanleys spin apart into separate orbits, leaving New York in an attempt to regain their bearings, fifteen-year-old Simon feels the allure of adult freedoms for the first time, while eleven-year-old Kay wanders precariously into a grown-up world she can’t possibly understand. Writing with extraordinary precision, humor, and beauty, Julia Pierpont has crafted a timeless, hugely enjoyable novel about the bonds of family life—their brittleness, and their resilience.
©2015 Julia Pierpont (P)2015 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
“A luscious, smart summer novel . . . about a family blown apart and yet still painfully tethered together, written by a blazingly talented young author whose prose is so assured and whose observations are so precise and deeply felt that it’s almost an insult to bring up her age. . . . [Julia] Pierpont illustrates how hard it can be to grow up, at any age—just one of the many reasons Among the Ten Thousand Things is such an impressive debut.”—Helen Schulman, The New York Times Book Review
“This book is one of the funniest, and most emotionally honest, I’ve read in a long time.”—Jonathan Safran Foer
“An emotionally sophisticated, nuanced examination of a splintering Upper West Side New York City family . . . Among the Ten Thousand Things rises above for its imagined structure, sentence-by-sentence punch, and pure humanity. Weaving readers through the New York streets with the Shanleys, and in and out of each of their minds as they try to survive the infidelity that’s torn them from the life they’ve built, Pierpont has written a debut so honest and mature that it will resonate with even the most action-hungry readers—perhaps against reason. Her story is the one we’ll be talking about this summer, and well beyond.”—Meredith Turits, Vanity Fair
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Marrow
- By: Tarryn Fisher
- Narrated by: Audra Pagano
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Margo is not like other girls. She lives in a derelict neighborhood called the Bone, in a cursed house, with her cursed mother, who hasn't spoken to her in over two years. She lives her days feeling invisible. It's not until she develops a friendship with her wheelchair-bound neighbor, Judah Grant, that things begin to change. When a neighborhood girl, seven-year-old Neveah Anthony, goes missing, Judah sets out to help Margo uncover what happened to her. What Margo finds changes her, and with a new perspective on life she's determined to find evil and punish it.
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HUH?? I'm so confused LOL
- By ❤️Cyndi Marie❤️🎧Audiobook Addicts🎧 on 09-15-16
By: Tarryn Fisher
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The UnAmericans
- Stories
- By: Molly Antopol
- Narrated by: Jennifer Van Dyck
- Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Again and again, Molly Antopol’s deeply sympathetic characters struggle for footing in an uncertain world, hounded by forces beyond their control. Their voices are intimate and powerful and they resonate with searing beauty. Antopol is a superb young talent, and The UnAmericans will long be remembered for its wit, humanity, and heart.
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Sensational stories! Brilliant new author.
- By MidwestGeek on 05-04-14
By: Molly Antopol
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Tell the Wolves I’m Home
- A Novel
- By: Carol Rifka Brunt
- Narrated by: Amy Rubinate
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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1987. There’s only one person who has ever truly understood fourteen-year-old June Elbus, and that’s her uncle, the renowned painter Finn Weiss. Shy at school and distant from her older sister, June can only be herself in Finn’s company; he is her godfather, confidant, and best friend. So when he dies, far too young, of a mysterious illness her mother can barely speak about, June’s world is turned upside down. But Finn’s death brings a surprise acquaintance into June’s life - someone who will help her to heal....
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worst protagonist ever
- By Danica on 12-19-14
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The Good Goodbye
- By: Carla Buckley
- Narrated by: Ali Ahn, Suzy Jackson, Eva Kaminsky
- Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Two cousins, Rory and Arden, lie unconscious in a hospital burn unit. The fire, which broke out in their shared college dorm room, killed another student, and the police want answers. Tension between Rory and Arden's parents was already at an all-time high before the fire, owing to a recent financial crisis and the decline of the family business. As the parents huddle anxiously in the waiting room, carefully avoiding the subject of their own unraveling relationships, disturbing truths come to light.
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I could not stop listening.
- By Amy Davis on 05-29-16
By: Carla Buckley
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One True Thing
- By: Anna Quindlen
- Narrated by: Christina Moore
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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A young woman sits in jail, accused of the mercy killing of her dying mother. She didn't do it, but she thinks she knows who did. In the last months of her life, Ellen Gulden's mother revealed startling secrets that challenged everything Ellen believed about her family. Now, in jail, Ellen believes those secrets will tell her who had the courage to end her mother's suffering.
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Quindlen's writing skills shine in One True Thing.
- By Bonny on 08-26-13
By: Anna Quindlen
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Black & White
- By: Dani Shapiro
- Narrated by: Marguerite Gavin
- Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Clara Brodeur has spent her entire adult life pulling herself away from her famous mother, the renowned and controversial photographer Ruth Dunne, whose towering reputation rests on the unsettling nude portraits she took of her young daughter from the ages of three to 14. As Clara charts a path connecting her childhood with her adult life, Shapiro's novel weaves together past and present in images as stark and intense as the photographs that tore the Dunnes apart.
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It was okay
- By Lucy7 on 02-13-19
By: Dani Shapiro
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The Rest of Her Life
- By: Laura Moriarty
- Narrated by: Julia Gibson
- Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Leigh is the mother of high-achieving, popular high school senior Kara. Their relationship is already strained for reasons Leigh does not fully understand when, in a moment of carelessness, Kara makes a mistake that ends in tragedy, the effects of which not only divide Leigh's family, but polarize the entire community.
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Obnoxious musical interludes ruin the story
- By Joan on 12-25-11
By: Laura Moriarty
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The Center of Everything
- By: Laura Moriarty
- Narrated by: Julie Dretzin
- Length: 13 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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The Center of Everything is the fictional story of 10-year-old math prodigy Evelyn Bucknow. Living in Kansas with her single mother and deeply religious grandmother, Evelyn believes she is destined to marry Travis, the boy next door. But as she grows up, she experiences the heartbreak of a love not meant to be. Author Laura Moriarty was a recipient of the George Bennet Fellowship for Creative Writing at Phillips Exeter Academy.
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not religious fiction
- By Theresa Jameson on 04-28-14
By: Laura Moriarty
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Breaking Night
- A Memoir of Forgiveness, Survival, and My Journey from Homeless to Harvard
- By: Liz Murray
- Narrated by: Liz Murray
- Length: 14 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Liz Murray was born to loving but drug-addicted parents in the Bronx. In school she was taunted for her dirty clothing and lice-infested hair, eventually skipping so many classes that she was put into a girls' home. At age 15, Liz found herself on the streets when her family finally unraveled. She learned to scrape by, foraging for food and riding subways all night to have a warm place to sleep. Then, when Liz's mother died of AIDS, she decided to take control of her own destiny.
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unbelievably inspiring
- By Amazon Customer on 03-17-12
By: Liz Murray
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The Walking People
- By: Mary Beth Keane
- Narrated by: Sile Bermingham
- Length: 16 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Greta Cahill never believed she would leave her village in the west of Ireland until she found herself on a ship bound for New York, along with her sister Johanna and a boy named Michael Ward. Labeled a "softheaded goose" by her family, Greta discovers that in America she can fall in love, raise her own family, and earn a living.
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Irish immigratn story
- By Chrissie on 09-10-13
By: Mary Beth Keane
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When You Call My Name
- By: Tucker Shaw
- Narrated by: Max Meyers
- Length: 12 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Film fanatic Adam is 17 and being asked out on his first date—and the guy is cute. Heart racing, Adam accepts, quickly falling in love with Callum like the movies always promised. Fashion-obsessed Ben is 18 and has just left his home upstate after his mother discovers his hidden stash of gay magazines. When he comes to New York City, Ben’s sexuality begins to feel less like a secret and more like a badge of honor. Then Callum disappears, leaving Adam heartbroken, and Ben finds out his new world is more closed-minded than he thought.
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Full impact of a heavy topic while keeping it within the genre.
- By GnomePatronus on 07-31-24
By: Tucker Shaw
What listeners say about Among the Ten Thousand Things
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Krista C.
- 10-21-15
So so
The story was ok - half interesting and half depressing.
I had a really hard time with the narrators voice. Her interpretation of the kids was poor. I thought she made them sound stupid and rude, and her tone was often disgusted at whatever situation was happening at the time.
On a few occasions I considered not finishing it, but wanted to see what happened, so I suffered through the last couple hours.
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- David
- 07-27-15
Oh Kay, Oh Simon...
A sculptor, Jack, ends a casual but intense affair with a young admirer, almost a groupie, that lasted several months. The novel opens after the break-up, when the young woman writes a letter to Deb, Jack's wife, enclosing a box of printouts of the passionate emails Jack had sent during the affair. Regrettably, the box is opened by Jack and Deb's 11-year-old daughter, Kay, and the novel takes off. The novel glides easily among the points of view of Jack, Deb, Kay and her 15-year-old brother Simon. Jack shows some remorse, but he is preoccupied with his latest gallery show. Deb grows angrier. And Kay and Simon, supporting characters, deal with their parents' mess in their own troubled and surprising ways.
The author makes a surprising structural choice midway. In a brief chapter, she discloses what happens to her four major characters in the following decades, then returns to the current story for the balance of the novel. It is a stunning move, but it also makes the second half of the novel less suspenseful. There are still plenty of nice moments, some humor and some intriguing new characters, but there is also a sense of futility. We know how it all turns out. Maybe we feel more for the characters, knowing how they will end up. Overall, the novel is very well-written and always believable.
The narration by Hillary Huber was excellent. She had a voice that sounded like Deb, soft and slow and calm, almost as if she'd taken a Xanax. She does a nice job differentiating the voices without calling attention to herself.
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11 people found this helpful
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- JFC
- 08-26-15
Great Narrator
What made the experience of listening to Among the Ten Thousand Things the most enjoyable?
Hillary Huber's narration really knocked me out; it added so much to this story.
Re the story itself, Julia Pierpont writes beautifully and vividly, and this is an amazing assured debut novel. I was ambivalent about the timeline switch in the 2nd section, though; overall, it struck me as more of a stunt than as anything that deepened the story.
What about Hillary Huber’s performance did you like?
She did a beautiful job differentiating between the key characters. Most narrators vary their voice to distinguish between the characters. She did that to some extent, but she also did something better and, I think, much harder - she subtly varied her delivery. I definitely plan to look for other books that she has narrated.
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7 people found this helpful
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- Monica
- 09-17-15
Great Start, lost me halfway through.
I believe the story had a very real and interesting beginning and you would be thinking it would go one way but then the story starts focusing on something else. A lot of time jump and not an ending I enjoyed.
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2 people found this helpful
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- J. A. Joseph
- 10-25-15
Not a fan of the narrator
Would you listen to Among the Ten Thousand Things again? Why?
No - the narrator's voice drove me crazy. It was like she was high throughout the story. Will not listen to another book that she narrates.
How could the performance have been better?
More inflection in the narrator's voice would have improved the performance greatly. She could also work on her character voices.
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- Boomer
- 09-01-15
Exquisite writing but not much plot
I love the way this writer writes. I think I would even enjoy her grocery list. However, the narrator read to slowly and there wasn't much plot.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Audiophile
- 08-14-15
Not great
The characters were decently developed and story was going along pretty well when suddenly the narrative switched to tell the future like it was a Christmas card report you might send out. Then it switched back to the story and the characters in real time. I found this future interruption disconcerting and think the book would've been better without it. The beginning was better than the rest of the book. Only fair in my opinion.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Christina Rentz
- 09-21-15
Expected more
Any additional comments?
I had no problems with the performance, but after such great reviews, I thought the book would be more interesting.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Kamna
- 07-27-15
Too Disjointed
I totally get what the author was trying to do, but for some reason the story failed to engage as a story. It was just snippets of reality during a turbulent time for a family.
The narrator was excellent and that saved it.
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1 person found this helpful
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- shopper6006
- 08-15-15
Narration flawed by severe vocal fry
Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?
This book is well observed and well written, but was almost too prosaic in its observations and story. All the drama occurs in the first half hour or so.
What didn’t you like about Hillary Huber’s performance?
The reader has severe vocal fry, which is quite annoying. She has a deep, sexy voice that's nice to listen to for about 2 minutes only.
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7 people found this helpful