Antarctica Audiobook By Claire Keegan cover art

Antarctica

Stories

Preview

Try for $0.00
Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Antarctica

By: Claire Keegan
Narrated by: Sheena May, Aoife McMahon, Aidan Quinn, Sophie Roberts
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $13.99

Buy for $13.99

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

The compassionate, witty, and unsettling short stories collected here announced Claire Keegan as one of Ireland's most exciting and versatile new talents and earned comparison to the works of Joyce Carol Oates, Alison Lurie, Raymond Carver, and others. From the titular story about a married woman who takes a trip to the city with a single purpose in mind—to sleep with another man—Antarctica draws listeners into a world of obsession, betrayal, and fragile relationships.

In "Love in the Tall Grass," Cordelia wakes on the last day of the twentieth century and sets off along the coast road to keep a date, with her lover, that has been nine years in the waiting. In "Passport Soup," Frank Corso mourns the curious disappearance of his nine-year-old daughter and tries desperately to reach out to his shattered wife who has gone mad with grief. Throughout the collection, Keegan's characters inhabit a world where dreams, memory, and chance can have crippling consequences for those involved.

A Los Angeles Times Best Book of 2001, and recipient of the prestigious Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, the William Trevor Prize, Antarctica is a rare and arresting debut.

©1999 Claire Keegan (P)2022 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books
Fiction Literary Fiction Short Stories Ireland Witty Polar Region
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

What listeners say about Antarctica

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    17
  • 4 Stars
    8
  • 3 Stars
    7
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    22
  • 4 Stars
    5
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    13
  • 4 Stars
    7
  • 3 Stars
    6
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Not about Antarctica ..

I love to read historical fiction and non-fiction about places I am going to travel to. Unfortunately, this collection of short stories had nothing to do with my upcoming visit to Antarctica. I listened to the first two stories, and decided to go no further. They were gloomy And quasi-predictable. If I want to be depressed or slightly worried/concerned/scared I will knowingly pick a book that overtly states that is what it is going to do to me. I returned the book to audible without continuing.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent stories. So accessible!

Loved the versatility, the voice. This short fiction suits my listening style! More like this!!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Such a good writer

Although this is not Keegan’s best work, it’s worth a listen. Keegan retains the ghost- hauntedness of the best Irish writers, but still has a new perspective on relationships and life struggles.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Incredible, but out of order and missing one story

I’ve just discovered Claire Keegan thanks to a New Yorker podcast where George Saunders reads her story, “So Late in the Day” (available on Audible, highly recommended). A near-perfect collection. I didn’t like the stories set in the US as much as the ones in Ireland, but that is not to say they aren’t worth listening to. My only problem is the stories were out of order compared to the book and the story “Close to the Water’s Edge” was not included. Don’t know why those things were done/switched around.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Incredibly well written

Incredibly well written. Had listened to her short story, ‘Foster’ and was immediately drawn in by her style of writing. Antarctica is much the same, just a little too melancholy for my taste.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Highly recommended even for non short-story reader

I loved these short stories. A variety of settings with an appropriate variety of narrators.

With each story I was immersed in different times and places. Particularly impressive was Keegan’s rendering of the US deep south’s back country.

A must read,

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Fragmentary

Stories are too short and plotless to add up to much. Gathered together in a single volume they collapse under their own weightlessness. But all would be nice observations as part of a larger, connected narrative. I hope Claire writes a full-length novel someday!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Disturbing …

The opening story bears no reference to Antarctica - it’s just another story about violence against women … didn’t listen any further. There’s enough of that IRL

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!