Bellwether
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
Buy for $17.47
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Kate Reading
-
By:
-
Connie Willis
About this listen
Audie Award, Science Fiction and Fantasy, 2010
Pop culture, chaos theory, and matters of the heart collide in this unique novella from the Hugo and Nebula Award - winning author of Doomsday Book.
Sandra Foster studies fads and their meanings for the HiTek corporation. Bennett O'Reilly works with monkey group behavior and chaos theory for the same company. When the two are thrust together due to a misdelivered package and a run of seemingly bad luck, they find a joint project in a flock of sheep. But a series of setbacks and disappointments arise before they are able to find answers to their questions - with the unintended help of the errant, forgetful, and careless office assistant Flip.
©1996 Connie Willis (P)2009 Blackstone Audio, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Doomsday Book
- By: Connie Willis
- Narrated by: Jenny Sterlin
- Length: 26 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For Oxford student Kivrin, traveling back to the 14th century is more than the culmination of her studies - it's the chance for a wonderful adventure. For Dunworthy, her mentor, it is cause for intense worry about the thousands of things that could go wrong.
-
-
Timely, beautiful, terrible and haunting
- By mudcelt on 11-02-09
By: Connie Willis
-
A Lot Like Christmas
- By: Connie Willis
- Narrated by: Eliza Foss, L. J. Ganser, Lori Gardner, and others
- Length: 22 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
No one could ask for a better present than a collection of Connie Willis Christmas tales. These are amazing stories, representing all the best of the Connie Willis experience: true Christmas gifts to her many fans. They are full of humor, absurdity, human foibles, tragedy, joy, and hope. They both send up and embrace many of the best Christmas traditions, such as the Christmas newsletter, Secret Santas, office parties, holiday pageants, and Christmas dinners (both elaborate and spare).
-
-
Very, Very Long Stories
- By Dave on 01-18-20
By: Connie Willis
-
The Road to Roswell
- A Novel
- By: Connie Willis
- Narrated by: Jesse Vilinsky
- Length: 14 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When level-headed Francie arrives in Roswell, New Mexico, for her college roommate’s UFO-themed wedding—complete with a true-believer bridegroom—she can’t help but roll her eyes at all the wide-eyed talk of aliens, which obviously don’t exist. Imagine her surprise, then, when she is abducted by one. Odder still, her abductor is far from what the popular media have led her to expect, with a body like a tumbleweed and a mass of lightning-fast tentacles. Nor is Francie the only victim of the alien’s abduction spree.
-
-
Connie Willis must be really losing it
- By Mary E Waitrovich on 07-15-23
By: Connie Willis
-
The Best of Connie Willis
- Award-Winning Stories
- By: Connie Willis
- Narrated by: Eliza Foss, Jessica Almasy, Mia Barron, and others
- Length: 16 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here are the greatest stories of one of the greatest writers working in any genre today. All ten of the stories gathered here are Hugo or Nebula award winners - some even have the distinction of winning both. With a new Introduction by the author and personal afterwords to each story, plus a special look at three of Willis' unique public speeches - this is unquestionably the collection of the season, an audiobook that every Connie Willis fan will treasure.
-
-
An index for locating stories
- By Ruth Green on 11-29-14
By: Connie Willis
-
Crosstalk
- By: Connie Willis
- Narrated by: Mia Barron
- Length: 18 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a not-too-distant future, a simple outpatient procedure that has been promised to increase empathy between romantic partners has become all the rage. So when Briddey Flannigan's fiancé proposes that he and Briddey undergo the procedure, she is delighted! Only, the results aren't quite as expected. Instead of gaining an increased empathetic link with her fiancé, Briddey finds herself hearing the actual thoughts of one of the nerdiest techs in her office. And that's the least of her problems.
-
-
It doesn't work like that.
- By Joel on 10-31-16
By: Connie Willis
-
The Winds of Marble Arch
- By: Connie Willis
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
- Length: 1 hr and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tom, an American, is in London for a conference when he begins to experience unusual forces in the Underground. Is it an easily-explained phenomenon - or ghosts from Britain's past?
-
-
Hugo award winner
- By Katherine on 07-09-12
By: Connie Willis
-
Doomsday Book
- By: Connie Willis
- Narrated by: Jenny Sterlin
- Length: 26 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For Oxford student Kivrin, traveling back to the 14th century is more than the culmination of her studies - it's the chance for a wonderful adventure. For Dunworthy, her mentor, it is cause for intense worry about the thousands of things that could go wrong.
-
-
Timely, beautiful, terrible and haunting
- By mudcelt on 11-02-09
By: Connie Willis
-
A Lot Like Christmas
- By: Connie Willis
- Narrated by: Eliza Foss, L. J. Ganser, Lori Gardner, and others
- Length: 22 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
No one could ask for a better present than a collection of Connie Willis Christmas tales. These are amazing stories, representing all the best of the Connie Willis experience: true Christmas gifts to her many fans. They are full of humor, absurdity, human foibles, tragedy, joy, and hope. They both send up and embrace many of the best Christmas traditions, such as the Christmas newsletter, Secret Santas, office parties, holiday pageants, and Christmas dinners (both elaborate and spare).
-
-
Very, Very Long Stories
- By Dave on 01-18-20
By: Connie Willis
-
The Road to Roswell
- A Novel
- By: Connie Willis
- Narrated by: Jesse Vilinsky
- Length: 14 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When level-headed Francie arrives in Roswell, New Mexico, for her college roommate’s UFO-themed wedding—complete with a true-believer bridegroom—she can’t help but roll her eyes at all the wide-eyed talk of aliens, which obviously don’t exist. Imagine her surprise, then, when she is abducted by one. Odder still, her abductor is far from what the popular media have led her to expect, with a body like a tumbleweed and a mass of lightning-fast tentacles. Nor is Francie the only victim of the alien’s abduction spree.
-
-
Connie Willis must be really losing it
- By Mary E Waitrovich on 07-15-23
By: Connie Willis
-
The Best of Connie Willis
- Award-Winning Stories
- By: Connie Willis
- Narrated by: Eliza Foss, Jessica Almasy, Mia Barron, and others
- Length: 16 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here are the greatest stories of one of the greatest writers working in any genre today. All ten of the stories gathered here are Hugo or Nebula award winners - some even have the distinction of winning both. With a new Introduction by the author and personal afterwords to each story, plus a special look at three of Willis' unique public speeches - this is unquestionably the collection of the season, an audiobook that every Connie Willis fan will treasure.
-
-
An index for locating stories
- By Ruth Green on 11-29-14
By: Connie Willis
-
Crosstalk
- By: Connie Willis
- Narrated by: Mia Barron
- Length: 18 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a not-too-distant future, a simple outpatient procedure that has been promised to increase empathy between romantic partners has become all the rage. So when Briddey Flannigan's fiancé proposes that he and Briddey undergo the procedure, she is delighted! Only, the results aren't quite as expected. Instead of gaining an increased empathetic link with her fiancé, Briddey finds herself hearing the actual thoughts of one of the nerdiest techs in her office. And that's the least of her problems.
-
-
It doesn't work like that.
- By Joel on 10-31-16
By: Connie Willis
-
The Winds of Marble Arch
- By: Connie Willis
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
- Length: 1 hr and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tom, an American, is in London for a conference when he begins to experience unusual forces in the Underground. Is it an easily-explained phenomenon - or ghosts from Britain's past?
-
-
Hugo award winner
- By Katherine on 07-09-12
By: Connie Willis
-
Pattern Recognition
- By: William Gibson
- Narrated by: Shelly Frasier
- Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cayce Pollard is a new kind of prophet - a world-renowned "coolhunter" who predicts the hottest trends. While in London to evaluate the redesign of a famous corporate logo, she's offered a different assignment: find the creator of the obscure, enigmatic video clips being uploaded to the Internet - footage that is generating massive underground buzz worldwide.
-
-
Only gets better with age
- By Mika on 12-14-18
By: William Gibson
-
Inside Job
- By: Connie Willis
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
- Length: 2 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rob, a professional debunker, is watching yet another performance by a supposed psychic. But as she calls forth the spirit entity known as Isus, another voice suddenly interrupts. And this one is so unexpected and so real, even the hardened skeptic finds he can't help but believe.
-
-
Terrific, but too short
- By Linda on 05-15-08
By: Connie Willis
-
The Android's Dream
- By: John Scalzi
- Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A human diplomat creates an interstellar incident when he kills an alien diplomat in a most unusual way. To avoid war, Earth's government must find an equally unusual object: A type of sheep ("The Android's Dream"), used in the alien race's coronation ceremony. To find the sheep, the government turns to Harry Creek, ex-cop, war hero and hacker extraordinaire.
-
-
Covertly flatulent Scifi at it's best!
- By DAVID on 11-12-11
By: John Scalzi
-
Breakfast of Champions
- By: Kurt Vonnegut
- Narrated by: John Malkovich
- Length: 6 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Breakfast of Champions (1973) provides frantic, scattershot satire and a collage of Vonnegut's obsessions. His recurring cast of characters and American landscape was perhaps the most controversial of his canon; it was felt by many at the time to be a disappointing successor to Slaughterhouse-Five, which had made Vonnegut's literary reputation.
-
-
Kurt Was Right to Grade This a C
- By Dubi on 01-10-16
By: Kurt Vonnegut
-
The Sirens of Titan
- By: Kurt Vonnegut
- Narrated by: Jay Snyder
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The richest, most depraved man on Earth, Malachi Constant, is offered a chance to take a space journey to distant worlds with a beautiful woman at his side. Of course, there's a catch to the invitation....
-
-
Absolutely Outstanding
- By Robert on 01-07-12
By: Kurt Vonnegut
-
Influx
- By: Daniel Suarez
- Narrated by: Jeff Gurner
- Length: 13 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Particle physicist Jon Grady is ecstatic when his team achieves what they've been working toward for years: A device that can reflect gravity. Their research will revolutionize the field of physics - the crowning achievement of a career. Grady expects widespread acclaim for his entire team. The Nobel Prize. Instead, his lab is locked down by a shadowy organization whose mission is to prevent at all costs the social upheaval sudden technological advances bring.
-
-
Solid to Silly to Inane
- By Craig on 05-15-14
By: Daniel Suarez
-
The Very First Damned Thing
- An Author-Read Audio Exclusive
- By: Jodi Taylor
- Narrated by: Jodi Taylor
- Length: 2 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jodi Taylor reads the long-awaited prequel in her Chronicles of St Mary’s series, as Dr Bairstow struggles to set up St Mary’s as we know it in a world still scarred by the ravages of civil war. Ever wondered how it all began? It’s two years since the final victory at the Battersea Barricades. The fighting might be finished, but for Dr Bairstow, just now setting up St Mary's, the struggle is only beginning. How will he assemble his team? From where will his funding come?
-
-
Wait for it on Kindle. Not the best on audio
- By Sheryl on 11-05-15
By: Jodi Taylor
-
Agent to the Stars
- By: John Scalzi
- Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
- Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The space-faring Yherajk have come to Earth to meet us and to begin humanity's first interstellar friendship. There's just one problem: They're hideously ugly and they smell like rotting fish. So getting humanity's trust is a challenge. The Yherajk need someone who can help them close the deal. Enter Thomas Stein, who knows something about closing deals. He's one of Hollywood's hottest young agents.
-
-
excellent
- By C. Paget on 12-28-10
By: John Scalzi
-
Differently Morphous
- By: Yahtzee Croshaw
- Narrated by: Yahtzee Croshaw
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A magical serial killer is on the loose, and gelatinous, otherworldly creatures are infesting the English countryside. Which is making life for the Ministry of Occultism difficult, because magic is supposed to be their best kept secret. After centuries in the shadows, the Ministry is forced to unmask, exposing the country's magical history - and magical citizens - to a brave new world of social media, government scrutiny, and public relations.
-
-
Not for everybody
- By R. MCRACKAN on 09-24-18
By: Yahtzee Croshaw
-
One More Thing
- Stories and Other Stories
- By: B. J. Novak
- Narrated by: B. J. Novak, Rainn Wilson, Jenna Fischer, and others
- Length: 6 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
B.J. Novak's One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories is an endlessly entertaining, surprisingly sensitive, and startlingly original debut that signals the arrival of a brilliant new voice in American fiction. A boy wins a $100,000 prize in a box of Frosted Flakes - only to discover how claiming the winnings might unravel his family. A woman sets out to seduce motivational speaker Tony Robbins - turning for help to the famed motivator himself. A new arrival in Heaven, overwhelmed with options, procrastinates over a long-ago promise to visit his grandmother....
-
-
It gets better, and better, and better, and better
- By David Shear on 02-07-14
By: B. J. Novak
-
Cryptonomicon
- By: Neal Stephenson
- Narrated by: William Dufris
- Length: 42 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1942, Lawrence Pritchard Waterhouse - mathematical genius and young Captain in the US Navy - is assigned to detachment 2702. It is an outfit so secret that only a handful of people know it exists, and some of those people have names like Churchill and Roosevelt. The mission of Watrehouse and Detachment 2702 - commanded by Marine Raider Bobby Shaftoe - is to keep the Nazis ignorant of the fact that Allied Intelligence has cracked the enemy's fabled Enigma code. In the present, Waterhouse's crypto-hacker grandson, Randy, is attempting to create a "data haven" in Southeast Asia....
-
-
Two thirds through and quit
- By Joshua on 06-20-16
By: Neal Stephenson
-
The Humans
- A Novel
- By: Matt Haig
- Narrated by: Mark Meadows
- Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The critically acclaimed author of The Radleys shares a clever, heartwarming, and darkly insightful novel about an alien who comes to Earth to save humans from themselves. When an extraterrestrial visitor arrives on Earth, his first impressions of the human species are less than positive. But as time goes on, he starts to realize there may be more to this weird species than he has been led to believe. Eventually, the narrator sees hope and redemption in the humans' imperfections and begins to question the very mission that brought him there.
-
-
Light Sci-Fi Fare--You'll Love It!
- By Kathy in CA on 06-29-18
By: Matt Haig
Critic reviews
"Willis's story builds slowly but is realistic and engrossing." ( Midwest Book Review)
Related to this topic
-
The Winds of Marble Arch
- By: Connie Willis
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
- Length: 1 hr and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tom, an American, is in London for a conference when he begins to experience unusual forces in the Underground. Is it an easily-explained phenomenon - or ghosts from Britain's past?
-
-
Hugo award winner
- By Katherine on 07-09-12
By: Connie Willis
-
The Grimm Legacy
- By: Polly Shulman
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Elizabeth has just started working as a page at the New York Circulating Material Repository - a lending library of objects, contemporary and historical, common and obscure. And secret, too - for in the repository's basement lies the Grimm Collection, a room of magical items straight from the Grimm Brother's fairy tales. But the magic mirrors and seven-league boots and other items are starting to disappear.
-
-
Great Story
- By Lady on 12-19-12
By: Polly Shulman
-
Crewel World
- By: Monica Ferris
- Narrated by: Susan Boyce
- Length: 7 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Betsy Devonshire arrived in Excelsior, Minnesota, all she wanted was to visit her sister Margot and get her life in order. She never dreamed her sister would give her a place to stay and a job at her needlecraft shop. In fact, things had never looked so good - until Margot was murdered. In a town this friendly, it's hard to imagine who could have committed such a horrible act, but Betsy has a few ideas. There's an ex-employee who wants to start her own needlework store. And there's the landlord who wanted Margot out. Now Betsy's putting together a list of motives and suspects....
-
-
British style mystery set in America
- By Sara on 01-13-14
By: Monica Ferris
-
The Best of Connie Willis
- Award-Winning Stories
- By: Connie Willis
- Narrated by: Eliza Foss, Jessica Almasy, Mia Barron, and others
- Length: 16 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here are the greatest stories of one of the greatest writers working in any genre today. All ten of the stories gathered here are Hugo or Nebula award winners - some even have the distinction of winning both. With a new Introduction by the author and personal afterwords to each story, plus a special look at three of Willis' unique public speeches - this is unquestionably the collection of the season, an audiobook that every Connie Willis fan will treasure.
-
-
An index for locating stories
- By Ruth Green on 11-29-14
By: Connie Willis
-
Hooked on Murder
- Crochet Mystery Series, Book 1
- By: Betty Hechtman
- Narrated by: Margaret Strom
- Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When bookstore event coordinator Molly Pink stumbles across the dead body of a crochet group's leader, her complicated past with the woman makes her a prime suspect. But while Molly's fending off a detective with a personal grudge and navigating the pitfalls of crochet group politics, the real killer remains at large. And it's up to her to catch the culprit - before she winds up in a tight knot....
-
-
Good Book, Clean content for the most part.
- By Kryst on 11-04-16
By: Betty Hechtman
-
Bright Lights, Big City
- By: Jay McInerney
- Narrated by: Daniel Passer
- Length: 5 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The tragicomedy of a young man in New York City, a writer, never named, who works as a fact-checker for a prestigious magazine. He struggles with the reality of his mother's death, alienation, and the seductive pull of drugs and a vibrant nightlife.
-
-
Curiously, mundanely real
- By Amber on 01-07-12
By: Jay McInerney
-
The Winds of Marble Arch
- By: Connie Willis
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
- Length: 1 hr and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tom, an American, is in London for a conference when he begins to experience unusual forces in the Underground. Is it an easily-explained phenomenon - or ghosts from Britain's past?
-
-
Hugo award winner
- By Katherine on 07-09-12
By: Connie Willis
-
The Grimm Legacy
- By: Polly Shulman
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Elizabeth has just started working as a page at the New York Circulating Material Repository - a lending library of objects, contemporary and historical, common and obscure. And secret, too - for in the repository's basement lies the Grimm Collection, a room of magical items straight from the Grimm Brother's fairy tales. But the magic mirrors and seven-league boots and other items are starting to disappear.
-
-
Great Story
- By Lady on 12-19-12
By: Polly Shulman
-
Crewel World
- By: Monica Ferris
- Narrated by: Susan Boyce
- Length: 7 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Betsy Devonshire arrived in Excelsior, Minnesota, all she wanted was to visit her sister Margot and get her life in order. She never dreamed her sister would give her a place to stay and a job at her needlecraft shop. In fact, things had never looked so good - until Margot was murdered. In a town this friendly, it's hard to imagine who could have committed such a horrible act, but Betsy has a few ideas. There's an ex-employee who wants to start her own needlework store. And there's the landlord who wanted Margot out. Now Betsy's putting together a list of motives and suspects....
-
-
British style mystery set in America
- By Sara on 01-13-14
By: Monica Ferris
-
The Best of Connie Willis
- Award-Winning Stories
- By: Connie Willis
- Narrated by: Eliza Foss, Jessica Almasy, Mia Barron, and others
- Length: 16 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here are the greatest stories of one of the greatest writers working in any genre today. All ten of the stories gathered here are Hugo or Nebula award winners - some even have the distinction of winning both. With a new Introduction by the author and personal afterwords to each story, plus a special look at three of Willis' unique public speeches - this is unquestionably the collection of the season, an audiobook that every Connie Willis fan will treasure.
-
-
An index for locating stories
- By Ruth Green on 11-29-14
By: Connie Willis
-
Hooked on Murder
- Crochet Mystery Series, Book 1
- By: Betty Hechtman
- Narrated by: Margaret Strom
- Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When bookstore event coordinator Molly Pink stumbles across the dead body of a crochet group's leader, her complicated past with the woman makes her a prime suspect. But while Molly's fending off a detective with a personal grudge and navigating the pitfalls of crochet group politics, the real killer remains at large. And it's up to her to catch the culprit - before she winds up in a tight knot....
-
-
Good Book, Clean content for the most part.
- By Kryst on 11-04-16
By: Betty Hechtman
-
Bright Lights, Big City
- By: Jay McInerney
- Narrated by: Daniel Passer
- Length: 5 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The tragicomedy of a young man in New York City, a writer, never named, who works as a fact-checker for a prestigious magazine. He struggles with the reality of his mother's death, alienation, and the seductive pull of drugs and a vibrant nightlife.
-
-
Curiously, mundanely real
- By Amber on 01-07-12
By: Jay McInerney
-
Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life
- By: Wendy Mass
- Narrated by: Andy Paris
- Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jeremy Fink has big plans for this summer with his best friend Lizzy, a notorious troublemaker (and no, he does not have a secret crush on her). He has everything he needs within a few blocks of his home, so he never has to leave his little neighborhood. And this summer, he officially becomes a teenager.
-
-
A Feel-Good Story That Opens The Heart & The Mind
- By Hector on 07-12-13
By: Wendy Mass
-
The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections
- By: Eva Jurczyk
- Narrated by: Hannah Cabell
- Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Liesl Weiss long ago learned to be content working behind the scenes in the distinguished rare books department of a large university, managing details and working behind the scenes to make the head of the department look good. But when her boss has a stroke and she's left to run things, she discovers that the library's most prized manuscript is missing.
-
-
Why?
- By Kenna on 08-14-22
By: Eva Jurczyk
-
Learning to Swear in America
- By: Katie Kennedy
- Narrated by: Aaron Landon
- Length: 8 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An asteroid is hurtling toward Earth. A big, bad one. Maybe not kill-all-the-dinosaurs bad but at least kill-everyone-in-California-and-wipe-out-Japan-with-a-tsunami bad. Yuri, a physicist prodigy from Russia, has been recruited to aid NASA as they calculate a plan to avoid disaster. The good news is Yuri knows how to stop the asteroid - his research in antimatter will probably win him a Nobel Prize if there's ever another Nobel Prize awarded. But the trouble is, even though NASA asked for his help, no one there will listen to him.
-
-
An Absolute gem of an audiobook. Well worth buying
- By Amiesbookreviews on 03-30-17
By: Katie Kennedy
-
Strong Motion
- By: Jonathan Franzen
- Narrated by: Scott Aiello
- Length: 20 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Louis Holland arrives in Boston in a spring of ecological upheaval (a rash of earthquakes on the North Shore) and odd luck: the first one kills his grandmother. Louis tries to maintain his independence, but falls in love with a Harvard seismologist whose discoveries about the earthquakes' cause complicate everything.
-
-
Compelling Story, Ridiculous Narrator
- By DianeReads on 02-28-16
By: Jonathan Franzen
-
Truly Devious
- A Mystery
- By: Maureen Johnson
- Narrated by: Kate Rudd
- Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ellingham Academy is a famous private school in Vermont for the brightest thinkers, inventors, and artists. It was founded by Albert Ellingham, an early 20th century tycoon, who wanted to make a wonderful place full of riddles, twisting pathways, and gardens. "A place", he said, "where learning is a game." Shortly after the school opened, his wife and daughter were kidnapped. The only real clue was a mocking riddle listing methods of murder, signed with the frightening pseudonym "Truly, Devious".
-
-
I enjoyed it, but I’m pissed about the ending
- By Laura on 04-08-19
By: Maureen Johnson
-
When You Call My Name
- By: Tucker Shaw
- Narrated by: Max Meyers
- Length: 12 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Full impact of a heavy topic while keeping it within the genre.
- By GnomePatronus on 07-31-24
By: Tucker Shaw
-
Orphan Train Girl
- The Young Readers' Edition of Orphan Train
- By: Sarah Thompson, Christina Baker Kline
- Narrated by: Jessica Almasy
- Length: 4 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Molly Ayer has been in foster care since she was eight years old. Most of the time, Molly knows it's her attitude that's the problem, but after being shipped from one family to another, she's had her fair share of adults treating her like an inconvenience. So when Molly's forced to help an elderly woman clean out her attic for community service, Molly is wary. Just another adult to treat her like a troublemaker.
-
-
Awesome book!
- By DebDeb on 08-06-18
By: Sarah Thompson, and others
-
The Everything Box
- A Novel
- By: Richard Kadrey
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
- Length: 11 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A beautiful, ambitious angel stands on a mountaintop, surveying the world and its little inhabitants below. He smiles because soon, the last of humanity who survived the great flood will meet its end, too. And he should know. He's going to play a big part in it. Our angel usually doesn't get to do fieldwork, and if he does well, he's certain he'll get a big promotion.
-
-
Everything not for Everyone
- By Mel on 05-12-16
By: Richard Kadrey
-
Curiosity Thrilled the Cat
- A Magical Cats Mystery
- By: Sofie Kelly
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When librarian Kathleen Paulson moved to Mayville Heights, Minnesota, she had no idea that two strays would nuzzle their way into her life. Owen is a tabby with a catnip addiction and Hercules is a stocky tuxedo cat who shares Kathleen's fondness for Barry Manilow. But beyond all the fur and purrs, there's something more to these felines. When murder interrupts Mayville's Music Festival, Kathleen finds herself the prime suspect.
-
-
Promising "Cozy" Series
- By Chalis on 07-11-14
By: Sofie Kelly
-
A is for Alibi
- A Kinsey Millhone Mystery
- By: Sue Grafton
- Narrated by: Mary Peiffer
- Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is the first in the popular series featuring California investigator Kinsey Millhone. She's 32, twice divorced, no kids, an ex-cop who likes her work...and who works strictly alone!
-
-
No More for Me
- By Robin on 07-12-08
By: Sue Grafton
-
Short Squeeze
- By: Chris Knopf
- Narrated by: Deanna Hurst
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Meet smart-aleck Southampton attorney Jackie Swaitkowski. Her business relies on constant movement of Hamptons' real estate market. After making an odd request to evict his sister-in-law from his home, one of her clients turns up dead. Jackie would have expected that to be the end of it, but an envelope found on the corpse contains an item so unusual that she finds herself working on something bigger, and more dangerous, than real estate.
-
-
Great Listen - Good Series
- By Patricia on 02-15-10
By: Chris Knopf
-
The Green Glass Sea
- By: Ellen Klages
- Narrated by: Julie Dretzin
- Length: 7 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This first novel from Nebula Award-winning short story writer Ellen Klages was picked as a Junior Library Guild selection and named a Book Sense Number-One Children's Pick. It follows a young girl named Dewey, whose father is part of a super-secret project in 1943 Los Alamos. Dewey, a gifted scientist herself, slowly realizes the implications of "the gadget" her father is working on. She and Suze, another Los Alamos child, find comfort in each other's friendship.
-
-
Wonderful!
- By Rita on 12-08-08
By: Ellen Klages
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Passage
- By: Connie Willis
- Narrated by: Erin deWard
- Length: 31 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A psychologist specializing in near-death experiences, Dr. Joanna Lander has spent two years recording the experiences of those who have been declared clinically dead and lived to tell about it. A new doctor has arrived at Mercy General, one with the power to give Joanna the chance to get as close to death as anyone can. Dr. Richard Wright has come up with a way to manufacture the near-death experience using a psychoactive drug. Dr. Wright is convinced that the NDE is a survival mechanism and that if only doctors understood how it worked, they could someday delay the dying process.
-
-
interesting listen. Different from her other books.
- By Stuart on 02-10-24
By: Connie Willis
-
A Lot Like Christmas
- By: Connie Willis
- Narrated by: Eliza Foss, L. J. Ganser, Lori Gardner, and others
- Length: 22 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
No one could ask for a better present than a collection of Connie Willis Christmas tales. These are amazing stories, representing all the best of the Connie Willis experience: true Christmas gifts to her many fans. They are full of humor, absurdity, human foibles, tragedy, joy, and hope. They both send up and embrace many of the best Christmas traditions, such as the Christmas newsletter, Secret Santas, office parties, holiday pageants, and Christmas dinners (both elaborate and spare).
-
-
Very, Very Long Stories
- By Dave on 01-18-20
By: Connie Willis
-
Crosstalk
- By: Connie Willis
- Narrated by: Mia Barron
- Length: 18 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a not-too-distant future, a simple outpatient procedure that has been promised to increase empathy between romantic partners has become all the rage. So when Briddey Flannigan's fiancé proposes that he and Briddey undergo the procedure, she is delighted! Only, the results aren't quite as expected. Instead of gaining an increased empathetic link with her fiancé, Briddey finds herself hearing the actual thoughts of one of the nerdiest techs in her office. And that's the least of her problems.
-
-
It doesn't work like that.
- By Joel on 10-31-16
By: Connie Willis
-
Remake
- By: Connie Willis
- Narrated by: Ryan Burke
- Length: 4 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's the Hollywood of the future, where moviemaking's been computerized and live-action films are a thing of the past. It's a Hollywood where Humphrey Bogart and Marilyn Monroe are starring together in A Star Is Born, and if you don't like the ending, you can change it with the stroke of a key. A Hollywood of warm bodies and sim-sex, of drugs and special effects, where anything is possible. Except for what one starry-eyed young woman wants to do: dance in the movies.
By: Connie Willis
-
Doomsday Book
- By: Connie Willis
- Narrated by: Jenny Sterlin
- Length: 26 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For Oxford student Kivrin, traveling back to the 14th century is more than the culmination of her studies - it's the chance for a wonderful adventure. For Dunworthy, her mentor, it is cause for intense worry about the thousands of things that could go wrong.
-
-
Timely, beautiful, terrible and haunting
- By mudcelt on 11-02-09
By: Connie Willis
-
The Winds of Marble Arch
- By: Connie Willis
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
- Length: 1 hr and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tom, an American, is in London for a conference when he begins to experience unusual forces in the Underground. Is it an easily-explained phenomenon - or ghosts from Britain's past?
-
-
Hugo award winner
- By Katherine on 07-09-12
By: Connie Willis
-
Passage
- By: Connie Willis
- Narrated by: Erin deWard
- Length: 31 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A psychologist specializing in near-death experiences, Dr. Joanna Lander has spent two years recording the experiences of those who have been declared clinically dead and lived to tell about it. A new doctor has arrived at Mercy General, one with the power to give Joanna the chance to get as close to death as anyone can. Dr. Richard Wright has come up with a way to manufacture the near-death experience using a psychoactive drug. Dr. Wright is convinced that the NDE is a survival mechanism and that if only doctors understood how it worked, they could someday delay the dying process.
-
-
interesting listen. Different from her other books.
- By Stuart on 02-10-24
By: Connie Willis
-
A Lot Like Christmas
- By: Connie Willis
- Narrated by: Eliza Foss, L. J. Ganser, Lori Gardner, and others
- Length: 22 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
No one could ask for a better present than a collection of Connie Willis Christmas tales. These are amazing stories, representing all the best of the Connie Willis experience: true Christmas gifts to her many fans. They are full of humor, absurdity, human foibles, tragedy, joy, and hope. They both send up and embrace many of the best Christmas traditions, such as the Christmas newsletter, Secret Santas, office parties, holiday pageants, and Christmas dinners (both elaborate and spare).
-
-
Very, Very Long Stories
- By Dave on 01-18-20
By: Connie Willis
-
Crosstalk
- By: Connie Willis
- Narrated by: Mia Barron
- Length: 18 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a not-too-distant future, a simple outpatient procedure that has been promised to increase empathy between romantic partners has become all the rage. So when Briddey Flannigan's fiancé proposes that he and Briddey undergo the procedure, she is delighted! Only, the results aren't quite as expected. Instead of gaining an increased empathetic link with her fiancé, Briddey finds herself hearing the actual thoughts of one of the nerdiest techs in her office. And that's the least of her problems.
-
-
It doesn't work like that.
- By Joel on 10-31-16
By: Connie Willis
-
Remake
- By: Connie Willis
- Narrated by: Ryan Burke
- Length: 4 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's the Hollywood of the future, where moviemaking's been computerized and live-action films are a thing of the past. It's a Hollywood where Humphrey Bogart and Marilyn Monroe are starring together in A Star Is Born, and if you don't like the ending, you can change it with the stroke of a key. A Hollywood of warm bodies and sim-sex, of drugs and special effects, where anything is possible. Except for what one starry-eyed young woman wants to do: dance in the movies.
By: Connie Willis
-
Doomsday Book
- By: Connie Willis
- Narrated by: Jenny Sterlin
- Length: 26 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For Oxford student Kivrin, traveling back to the 14th century is more than the culmination of her studies - it's the chance for a wonderful adventure. For Dunworthy, her mentor, it is cause for intense worry about the thousands of things that could go wrong.
-
-
Timely, beautiful, terrible and haunting
- By mudcelt on 11-02-09
By: Connie Willis
-
The Winds of Marble Arch
- By: Connie Willis
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
- Length: 1 hr and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tom, an American, is in London for a conference when he begins to experience unusual forces in the Underground. Is it an easily-explained phenomenon - or ghosts from Britain's past?
-
-
Hugo award winner
- By Katherine on 07-09-12
By: Connie Willis
-
The Road to Roswell
- A Novel
- By: Connie Willis
- Narrated by: Jesse Vilinsky
- Length: 14 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When level-headed Francie arrives in Roswell, New Mexico, for her college roommate’s UFO-themed wedding—complete with a true-believer bridegroom—she can’t help but roll her eyes at all the wide-eyed talk of aliens, which obviously don’t exist. Imagine her surprise, then, when she is abducted by one. Odder still, her abductor is far from what the popular media have led her to expect, with a body like a tumbleweed and a mass of lightning-fast tentacles. Nor is Francie the only victim of the alien’s abduction spree.
-
-
Connie Willis must be really losing it
- By Mary E Waitrovich on 07-15-23
By: Connie Willis
-
The Best of Connie Willis
- Award-Winning Stories
- By: Connie Willis
- Narrated by: Eliza Foss, Jessica Almasy, Mia Barron, and others
- Length: 16 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here are the greatest stories of one of the greatest writers working in any genre today. All ten of the stories gathered here are Hugo or Nebula award winners - some even have the distinction of winning both. With a new Introduction by the author and personal afterwords to each story, plus a special look at three of Willis' unique public speeches - this is unquestionably the collection of the season, an audiobook that every Connie Willis fan will treasure.
-
-
An index for locating stories
- By Ruth Green on 11-29-14
By: Connie Willis
-
Lincoln's Dreams
- By: Connie Willis
- Narrated by: Carolyn Jania
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For Jeff Johnston, a young historical researcher for a Civil War novelist, reality is redefined on a bitter cold night near the close of a lingering winter. He meets Annie, an intense and lovely young woman suffering from vivid, intense nightmares. Haunted by the dreamer and her unrelenting dreams, Jeff leads Annie on an emotional odyssey through the heartland of the Civil War in search of a cure. On long-silenced battlefields their relationship blossoms—two obsessed lovers linked by unbreakable chains of history, torn by a duty that could destroy them both.
-
-
Good story, unfortunate narration
- By Kathryn on 01-06-24
By: Connie Willis
-
Inside Job
- By: Connie Willis
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
- Length: 2 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rob, a professional debunker, is watching yet another performance by a supposed psychic. But as she calls forth the spirit entity known as Isus, another voice suddenly interrupts. And this one is so unexpected and so real, even the hardened skeptic finds he can't help but believe.
-
-
Terrific, but too short
- By Linda on 05-15-08
By: Connie Willis
-
Uncharted Territory
- A Novel
- By: Connie Willis
- Narrated by: Chelsea Stephens
- Length: 3 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Findriddy and Carson are two explorers sent to Boohte to survey the ridges and scrub-covered hills of the planet. Back home, their adventures are followed by countless breathless fans, but the reality is far less romantic as they deal with dust, nitpicking regulations, and uncooperative aliens. Teamed with a young intern whose specialty is mating customs, and a native guide of indeterminate gender, the group sets out for a previously unexplored sector of the planet.
-
-
Passed the betchel test
- By James Nicholson on 02-05-20
By: Connie Willis
-
Forging Hephaestus
- Villains' Code Series, Book 1
- By: Drew Hayes
- Narrated by: Amy Landon
- Length: 26 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Gifted with meta-human powers, Tori Rivas kept away from the limelight, preferring to work as a thief in the shadows. But when she's captured trying to rob a vault that belongs to a secret guild of villains, she's offered a hard choice: prove she has what it takes to join them or be eliminated. Apprenticed to one of the world's most powerful (and supposedly dead) villains, she is thrust into a strange world where the lines that divide superheroes and criminals are more complex than they seem.
-
-
A Nice Surprise with some Really Fun Characters
- By Small Mountain on 09-29-17
By: Drew Hayes
What listeners say about Bellwether
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Pam
- 07-04-12
Pattern Recognition" Meets "Office Space
Fans of William Gibson's "Pattern Recognition" will see a lot of similarity here, in that our heroine is working to understand the evolution of trends in human society. And fans of "Office Space" will see a lot of similarity between that movie's Initech company and our heroine's Hi-Tek laboratory. The blend is sometimes laugh-out-loud funny.
Some Hi-Tek employees' names are allegories -- one incompetent assistant is named "Desiderata" and another "Flip" (for the frequent flip of her hair, or, as we learn later, maybe something else). The clueless laboratory director -- who falls for every new management fad that comes along -- is simply named "Management."
Chapters begin with just a little background on the research topic at hand, and these entries make the book's science content accessible to a general audience. I gave it four stars because I thought that these introductory segments were at times a little too long or detailed. But all in all a good book, and I couldn't put it down -- had to listen to it in one sitting.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
45 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jefferson
- 05-05-15
A Research Scientist Comedy of Manners
Sociologist Sandra Foster is studying fads at a Boulder, Colorado company called Hi-Tek. She's focusing on the early 1920s hair-bobbing boom in her attempt to discover what triggers such trends. While Hi-Tek wants her to find the answer so they can make and exploit their own fad, Sandra wants to find it simply because she wants to understand why people "all suddenly decide to play the same game or wear the same clothes or believe the same thing.” Her quest is difficult because people succumb to herd mentality unconsciously and because behind any fad is an endless set of variables, each complexly interacting with others. In this, she frequently notes, fads resemble scientific breakthroughs. As a result, Willis' short novel Bellwether (1996) is packed with myriad examples of both fads (the hula-hoop, Barbie, virtual pets, coffeehouses, crossword puzzles, Ouija boards, etc.) and scientific epiphanies (penicillin, the periodic table, the benzene ring, the big bang, continental drift, x-rays, relativity, etc.).
Complicating Sandra's research is Hi-Tek management's constant interference with its scientists, forcing on them lengthy and opaque funding forms, absurd interpersonal relationship building activities, new acronyms and dress codes, and so on. Still more chaotic is the unconscious sabotage of the Hi-Tek mail clerk from hell, "Flip." Ignorant, self-centered, rude, lazy, and obnoxious, Flip is an anti-guardian angel who, like a warped avatar of Robert Browning's Pippa, spreads gloom, destruction, and chaos wherever she goes. Flip is a creature of fads, dying her hair blue, branding her forehead with the lower case letter "i," wearing an outfit that looks like but is not a waitress uniform, and so on. Thanks to Flip delivering the wrong package, Sandra meets Bennett O'Reilly, who, despite being a chaos theorist studying the transmission of information among monkeys because chaos theory is no longer trendy, is immune to fads. And chaos theory soon becomes part of Sandra's research: “Fads are a facet of the chaotic system of society.”
Willis' novel is fun, full of talk of fads, scientific breakthroughs, chaos patterns, human foibles, and contemporary American culture. She has an amused and accurate ear and eye for how adults and kids talk and live and for how scientists work and think. Sandra's frustration with Flip is comical: "This is just what I needed, to discuss the sex life of a person with a pierced nose and duct tape underwear."
Three flaws mar the novel for me. First, it pushes an anti-anti-smoking agenda, as Sandra says that people who try to ban smoking from public places are bigots following an "aversion trend" which is going to die out sooner than McCarthyism did. To equate smoking with eating chocolate cheesecake and reading books, to make light of the dangers of secondhand smoke, and to imply that anti-smokers are cruel, morally righteous fad-followers all feels off. Second, Willis makes it too easy for us to guess too soon the true roles of Flip (and the assistant she hires) and the true feelings of Bennett, so that it is not believable that Sandra (who is quite intelligent) would not have caught on by the time we do. Third, as a result I began feeling impatient waiting for the climax of what is a short novel, and, indeed, I bet the novel could have been a novella but Willis probably wanted to elongate it to work in all her cool fad and scientific breakthrough nuggets.
The reader, Kate Reading, does a fine job with all the voices; she's especially good at talking like rude, bored, impatient, and ignorant waitpersons and store workers. And her efficient, weathered Shirl is savory.
Of what genre is Bellwether? Although Willis has won numerous Hugos and Nebulas, this book is more fiction about science than science fiction. Perhaps it is a romantic comedy of research scientist manners. If you like Willis' humor in To Say Nothing of the Dog and or if you are curious about fads and scientific breakthroughs treated in a light comic light, you would like this book, but I prefer her more substantial and moving Domesday Book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Mim
- 09-08-10
Fun facts with a charming romance
Can't remember why I picked this title but very glad I did. I enjoyed the facts in between the 'action' and having spent a little time in Boulder Co. on a teaching exchange it was fun to visit again through the story.
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
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kat Kruse
- 10-25-16
Great fun & makes you think
As always, Ms Willis makes you think while telling a great story. If you've never tried her stories this is a good place to start.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
- Deborah
- 06-10-11
What a fun, smart book!
This was suggested by Audible and I'm so glad I found it. :) A fun story with a bit of scientific education and romance thrown in.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- R. Sippel
- 10-21-14
yawn
I kept waiting for something interesting to happen. I would put this book in the safe category, no cursing, action, romance or suspense. The fads held my interest and growing up in the 60's & 70's some of the fads did bring back memories and made me chuckle, but this book was just a little to slow and uneventful for me.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mary Nichols
- 08-12-15
Hillarious
If you could sum up Bellwether in three words, what would they be?
Laugh out loud
What was one of the most memorable moments of Bellwether?
when sheep escaped
What does Kate Reading bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
Kate was wonderful. Her voice actually does an eye roll so well!!
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
Made me laugh out loud several times.Warning, be careful where you listen or you might find people looking at you strangely
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Chad
- 09-27-20
It's ok
A science fiction novel? Great, sign me up!
Wait. IS this science fiction?
I started listening to it, and was confused about whether I was listening to a novel or to a work of nonfiction. I came within a hair's breadth of stopping the book and requesting a refund from Audible. It definitely starts out fairly slow, and a great deal of my dissatisfaction was not knowing what it was.
This is a novel of office antics, with a bit of romance thrown in, overlaid by a moral lesson and interspersed liberally with random facts.
This is a story of a woman at a dysfunctional office environment, but the office workers are scientists, researchers. The main character is a sociologist studying trends and fads. The overall lesson is, I believe, that people are like sheep (a rather overused metaphor) and blindly follow each other into doing stupid things. We should think for ourselves. Since the main character studies fads, the novel is frequently interrupted by a description of some historical fad or other, from mahjong to rubik's cubes. It reminds me of Les Miserables and how Victor Hugo would squeeze in full essays on various topics.
The plot was rather predictable, for the most part. I also feel some disquiet, wondering if the author has conservative leanings. The villain tends to wear miniskirts or other revealing clothing. Frustrations are expressed about how animal rights activisits would interfere with using dogs from the pound for (non-harmful) experiments. Dislike of smoking is referred to as a "fad". Perhaps I'm reading too much into it.
Anyway, once I understood that the book was an office drama with the protagonist verbalizing random fad facts, it was easier to listen to. It was an ok story, but certainly not a great one.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- TPJ
- 03-16-22
Love all Connie’s books!
Just heard this again and it wasn’t a bit boring the 2nd time around! Maybe there will be a 3rd time!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- John & Nadine
- 01-29-22
Really Enjoyed it!
This book was both smart and also fun! I learned some things and also laughed a lot.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!