
Butcher
A Novel
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About this listen
From one of our most accomplished storytellers, an extraordinary and arresting novel about a women’s asylum in the nineteenth century, and a terrifying doctor who wants to change the world
In this harrowing story based on authentic historical documents, we follow the career of Dr. Silas Weir, “Father of Gyno-Psychiatry,” as he ascends from professional anonymity to national renown. Humiliated by a procedure gone terribly wrong, Weir is forced to take a position at the New Jersey Asylum for Female Lunatics, where he reigns. There, he is allowed to continue his practice, unchecked for decades, making a name for himself by focusing on women who have been neglected by the state—women he subjects to the most grotesque modes of experimentation. As he begins to establish himself as a pioneer of nineteenth-century surgery, Weir’s ambition is fueled by his obsessive fascination with a young Irish indentured servant named Brigit, who becomes not only Weir’s primary experimental subject, but also the agent of his destruction.
Narrated by Silas Weir’s eldest son, who has repudiated his father’s brutal legacy, Butcher is a unique blend of fiction and fact, a nightmare voyage through the darkest regions of the American psyche conjoined, in its startling conclusion, with unexpected romance. Once again, Joyce Carol Oates has written a spellbinding novel confirming her position as one of our celebrated American visionaries of the imagination.
©2024 Joyce Carol Oates (P)2024 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
“Butcher, by Joyce Carol Oates: A ghastly and harrowing page-turner based on facts. That a large part is set in the New Jersey Asylum for Female Lunatics should tell you all you need to know. Faint of heart? Stay away.”—Stephen King via Twitter
“[Butcher] has the feverish energy, narrative propulsion and descriptive amplitude of much of [Oates’s] earlier work. . . . Oates, as is her wont, succeeds in creating a world that is apart from our own yet familiar, making it impossible to dismiss her observations about twisted natures and random acts of violence. . . . We have become so used to the notion of the recognizable auteur blazing through the artifice of fiction and calling attention to his or her self that Oates’s approach feels like a singularly uncommon one. Long may she run.”—Daphne Merkin, The New York Times Book Review
“Gripping. . . . Bravura storytelling, if not for the faint of heart.”—Vogue, “The Best Books of 2024 So Far”
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In Victorian London, Genevieve Timmons poses as a spiritualist to swindle wealthy mourners—until one misstep lands her in a jail cell awaiting the noose. Then a stranger arrives to make her a peculiar offer. The lord he serves, Mr. Pemberton, has been inconsolable since the tragic death of his beautiful bride-to-be. If Genevieve can perform a séance persuasive enough to bring the young lord peace, she will win her freedom.
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Excellent!
- By Kimberly A. Minardi on 09-20-22
By: B.R. Myers
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Skinship
- Stories
- By: Yoon Choi
- Narrated by: Greta Jung, Intae Kim, Jennifer Kim, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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A long-married couple is forced to confront their friend's painful past when a church revival comes to a nearby town ... A woman in an arranged marriage struggles to connect with the son she hid from her husband for years ... A well-meaning sister unwittingly reunites an abuser with his victims. Through an indelible array of lives, Yoon Choi explores where first and second generations either clash or find common ground,
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My favorite from this year!
- By Marla Lev on 12-14-21
By: Yoon Choi
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The Boy in the Rain
- By: Stephanie Cowell
- Narrated by: Philip Battley
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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It is 1903 in the English countryside when Robbie, a shy young art student, meets the twenty-nine-year-old Anton who is running from memories of his brutal childhood and failed marriage. Within months, they begin a love affair that will never let them go. Robbie grows into an accomplished portraitist in the vivid London art world with the help of Anton's enchanting former wife, while Anton turns from his inherited wealth and connections to improve the conditions of the poor.
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An entrancing, unforgettable journey into the past
- By echolocation345 on 09-08-23
By: Stephanie Cowell
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The Return
- By: Rachel Harrison
- Narrated by: Sarah Scott
- Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Julie is missing, and no one believes she will ever return - except Elise. Elise knows Julie better than anyone, and feels it in her bones that her best friend is out there and that one day Julie will come back. She’s right. Two years to the day that Julie went missing, she reappears with no memory of where she’s been or what happened to her. Along with Molly and Mae, their two close friends from college, the women decide to reunite at a remote inn. But the second Elise sees Julie, she knows something is wrong - she’s emaciated, with sallow skin and odd appetites.
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Great climax.
- By Amazon Customer on 03-25-20
By: Rachel Harrison
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Fox
- A Novel
- By: Joyce Carol Oates
- Narrated by: Max Meyers, Chris Andrew Ciulla, Kirsten Potter, and others
- Length: 18 hrs
- Unabridged
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Who is Francis Fox? A charming English teacher new to the idyllic Langhorne Academy, Fox beguiles many of his students, their parents, and his colleagues at the elite boarding school, while leaving others wondering where he came from and why his biography is so enigmatic. When two brothers discover Fox’s car half-submerged in a pond in a local nature preserve and parts of an unidentified body strewn about the nearby woods, the entire community, including Detective Horace Zwender and his deputy, begins to ask disturbing questions about Francis Fox and who he might really be.
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The Golem of Brooklyn
- A Novel
- By: Adam Mansbach
- Narrated by: Danny Hoch
- Length: 6 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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In Ashkenazi Jewish folklore, a golem is a humanoid being created out of mud or clay and animated through secret prayers. Its sole purpose is to defend the Jewish people against the immediate threat of violence. It is always a rabbi who makes a golem, and always in a time of crisis. But Len Bronstein is no rabbi—he’s a Brooklyn art teacher who steals a large quantity of clay from his school, gets extremely stoned, and manages to bring his creation to life despite knowing little about Judaism and even less about golems.
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THE book for November, 2023!
- By Anonymous User on 11-19-23
By: Adam Mansbach
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Kissing Carrion
- Stories
- By: Gemma Files
- Narrated by: Neil Hellegers, Xe Sands, Natasha Soudek, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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These seventeen tales take listeners into the uniquely twisted mind of “one of Canada’s most promising new horror writers” (Publishers Weekly). From a live necrophilia show starring reanimated corpses to a confrontation between a security guard and inhuman squatters, from who can be found at an all-night laundromat to what lies in wait at the bottom of the sea, from undead addictions to all-consuming obsessions, Kissing Carrion is “a journey through some of the most beautifully rendered visions of darkness and death to be published this past year."
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Horror that leaves a residue
- By Amazon Customer on 07-08-23
By: Gemma Files
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Lovely, Dark, Deep
- By: Joyce Carol Oates
- Narrated by: Jason Culp, Maggi-Meg Reed
- Length: 16 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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From the legendary literary master, winner of the National Book Award and New York Times best-selling author Joyce Carol Oates, a collection of ten spellbinding stories that maps the eerie darkness within us all. Insightful, disturbing, and mesmerizing in their lyrical precision, the stories in Lovely, Dark, Deep display Joyce Carol Oates's astonishing ability to make visceral the fear, hurt, and uncertainty that lurks at the edges of ordinary lives.
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Definitely Dark and Deep
- By Monica on 01-10-17
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Bellefleur
- Gothic Saga Series, Book 1
- By: Joyce Carol Oates
- Narrated by: Xe Sands
- Length: 27 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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A wealthy and notorious clan, the Bellefleurs live in a region not unlike the Adirondacks, in an enormous mansion on the shores of mythic Lake Noir. They own vast lands and profitable businesses, they employ their neighbors, and they influence the government. A prolific and eccentric group, they include several millionaires, a mass murderer, a spiritual seeker who climbs into the mountains looking for God, a wealthy noctambulist who dies of a chicken scratch.
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Old School Gothic Literature (Not a beach read)
- By Keijon ford on 05-01-20
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Falling Home
- A Falling Home Novel
- By: Karen White
- Narrated by: Lyssa Browne
- Length: 15 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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At 20, Cassie Madison left her hometown of Walton, Georgia, for New York City, where she has reinvented herself - from losing herself in her career to squashing her accent. But one night a single phone call brings back everything she's tried to forget. She hasn't spoken to her sister since Harriet stole Cassie's fiancé and married him. But now Harriet's on the line with news that their father is dying. As she makes the trip back, the only thing that frightens Cassie more than losing her father is seeing Harriet and the family that should have been hers.
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Another great book by Karen White
- By Kindle Customer on 02-01-21
By: Karen White
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Ghosts of Harvard
- A Novel
- By: Francesca Serritella
- Narrated by: Karissa Vacker
- Length: 16 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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As Cady struggles under the enormous pressure at Harvard, she investigates her brother’s final year, armed only with a blue notebook of Eric’s cryptic scribblings. She knew he had been struggling with paranoia, delusions, and illusory enemies - but what tipped him over the edge? Voices fill her head, seemingly belonging to three ghosts who passed through the university in life, or death, and whose voices, dreams, and terrors still echo the halls. Among them is a person whose name has been buried for centuries, and another whose name mankind will never forget.
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narration is perfect
- By Barbara S on 06-06-20
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Booth
- By: Karen Joy Fowler
- Narrated by: January LaVoy
- Length: 13 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1822, a secret family moves into a secret cabin some thirty miles northeast of Baltimore, to farm, to hide, and to bear ten children over the course of the next sixteen years. Junius Booth—breadwinner, celebrated Shakespearean actor, and master of the house in more ways than one—is at once a mesmerizing talent and a man of terrifying instability. One by one the children arrive, as year by year, the country draws frighteningly closer to the boiling point of secession and civil war.
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Fascinating
- By E. Creagh on 06-20-22
By: Karen Joy Fowler
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All We Were Promised
- A Novel
- By: Ashton Lattimore
- Narrated by: Shayna Small, Ashton Lattimore
- Length: 12 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Philadelphia, 1837. After Charlotte escaped from the crumbling White Oaks plantation down South, she’d expected freedom to feel different from her former life as an enslaved housemaid. After all, Philadelphia is supposed to be the birthplace of American liberty. Instead, she’s locked away playing servant to her white-passing father, as they both attempt to hide their identities from slavecatchers who would destroy their new lives.
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Simply Amazing!
- By TMJ on 04-19-25
By: Ashton Lattimore
What listeners say about Butcher
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Amazon Customer
- 02-07-25
Wow! What a book!
I was a tad hesitant because the book sounded dark. But it turned out to be easy to read because of how sensitively and effectively the topic was handled. Incredible character study. Very engaging. Extremely unique novel. Every variation of "very" can be used. This book really left an impression on me.
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- RaleighHipsterYuppie
- 07-17-24
Great story and relevant historical fiction
Very engaging. Gruesome but good to hear a point of view not represented in normal history telling
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Maybe Her Best
This is likely Joyce Carol Oates’s bass novel to date. The way she is able to capture the voice, tone, and mood of a 19th century surgeon was spectacular. Clearly, the diction is reflective of a 19th century author. The reason I gave this novel four stars instead of five stars in the story category is because I feel like the story and characters or let’s say the plot and characters could’ve been developed more to the end of the story. I feel as though she may have gotten tired of writing the story and ended it without developing it. However, this has been the case with many of her novels, so it may just be a stylistic of her writing rather than lack of development of the characters. Over all, if you like Gothic literature, then I’m highly recommended.
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- ca
- 04-30-25
Historia novelada
A good book with parts of history and parts of invention. If one's put in 1850 we understand todays medicine
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- Green631
- 07-10-24
all star cast of narrators!
excellent narratoring of the story loosely based on the real life Dr of women's health.
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- Patricia R. Miller
- 06-24-24
Great story line
LOVE Joyce Carol Oates. This novel doesn’t disappoint. All young women must read to appreciate where women’s gynecological care began.
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- Kindle Customer
- 04-22-25
The immense arrogance and ego of the antagonist and how his attitude and views were not only accepted for the time period.
I liked the different narrators. That is not always successful, but in this case it was.
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- Comfortandlooks
- 05-24-24
History we didn’t learn in school
The detail and the thriller aspect of the story that was true at a time when women were devalued and blacks couldn’t vote (sound familiar)
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- wooden indian
- 10-16-24
JCO is a treasure
I have loved Joyce Carol Oates’ late career output. Her last few, she has turned herself into almost a horror writer - Baby Sitter, 48 Clues. And this one is no different. At times horrifying but you cannot turn away. The narrators are all first rate. Loved it.
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- Trisha Van Dam
- 08-30-24
Most unusual content. It kept me interested for the entire audio.
I liked the history of the asylum. The mention of the nearby towns. Being a life long NJ resident it was very interesting to me.
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