California
A Novel
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
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $24.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Emma Galvin
-
By:
-
Edan Lepucki
About this listen
The world Cal and Frida have always known is gone, and they've left the crumbling city of Los Angeles far behind them. They now live in a shack in the wilderness, working side-by-side to make their days tolerable despite the isolation and hardships they face. Consumed by fear of the future and mourning for a past they can't reclaim, they seek comfort and solace in each other. But the tentative existence they've built for themselves is thrown into doubt when Frida finds out she's pregnant.
Terrified of the unknown but unsure of their ability to raise a child alone, Cal and Frida set out for the nearest settlement, a guarded and paranoid community with dark secrets. These people can offer them security, but Cal and Frida soon realize this community poses its own dangers. In this unfamiliar world, where everything and everyone can be perceived as a threat, the couple must quickly decide whom to trust.
A gripping and provocative debut novel by a stunning new talent, California imagines a frighteningly realistic near future, in which clashes between mankind's dark nature and irrepressible resilience force us to question how far we will go to protect the ones we love.
©2014 Edan Lepucki (P)2014 Hachette AudioListeners also enjoyed...
-
How High We Go in the Dark
- A Novel
- By: Sequoia Nagamatsu
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan, Brian Nishii, Keisuke Hoashi, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2030, a grieving archeologist arrives in the Arctic Circle to continue the work of his recently deceased daughter at the Batagaika Crater, where researchers are studying long-buried secrets now revealed in melting permafrost, including the perfectly preserved remains of a girl who appears to have died of an ancient virus. Once unleashed, the Arctic plague will reshape life on Earth for generations to come, quickly traversing the globe, forcing humanity to devise a myriad of moving and inventive ways to embrace possibility in the face of tragedy.
-
-
Should come with a sadness warning
- By KJH on 03-16-22
-
A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World
- A Novel
- By: C. A. Fletcher
- Narrated by: C. A. Fletcher
- Length: 10 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
My name's Griz. I've never been to school, I've never had friends, and in my whole life I've not met enough people to play a game of football. My parents told me how crowded the world used to be, before all the people went away. But we were never lonely on our remote island. We had each other and our dogs. Then the thief came.
-
-
Ah, NOT for animal lovers!
- By Evert on 10-19-19
By: C. A. Fletcher
-
Hidden Pictures
- A Novel
- By: Jason Rekulak
- Narrated by: Suzy Jackson
- Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fresh out of rehab, Mallory Quinn takes a job as a babysitter for Ted and Caroline Maxwell. She is to look after their five-year-old son, Teddy. Mallory immediately loves it. She has her own living space, goes out for nightly runs, and has the stability she craves. And she sincerely bonds with Teddy, a sweet, shy boy who is never without his sketchbook and pencil. His drawings are the usual fare: trees, rabbits, balloons. But one day, he draws something different: a man in a forest, dragging a woman’s lifeless body.
-
-
Should be identified as a Young Adult novel
- By Marie on 05-19-22
By: Jason Rekulak
-
Animal Dreams
- A Novel
- By: Barbara Kingsolver
- Narrated by: Barbara Kingsolver
- Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Animal Dreams is a passionate and complex novel about love, forgiveness, and one woman's struggle to find her place in the world. At the end of her rope, Codi Noline returns to her Arizona home to face her ailing father, with whom she has a difficult, distant relationship. There she meets handsome Apache trainman Loyd Peregrina, who tells her, "If you want sweet dreams, you've got to live a sweet life."
-
-
She reads my heart
- By Sue Spahr Hodges on 08-03-18
-
Sea of Tranquility
- A Novel
- By: Emily St. John Mandel
- Narrated by: John Lee, Dylan Moore, Arthur Morey, and others
- Length: 5 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Edwin St. Andrew is eighteen years old when he crosses the Atlantic by steamship, exiled from polite society following an ill-conceived diatribe at a dinner party. He enters the forest, spellbound by the beauty of the Canadian wilderness, and suddenly hears the notes of a violin echoing in an airship terminal—an experience that shocks him to his core.
-
-
An excellent listen.
- By Mark on 04-11-22
-
Olga Dies Dreaming
- A Novel
- By: Xochitl Gonzalez
- Narrated by: Almarie Guerra, Inés del Castillo, Armando Riesco
- Length: 11 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It’s 2017, and Olga and her brother, Pedro “Prieto” Acevedo” are bold-faced names in their hometown of New York. Prieto is a popular Congressman representing their gentrifying Latinx neighborhood in Brooklyn while Olga is the tony wedding planner for Manhattan’s powerbrokers. Despite their alluring public lives, behind closed doors things are far less rosy. Sure, Olga can orchestrate the love stories of the one percent, but she can’t seem to find her own...until she meets Matteo, who forces her to confront the effects of long-held family secrets.
-
-
Funny, romantic, serious, substantial—all of these things and more
- By Diana on 01-07-22
By: Xochitl Gonzalez
-
How High We Go in the Dark
- A Novel
- By: Sequoia Nagamatsu
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan, Brian Nishii, Keisuke Hoashi, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2030, a grieving archeologist arrives in the Arctic Circle to continue the work of his recently deceased daughter at the Batagaika Crater, where researchers are studying long-buried secrets now revealed in melting permafrost, including the perfectly preserved remains of a girl who appears to have died of an ancient virus. Once unleashed, the Arctic plague will reshape life on Earth for generations to come, quickly traversing the globe, forcing humanity to devise a myriad of moving and inventive ways to embrace possibility in the face of tragedy.
-
-
Should come with a sadness warning
- By KJH on 03-16-22
-
A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World
- A Novel
- By: C. A. Fletcher
- Narrated by: C. A. Fletcher
- Length: 10 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
My name's Griz. I've never been to school, I've never had friends, and in my whole life I've not met enough people to play a game of football. My parents told me how crowded the world used to be, before all the people went away. But we were never lonely on our remote island. We had each other and our dogs. Then the thief came.
-
-
Ah, NOT for animal lovers!
- By Evert on 10-19-19
By: C. A. Fletcher
-
Hidden Pictures
- A Novel
- By: Jason Rekulak
- Narrated by: Suzy Jackson
- Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fresh out of rehab, Mallory Quinn takes a job as a babysitter for Ted and Caroline Maxwell. She is to look after their five-year-old son, Teddy. Mallory immediately loves it. She has her own living space, goes out for nightly runs, and has the stability she craves. And she sincerely bonds with Teddy, a sweet, shy boy who is never without his sketchbook and pencil. His drawings are the usual fare: trees, rabbits, balloons. But one day, he draws something different: a man in a forest, dragging a woman’s lifeless body.
-
-
Should be identified as a Young Adult novel
- By Marie on 05-19-22
By: Jason Rekulak
-
Animal Dreams
- A Novel
- By: Barbara Kingsolver
- Narrated by: Barbara Kingsolver
- Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Animal Dreams is a passionate and complex novel about love, forgiveness, and one woman's struggle to find her place in the world. At the end of her rope, Codi Noline returns to her Arizona home to face her ailing father, with whom she has a difficult, distant relationship. There she meets handsome Apache trainman Loyd Peregrina, who tells her, "If you want sweet dreams, you've got to live a sweet life."
-
-
She reads my heart
- By Sue Spahr Hodges on 08-03-18
-
Sea of Tranquility
- A Novel
- By: Emily St. John Mandel
- Narrated by: John Lee, Dylan Moore, Arthur Morey, and others
- Length: 5 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Edwin St. Andrew is eighteen years old when he crosses the Atlantic by steamship, exiled from polite society following an ill-conceived diatribe at a dinner party. He enters the forest, spellbound by the beauty of the Canadian wilderness, and suddenly hears the notes of a violin echoing in an airship terminal—an experience that shocks him to his core.
-
-
An excellent listen.
- By Mark on 04-11-22
-
Olga Dies Dreaming
- A Novel
- By: Xochitl Gonzalez
- Narrated by: Almarie Guerra, Inés del Castillo, Armando Riesco
- Length: 11 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It’s 2017, and Olga and her brother, Pedro “Prieto” Acevedo” are bold-faced names in their hometown of New York. Prieto is a popular Congressman representing their gentrifying Latinx neighborhood in Brooklyn while Olga is the tony wedding planner for Manhattan’s powerbrokers. Despite their alluring public lives, behind closed doors things are far less rosy. Sure, Olga can orchestrate the love stories of the one percent, but she can’t seem to find her own...until she meets Matteo, who forces her to confront the effects of long-held family secrets.
-
-
Funny, romantic, serious, substantial—all of these things and more
- By Diana on 01-07-22
By: Xochitl Gonzalez
-
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
- A Hunger Games Novel
- By: Suzanne Collins
- Narrated by: Santino Fontana
- Length: 16 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is the morning of the reaping that will kick off the 10th annual Hunger Games. In the Capitol, 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow is preparing for his one shot at glory as a mentor in the Games. The once-mighty house of Snow has fallen on hard times, its fate hanging on the slender chance that Coriolanus will be able to out charm, outwit, and outmaneuver his fellow students to mentor the winning tribute. The odds are against him. He’s been given the humiliating assignment of mentoring the female tribute from District 12, the lowest of the low.
-
-
Bad part
- By Edgars Dumins on 05-19-20
By: Suzanne Collins
-
Severance
- A Novel
- By: Ling Ma
- Narrated by: Nancy Wu
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Candace Chen, a millennial drone self-sequestered in a Manhattan office tower, is devoted to routine. With the recent passing of her Chinese immigrant parents, she’s had her fill of uncertainty. She’s content just to carry on: She goes to work, troubleshoots the teen-targeted Gemstone Bible, watches movies in a Greenpoint basement with her boyfriend. So Candace barely notices when a plague of biblical proportions sweeps New York.
-
-
4.19 stars
- By ibillinsly@gmail on 12-06-18
By: Ling Ma
-
Quietly Hostile
- Essays
- By: Samantha Irby
- Narrated by: Samantha Irby
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Samantha Irby’s career has taken her to new heights. She dodges calls from Hollywood and flop sweats on the red carpet at premieres (well, one premiere). But nothing is ever as it seems online, where she can crop out all the ugly parts. Irby got a lot of weird emails about Carrie Bradshaw, and not only is there diarrhea to avoid, but now—anaphylactic shock. She is turned away from restaurants for being inappropriately dressed and looks for the best ways to cope, i.e., reveling in the offerings of QVC and adopting a deranged pandemic dog.
-
-
Extremely disappointed
- By Diana in Michigan on 07-20-23
By: Samantha Irby
-
Parable of the Sower
- By: Octavia E. Butler
- Narrated by: Lynne Thigpen
- Length: 12 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
God is change. That is the central truth of the Earthseed movement, whose unlikely prophet is 18-year-old Lauren Olamina. The young woman's diary entries tell the story of her life amid a violent 21st-century hell of walled neighborhoods and drug-crazed pyromaniacs - and reveal her evolving Earthseed philosophy. Against a backdrop of horror emerges a message of hope: if we are willing to embrace divine change, we will survive to fulfill our destiny among the stars.
-
-
Dystopia before dystopia was cool...
- By Amber on 05-28-14
-
The Road
- By: Cormac McCarthy
- Narrated by: Tom Stechschulte
- Length: 6 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
America is a barren landscape of smoldering ashes, devoid of life except for those people still struggling to scratch out some type of existence. Amidst this destruction, a father and his young son walk, always toward the coast, but with no real understanding that circumstances will improve once they arrive. Still, they persevere, and their relationship comes to represent goodness in a world of utter devastation.
-
-
ARE YOU CARRYING THE FIRE?
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 05-14-16
By: Cormac McCarthy
-
The Handmaid's Tale: Special Edition
- By: Margaret Atwood, Valerie Martin - essay
- Narrated by: Claire Danes, full cast, Margaret Atwood, and others
- Length: 12 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After a violent coup in the United States overthrows the Constitution and ushers in a new government regime, the Republic of Gilead imposes subservient roles on all women. Offred, now a Handmaid tasked with the singular role of procreation in the childless household of the enigmatic Commander and his bitter wife, can remember a time when she lived with her husband and daughter and had a job, before she lost everything, even her own name.
-
-
Wait! It Mightn't Be What You Think--
- By Gillian on 04-05-17
By: Margaret Atwood, and others
-
Earth Abides
- By: George R. Stewart
- Narrated by: Timothy Andrés Pabon
- Length: 13 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The cabin had always been a special retreat for Isherwood Williams, a haven from the demands of society. But one day while hiking, Ish was bitten by a rattlesnake, and the solitude he had so desired took on dire new significance. Ish headed home when he finally felt himself again—and noticed the strangeness almost immediately. No cars passed him on the road; the gas station not far from his cabin looked abandoned; and he was shocked to see the body of a man on the roadside near a small town. Without a radio or phone, Ish had no idea of humanity’s abrupt demise.
-
-
The accolades are undeserved
- By 2duckornot2duck on 04-26-21
-
Elantris
- Tenth Anniversary Special Edition
- By: Brandon Sanderson
- Narrated by: Jack Garrett
- Length: 28 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2005, Brandon Sanderson debuted with Elantris, an epic fantasy unlike any other then on the market. To celebrate its 10th anniversary, Tor is reissuing Elantris in a special edition, a fresh chance to introduce it to the myriad listeners who have since become Sanderson fans.
-
-
Just love Jack Garrett's narration!
- By Brittany on 09-01-16
-
Wicked
- The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
- By: Gregory Maguire
- Narrated by: John McDonough
- Length: 19 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Heralded as an instant classic of fantasy literature, Maguire has written a wonderfully imaginative retelling of The Wizard of Oz told from the Wicked Witch's point of view. More than just a fairy tale for adults, Wicked is a meditation on the nature of good and evil.
-
-
It's not easy being green
- By PangaeaReads on 07-30-08
By: Gregory Maguire
-
Uglies
- Uglies, Book 1
- By: Scott Westerfeld
- Narrated by: Emily Tremaine
- Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tally lives in a world where your 16th birthday brings aesthetic perfection: an operation that erases all your flaws, transforming you from an "Ugly" into a "Pretty". She is on the eve of this important event and cannot wait for her life to change. As well as guaranteeing supermodel looks, life as a Pretty seems to revolve around having a good time. But then she meets Shay, who is also 15 - but with a very different outlook on life.
-
-
Deadpan narrator murders bubbly story.
- By Mrs. T on 11-09-16
By: Scott Westerfeld
-
Ship of Magic
- The Liveship Traders, Book 1
- By: Robin Hobb
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 35 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bingtown is a hub of exotic trade and home to a merchant nobility famed for its liveships---rare vessels carved from wizardwood, which ripens magically into sentient awareness. The fortunes of one of Bingtown's oldest families rest on the newly awakened liveship Vivacia. For Althea Vestrit, the ship is her rightful legacy unjustly denied her---a legacy she will risk anything to reclaim.
-
-
Horrible Narrator
- By CP on 10-07-10
By: Robin Hobb
-
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
Critic reviews
Related to this topic
-
The Road Home
- By: Ford Michael Thomas Ford
- Narrated by: Blake Somerset
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When a car accident leaves photographer Burke Crenshaw in need of temporary full-time care, he finds himself back in the one place no forty-year-old chooses to be--his childhood bedroom. There, in the Vermont home where he grew up, Burke begins the long process of recuperation, and watches as his widowed father finds happiness in a new relationship that's a constant reminder of everything Burke wants and lacks. Exploring local history, Burke discovers an intriguing series of letters from a Civil War soldier to his fianc.
-
-
No need to check your scepticism at the door!
- By Orlando on 08-23-13
-
The Lost Husband
- By: Katherine Center
- Narrated by: Amy Rubinate
- Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"Dear Libby, It occurs to me that you and your two children have been living with your mother for - Dear Lord! - two whole years, and I'm writing to see if you'd like to be rescued." The letter comes out of the blue, and just in time for Libby Moran, who - after the sudden death of her husband, Danny - went to stay with her hypercritical mother. Now her crazy Aunt Jean has offered Libby an escape: a job and a place to live on her farm in the Texas Hill Country.
-
-
wonderful story. narrator kind of a sad sack.
- By Susan Reynolds on 07-24-19
By: Katherine Center
-
Wedding Ring
- A Shenandoah Album Novel
- By: Emilie Richards
- Narrated by: Isabel Keating
- Length: 15 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Needing time to contemplate her troubled marriage, Tessa MacRae agrees to spend the summer helping her mother and grandmother clean out the family home in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. But the three women have never been close.
-
-
Loved it All Over Again
- By Kathryn @theBookDate on 03-26-16
By: Emilie Richards
-
My True Love Gave to Me
- Twelve Holiday Stories
- By: Stephanie Perkins - editor
- Narrated by: Various
- Length: 12 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
You're going to fall in love with My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories by twelve bestselling young adult writers, edited by the international bestselling Stephanie Perkins. Whether you celebrate Christmas or Hanukkah, Winter Solstice or Kwanzaa, there's something here for everyone. So curl up by the fireplace and get cozy. You have twelve reasons this season to stay indoors and fall in love.
-
-
Nice Holiday Read
- By Doha on 11-23-16
-
All the Winters After
- A Novel
- By: Seré Prince Halverson
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Kachemak Winkel never intended to come back to his hometown of Caboose, Alaska, where his family died in a plane crash 20 years earlier. When he finally musters the courage to return and face his painful memories, he's surprised to find a mysterious young woman living in his abandoned house.
-
-
The Old Old Story
- By Bruce on 06-16-16
-
The Wishing Thread
- By: Lisa Van Allen
- Narrated by: Amy Rubinate
- Length: 11 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Van Ripper women have been the talk of Tarrytown, New York, for centuries. Some say they're angels; some say they're crooks. In their tumbledown "Stitchery", not far from the stomping grounds of the legendary Headless Horseman, the Van Ripper sisters - Aubrey, Bitty, and Meggie - are said to knit people's most ardent wishes into beautiful scarves and mittens, granting them health, success, or even a blossoming romance. But for the magic to work, sacrifices must be made - and no one knows that better than the Van Rippers.
-
-
Wonderful
- By Angela on 02-22-15
By: Lisa Van Allen
-
The Road Home
- By: Ford Michael Thomas Ford
- Narrated by: Blake Somerset
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When a car accident leaves photographer Burke Crenshaw in need of temporary full-time care, he finds himself back in the one place no forty-year-old chooses to be--his childhood bedroom. There, in the Vermont home where he grew up, Burke begins the long process of recuperation, and watches as his widowed father finds happiness in a new relationship that's a constant reminder of everything Burke wants and lacks. Exploring local history, Burke discovers an intriguing series of letters from a Civil War soldier to his fianc.
-
-
No need to check your scepticism at the door!
- By Orlando on 08-23-13
-
The Lost Husband
- By: Katherine Center
- Narrated by: Amy Rubinate
- Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"Dear Libby, It occurs to me that you and your two children have been living with your mother for - Dear Lord! - two whole years, and I'm writing to see if you'd like to be rescued." The letter comes out of the blue, and just in time for Libby Moran, who - after the sudden death of her husband, Danny - went to stay with her hypercritical mother. Now her crazy Aunt Jean has offered Libby an escape: a job and a place to live on her farm in the Texas Hill Country.
-
-
wonderful story. narrator kind of a sad sack.
- By Susan Reynolds on 07-24-19
By: Katherine Center
-
Wedding Ring
- A Shenandoah Album Novel
- By: Emilie Richards
- Narrated by: Isabel Keating
- Length: 15 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Needing time to contemplate her troubled marriage, Tessa MacRae agrees to spend the summer helping her mother and grandmother clean out the family home in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. But the three women have never been close.
-
-
Loved it All Over Again
- By Kathryn @theBookDate on 03-26-16
By: Emilie Richards
-
My True Love Gave to Me
- Twelve Holiday Stories
- By: Stephanie Perkins - editor
- Narrated by: Various
- Length: 12 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
You're going to fall in love with My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories by twelve bestselling young adult writers, edited by the international bestselling Stephanie Perkins. Whether you celebrate Christmas or Hanukkah, Winter Solstice or Kwanzaa, there's something here for everyone. So curl up by the fireplace and get cozy. You have twelve reasons this season to stay indoors and fall in love.
-
-
Nice Holiday Read
- By Doha on 11-23-16
-
All the Winters After
- A Novel
- By: Seré Prince Halverson
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Kachemak Winkel never intended to come back to his hometown of Caboose, Alaska, where his family died in a plane crash 20 years earlier. When he finally musters the courage to return and face his painful memories, he's surprised to find a mysterious young woman living in his abandoned house.
-
-
The Old Old Story
- By Bruce on 06-16-16
-
The Wishing Thread
- By: Lisa Van Allen
- Narrated by: Amy Rubinate
- Length: 11 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Van Ripper women have been the talk of Tarrytown, New York, for centuries. Some say they're angels; some say they're crooks. In their tumbledown "Stitchery", not far from the stomping grounds of the legendary Headless Horseman, the Van Ripper sisters - Aubrey, Bitty, and Meggie - are said to knit people's most ardent wishes into beautiful scarves and mittens, granting them health, success, or even a blossoming romance. But for the magic to work, sacrifices must be made - and no one knows that better than the Van Rippers.
-
-
Wonderful
- By Angela on 02-22-15
By: Lisa Van Allen
-
Lifted by the Great Nothing
- By: Karim Dimechkie
- Narrated by: Neil Shah
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Max doesn't remember his mother, who was murdered by burglars before they emigrated from Beirut to New Jersey. He lives with his father, Rasheed, who is enamored of his concept of American culture - baseball and barbeques - and tries to shed his Lebanese heritage completely.
-
-
Excellent
- By Cheyenne on 06-13-15
By: Karim Dimechkie
-
Vivian Apple at the End of the World
- By: Katie Coyle
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 8 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Seventeen-year-old Vivian Apple never believed in the evangelical Church of America, unlike her recently devout parents. But when Vivian returns home the night after the supposed 'Rapture,' all that's left of her parents are two holes in the roof. Suddenly, she doesn't know who or what to believe. With her best friend Harp and a mysterious ally, Peter, Vivian embarks on a desperate cross-country road trip through a paranoid and panic-stricken America to find answers.
-
-
juvenile
- By emily on 12-16-19
By: Katie Coyle
-
How to Survive a Summer
- A Novel
- By: Nick White
- Narrated by: Michael Crouch
- Length: 12 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Grad student Will Dillard has largely buried memories of the summer he spent at a camp intended to "cure" homosexuality. But when he finds out a horror movie based on the camp is hitting theaters, he's forced to face his past - and his role in another camper's death. As he recounts the events surrounding his "failed rehabilitation", Will strikes out on an impromptu road trip back home to Mississippi, eventually returning to the abandoned campgrounds to solve the mysteries of that pivotal summer.
-
-
A story full of heart and healing
- By ZippyBippy on 05-06-18
By: Nick White
-
Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules (Unabridged Selections)
- By: Edited by David Sedaris
- Narrated by: David Sedaris, Mary-Louise Parker, Cherry Jones
- Length: 2 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules is a collection of short stories, some classic, others impending, selected and introduced by David Sedaris.
-
-
Great stories but only 5 of 17 are included
- By Terri Kirk on 07-13-12
-
A Long, Long Time Ago and Essentially True
- By: Brigid Pasulka
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 14 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The novel opens on the eve of World War II. In the mountain village of Half-Village, a young man nicknamed the Pigeon, under the approving eyes of the entire village, courts the beautiful Anielica Hetmanska. But the war's arrival wreaks havoc in all their lives and delays their marriage for six long years.
-
-
The Old & New Worlds Converge & Transcend Time
- By Sara on 11-22-16
By: Brigid Pasulka
-
Funerals for Horses
- By: Catherine Ryan Hyde
- Narrated by: Carly Robins
- Length: 5 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ella Ginsberg's brother, Simon, has disappeared. His clothing, shoes, and watch were found abandoned near a freight line track in Central California. His jockey shorts and wallet were never found. The police have no clue, and Simon's wife had no warning that anything was wrong. Ella takes off on foot across much of California and Arizona, thinking she can find Simon using nothing but her knowledge of the way he might think. Her search leads her to the Navajo Nation in Arizona.
-
-
Funerals for Horses
- By Carolyn Ferrell on 03-26-18
-
Midnight at the Electric
- By: Jodi Lynn Anderson
- Narrated by: Jorjeana Marie, Bailey Carr, Fiona Hardingham
- Length: 6 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
2065: Adri has been handpicked to live on Mars. But weeks before launch, she discovers the journal of a girl who lived in her house more than a hundred years ago and is immediately drawn into the mystery surrounding her fate. 1934: Amid the fear and uncertainty of the Dust Bowl, Catherine’s family’s situation is growing dire. She must find the courage to sacrifice everything she loves in order to save the one person she loves most.
-
-
Beautiful, Heart-wrenching, and Unbelievably Engaging
- By Brad&Britney on 01-10-18
-
Hum If You Don't Know the Words
- By: Bianca Marais
- Narrated by: Katharine Lee McEwan, Bahni Turpin
- Length: 14 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Life under Apartheid has created a secure future for Robin Conrad, a 10-year-old white girl living with her parents in 1970s Johannesburg. In the same nation but worlds apart, Beauty Mbali, a Xhosa woman in a rural village in the Bantu homeland of the Transkei, struggles to raise her children alone after her husband's death. Both lives have been built upon the division of race, and their meeting should never have occurred...until the Soweto Uprising.
-
-
Completely wrong accents
- By Debbie on 02-12-22
By: Bianca Marais
-
The Last House on the Street
- A Novel
- By: Diane Chamberlain
- Narrated by: Susan Bennett
- Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Architect Kayla Carter and her husband designed a beautiful house for themselves in Round Hill’s new development, Shadow Ridge Estates. It was supposed to be a home where they could raise their three-year-old daughter and grow old together. Instead, it’s the place where Kayla’s husband died in an accident - a fact known to a mysterious woman who warns Kayla against moving in. The woods and lake behind the property are reputed to be haunted, and the new home has been targeted by vandals leaving threatening notes.
-
-
✫✫ 5 Stars ✫✫
- By ❤️Cyndi Marie❤️🎧Audiobook Addicts🎧 on 01-12-22
-
The Walking People
- By: Mary Beth Keane
- Narrated by: Sile Bermingham
- Length: 16 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Irish immigratn story
- By Chrissie on 09-10-13
By: Mary Beth Keane
-
Stories
- All-New Tales
- By: Neil Gaiman - author/editor, Al Sarrantonio - editor, Joe Hill, and others
- Narrated by: Anne Bobby, Jonathan Davis, Katherine Kellgren, and others
- Length: 18 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The best stories pull readers in and keep them turning the pages, eager to discover more—to find the answer to the question: "And then what happened?" The true hallmark of great literature is great imagination, and as Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio prove with this outstanding collection, when it comes to great fiction, all genres are equal.
-
-
Something for Everyone
- By Nicole on 05-24-17
By: Neil Gaiman - author/editor, and others
-
The Portable Veblen
- By: Elizabeth Mckenzie
- Narrated by: Julia Gibson
- Length: 12 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An exuberant, one-of-a-kind novel about love and family, war and nature, new money and old values by a brilliant New Yorker contributor. The Portable Veblen is a dazzlingly original novel that's as big-hearted as it is laugh-out-loud funny. Set in and around Palo Alto amid the culture clash of new money and old (antiestablishment) values, and with the specter of our current wars looming across its words, The Portable Veblen is an unforgettable look at the way we live now.
-
-
Not what it was cracked up to be
- By Linda on 02-03-16
What listeners say about California
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Just okay...
Okay, don't let the 3 stars fool you. There is a lot to like about this book, but a lot NOT to like. It has a real Cormac MaCarthy feel as you are slowly introduced to a world where it is obvious that things have gone terribly wrong. You are never told exactly what took place to put everything in a tailspin. Instead, you are given nuggets as the narrator weaves the story through the eyes of Frida.
One of my issues with this book is the lack of a character to actually like. Nobody has any charm about them, and Frida makes the same mistakes over and over, including at the very end to the point of frustrating the reader to a point of distraction.
Perhaps you will enjoy it. But go in with reservations. Heed some of the other reviews that are less than glowing. I think this title remains obscure without Stephen Colbert's "bump".
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Rachel Thomas
- 03-02-15
Unsatisfying Read, Unlikeable Narrator
Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?
No, the whole thing left me wanting. A consistently unlikeable protagonist makes a series of bad choices in a just-short-of-believable post-apocalyptic world. Furthermore, the author is really withholding. It was difficult for me to get oriented. So I'm thinking that the story is building towards some really cool reveal -- not really. The few twists were predictable and the reveal we do get is all at once at the end (a la Scooby-Doo). Really difficult to root for any of the characters in this book and, on top of that, I found the narrator's voice and reading style to be very, very grating.
What didn’t you like about Emma Galvin’s performance?
I will not be listening to any other audio books narrated by Emma Galvin.
Do you think California needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?
Actually, yes. My guess is that the author's second book will be a drastic improvement from this one. Just a hunch.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- withherownwings
- 10-29-14
lackluster post-apocalyptic story
Middle of the pack post-apocalyptic fiction. It has a lot of possibility in the telling of the end of the world in a slow rundown of supplies and infrastructure, where the very rich retreat to gated communities with all the luxuries of modern life (internet, television, power, schools, parks, and some manufacturing - though the food is mostly protein and nutrient powders), while the rest of the world falls into wilderness and living off the land. We meet two such households in the beginning, a young couple and a young family. The family dies, and the couple move to a smaller community that they have familial connections to. This community is a nest of secrets and lies, which the couple try to puzzle out.
From such a promising start, the story falls flat. Cal and Frida profess to have high moral standards, but being keeping secrets and making excuses. Their behavior seems puzzling and inconsistent. The main villian is supposedly super smart, charismatic, and ruthless, but we never see him do much to deserve that reputation - we just heard of things that happened earlier. None of the characters at the community seem fully developed. Our independent, strong feminist Frida gets distracted by the joys of baking in the kitchen and dreaming of being a mother... like some sort of 1950s housewife ideal. The ending seems rushed and the final moral of the story seems to be that people will sacrifice and justify anything for some security and comfort, which was a disappointment to me.
There are some lovely moments in the book - the worldbuilding of the communities versus the gated communities is interesting and seems plausible and realistic. I liked that there was do catastrophic event that caused the "end of the world" - no zombies or plague. The forms or spikes around the community are a wonderful image. There are some great lines of description here and there, but the dialogue is mostly juvenile, wooden, or awkward. I didn't connect emotionally with the characters much at all, or stopped when they started behaving against their natures and behaving in an untrustworthy way.
Great idea - poor construction. I wish this book could have had more editing and a few more revisions to achieve its potential.
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
-
Performance
-
Story
- Nate McFadden
- 03-16-15
It could have been great
Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?
I would recommend this book with the caveat that it goes off the rails for the last third. A lot of good setup and characters, but seems like there is too much going on for the amount of development. It just feels partially baked and therefore comes off rushed and heavy handed at times.
How could the performance have been better?
I didn't get the impression the narrator actually read the book before recording and therefore didn't seem to know when it was important to build drama. There are a few scenes that strain credulity and the narrator wasn't helping.
Was California worth the listening time?
Yes and No. I didn't stop listening, but it was a grudge match at the end.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jordan
- 07-30-14
I guess since it is fantasy, anything goes . . . .
Would you try another book from Edan Lepucki and/or Emma Galvin?
Overall, the characters' behavior is too illogical and impetuous. They behave in inexplicable ways and in the end, the novel falls apart because you have to think, "No, she wouldn't do that" or, "He wouldn't say that"
I thought Emma Galvin was one of the more successful readers I have heard.She is consistently clear and doesn't try accents or "voices". You can easily follow a conversation that different characters are speaking, but it isn't because of "ACTING!".
Has California turned you off from other books in this genre?
I am not a huge fan of speculative fiction. This novel had received such interesting notices in advance, that I was intrigued. Having completed this, I am less likely to attempt more of it.
Have you listened to any of Emma Galvin’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
No
Do you think California needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?
I was too happy to leave California in the dust. And I live here. There was a lot of potential that was left unfulfilled. I kind of feel that the novel was rushed and could have used more time to have been developed and the characters to be fleshed out/ made to behave consistently.
Any additional comments?
Honestly my problem is with the book, not the recording
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
- EMM
- 06-24-23
Meh.
Almost good. Was definitely interested. Purchased the digital copy years ago and got stuck around Ch6 but frequently thought about the story and wondered how it would end up. Very unsatisfactory ending for the buildup throughout with no real resolution. Could have benefitted from more editing and a cleaner storytelling. No wish to spoil the book for anyone, but definitely feel that it was much longer than necessary for the content.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Krista
- 07-15-14
Good Story, Very Poor Narration
What made the experience of listening to California the most enjoyable?
The story managed to be both charming and gripping. I listened almost non-stop and didn't lose interest until the last fifteen minutes. The ending was anti-climactic, at best, and left me wanting more of the relationship dynamics and the tension among the inhabitants of The Land.
Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Emma Galvin?
Actually, the narrator's voice would have worked if she had read well. It seemed as if she didn't even look over the book before she begin narrating. Some of the poorest reading I've ever heard, her misplacement of punctuation and the halting way she spoke, was ultimately detrimental to the story.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- NMwritergal
- 07-12-14
Meditation on a Turkey Baster
The first 5 minutes was Frida thinking about the turkey baster she so coveted and hid from her husband Cal. This did not bode well for the book. The audio book narrator didn't do the book any favors either--she sounded like a 14-yr-old boy, and her reading of every character was exactly the same.
Mostly it was just a boring story with an obnoxious main character (Frida). I can't even figure out what to say about her. She's vapid, selfish, mistrustful of her husband for no reason, has little understanding of people. Cal however was a likeable main character, his only flaw his love for his idiot of a wife who has a tendency to ruin everything because she's so clueless.
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
-
Performance
-
Story
- Liz
- 07-17-15
Good
Writing is beautiful, and characters are on point, but the pacing and plot can be rather slow and drawn out.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Susanna H.
- 10-06-23
I liked it a lot!
Interesting ways to look at what we value and what we think we value, cognitive dissonance and gender politics. All feels kind of plausible. I only like post apocalyptic stories if they seem plausible. Not into fantasy.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!