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Mostly Dead Things

By: Kristen Arnett
Narrated by: Jesse Vilinsky
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Publisher's summary

One morning, Jessa-Lynn Morton walks into the family taxidermy shop to find that her father has committed suicide, right there on one of the metal tables. Shocked and grieving, Jessa steps up to manage the failing business, while the rest of the Morton family crumbles. Her mother starts sneaking into the shop to make aggressively lewd art with the taxidermied animals. Her brother Milo withdraws, struggling to function. And Brynn, Milo's wife - and the only person Jessa's ever been in love with - walks out without a word.

As Jessa seeks out less-than-legal ways of generating income, her mother's art escalates - picture a figure of her dead husband and a stuffed buffalo in an uncomfortably sexual pose - and the Mortons reach a tipping point. For the first time, Jessa has no choice but to learn who these people truly are, and ultimately how she fits alongside them.

Kristen Arnett's debut novel is a darkly funny, heart-wrenching, and eccentric look at loss and love.

An Esquire Magazine Pick of Most Anticipated Books of 2019
A BuzzFeed Books Pick of 2019 - Books to Keep on Your Radar
A Huffington Post Pick of 2019 - Books We're Looking Forward To
A Boston Globe Pick of Books We Can't Wait to Read
A Bustle Pick of 2019's Books to Add to Your Reading List

©2019 Kristen Arnett (P)2019 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: LGBTQ+
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Featured Article: The Best Lesbian Listens by Queer Authors


Get to know lesbian literature’s past and present with these essential listens from the LGBTQIA+ canon. Anyone on the hunt for the best LGBTQIA+ audiobooks knows that it can still be a challenge to find stories centered on lesbian characters and experiences. Discover the best lesbian listens across fiction and nonfiction and in a range of genres and age categories, with one common factor: All of these stories are focused on lesbian characters.

What listeners say about Mostly Dead Things

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Unafraid Of Bad Moments

Arnett's story is powerful. Portraying the life of a girl in both dark and bright lights, Arnett gracefully melds the grotesque and beautiful into one. I strongly recommend this novel to readers looking for something new, hilarious, and painstakingly truthful. Vilinsky's reading threw me off at first but their emotion and androgynous tone lead to GREAT character voices.

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

Great Story, Questionable Narration

I struggled to get through this on audiobook and eventually gave-up and finished it on my Kindle. There is an a misplaced emotional tone to the narration that comes off like a child coming down from a tantrum, suppressing sobs with every sentence that feels extremely disconnected from the emotionally fractured protagonist. It’s extremely distracting and takes away from the cleverness of the prose.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Disappointed

I wanted to love this book so much. Reading the description I was sure it was going to be a new favorite. But I could not get into it. I even restarted it because I was spacing out a lot and still couldn’t get into it the second time.

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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You need to keep an open mind for this one

this is the single most "hear me out" book I've ever read. the material is tough to swallow, but that's by design and it serves the story well. you're basically gonna have to just buckle up until the end. don't let anyone tell you this isn't a good book; it's a great book. is it fun? no, not at all, not even a little bit, but that's part of the point here

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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Awesome

This is a fascinating and moving story that captures the intricate nature of family relationships and learning how to let go.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Surprisingly Sweet

I enjoyed a lot of things about this book. To name a few:

1. It was queer without the entire storyline having to be about the drama of being queer.
2. It humanized imperfect people. I read, “Normal People,” earlier this year and it felt similar in this vein.
3. It humanized poor people. It explored the complexity of grief and human emotion.

I can’t wait to read more from Kristin Arnett..

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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So good!!

Made me feel everything! Growing up and out of childhood and Queer trauma. I needed this book to exist. It’s raw and makes you feel those thick, sticky nights in Florida with how descriptive the author is. We’ll done!

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

Unimpressed

Just really unimpressed and story kind hard to understand and felt there was no point to the story

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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Depressing and disappointing

I have trouble with the narrator. Her voice drops off at the end of a sentence so sometimes I couldn't hear what she was saying.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

No ........

This was a hard book to listen too. I was not impressed with the narrator, and the story itself was really hard for me to stick with..

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