
The Discomfort of Evening
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Genevieve Gaunt
About this listen
Winnter of the 2020 International Booker Prize
A stark and gripping tale of childhood grief from one of the most exciting new voices in Dutch literature
Ten-year-old Jas lives with her strictly religious parents and her siblings on a dairy farm where waste and frivolity are akin to sin. Despite the dreary routine of their days, Jas has a unique way of experiencing her world: her face soft like cheese under her mother’s hands; the texture of green warts, like capers, on migrating toads in the village; the sound of “blush words” that aren’t in the Bible.
One icy morning, the disciplined rhythm of her family’s life is ruptured by a tragic accident, and Jas is convinced she is to blame. As her parents’ suffering makes them increasingly distant, Jas and her siblings develop a curiosity about death that leads them into disturbing rituals and fantasies. Cocooned in her red winter coat, Jas dreams of “the other side” and of salvation, not knowing where this dreaming will finally lead her.
A best seller in the Netherlands, Marieke Lucas Rijneveld’s radical debut novel The Discomfort of Evening offers listeners a rare vision of rural and religious life in the Netherlands. In it, they ask: In the absence of comfort and care, what can the mind of a child invent to protect itself? And what happens when that is not enough? With stunning psychological acuity and images of haunting, violent beauty, Rijneveld has created a captivating world of language unlike any other.
©2018 Marieke Lucas Rijneveld. Translation © 2020 by Michele Hutchison. Epigraph quotations appear on: a statue of Maurice Gilliams in Antwerp (source unknown); from ‘Spring’ in The Collected Poems of Jan Wolkers, published as Verzamelde gedichten in 2008 by De Bezige Bij. (P)2020 Audible Ltd., all rights reserved.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"Genevieve Gaunt's performance of this audiobook - soft-voiced, delicately accented, hauntingly matter-of-fact—suits the 10-year-old narrator, Jas. There is an innocence to Gaunt's tone that adds to Jas's unsettling tale of loss and struggle." (AudioFile Magazine)
“The effects of the unspeakable grief felt by 10-year-old Jas’ family after the death of her beloved older brother are explored in painful and painstaking detail in this startling debut novel.... Rijneveld’s extraordinary narrator describes a small world of pain which is hard to look at and harder to ignore.” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review)
"Rijneveld's International Booker Prize-shortlisted debut is not a novel for those expecting triumphal outcomes. Readers who can persist through the agonies of a family falling apart, however, will find their breath taken away by Rijneveld's prose as filtered through Hutchison's deft translation.“ (Booklist, starred review)
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- By: Lisa Tuttle, Amy Gentry - introduction by
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 3 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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A widowed writer begins to work on a biography of a novelist and artist-and soon uncovers bizarre parallels between her life and her subject's-in this chilling and singularly strange novella by a contemporary master of horror and fantasy.
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poetic!
- By Shaydinn Bondi on 12-08-24
By: Lisa Tuttle, and others
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I'm a Fan
- By: Sheena Patel
- Narrated by: Sheena Patel
- Length: 4 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Sheena Patel’s incandescent first novel begins with the unnamed narrator describing her involvement in a seemingly unequal romantic relationship. With a clear and unforgiving eye, she dissects the behavior of all involved, herself included, and makes startling connections between the power struggles at the heart of human relationships and those of the wider world. I’m a Fan offers a devastating critique of class, social media, patriarchy’s hold on us, and our cultural obsession with status and how that status is conveyed.
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chaotic, cringe inducing
- By Uviinaa on 02-11-24
By: Sheena Patel
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The Dangers of Smoking in Bed
- Stories
- By: Mariana Enriquez, Megan McDowell - translator
- Narrated by: Rebecca Soler
- Length: 5 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Written against the backdrop of contemporary Argentina, and with a resounding tenderness toward those in pain, in fear, and in limbo, The Dangers of Smoking in Bed is Mariana Enriquez at her most sophisticated, and most chilling.
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Just not my style?
- By Nate on 01-04-22
By: Mariana Enriquez, and others
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Breasts and Eggs
- By: Mieko Kawakami
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller, Jeena Yi
- Length: 15 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Breasts & Eggs paints a portrait of contemporary womanhood in Japan and recounts the intimate journeys of three women as they confront oppressive mores and their own uncertainties on the road to finding peace and futures they can truly call their own. It tells the story of three women: the 30-year-old Natsu, her older sister, Makiko, and Makiko’s daughter, Midoriko. Makiko has traveled to Tokyo in search of an affordable breast enhancement procedure. She is accompanied by Midoriko, who has recently grown silent.
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Masterful Writing and Performance
- By Noelle on 03-01-21
By: Mieko Kawakami
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Water Shall Refuse Them
- By: Lucie McKnight Hardy
- Narrated by: Holli Dempsey
- Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Following the accidental drowning of her sister, 16-year-old Nif and her family move to a small village on the Welsh borders to escape their grief. But rural seclusion doesn't bring any relief. As her family unravels, Nif begins to put together her own form of witchcraft, collecting talismans from the sun-starved land. That is, until she meets Mally, a teen boy who takes a keen interest in her and has his own secret rites to divulge.
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True Horror
- By MP on 06-21-24
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A Certain Hunger
- By: Chelsea G. Summers
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
- Original Recording
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Eat Pray Love meets American Psycho in a seductive and sinister debut literary thriller. Food critic Dorothy Daniels indulges in her homicidal urges by murdering her lovers and devouring their organs in this intense, visceral, and lushly told tale of food, sex, power, and the pursuit of a very particular taste set between New York and Italy. Please Note: A Certain Hunger contains adult language and depictions of violence. Discretion is advised.
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Ugh.
- By Kimberly on 02-03-20
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You Should Have Left
- A Novel
- By: Daniel Kehlmann, Ross Benjamin - translator
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 1 hr and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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"It is fitting that I'm beginning a new notebook up here. New surroundings and new ideas, a new beginning. Fresh air." This passage is from the first entry of a journal kept by the narrator of Daniel Kehlmann's spellbinding new novel. It is the record of the seven days that he, his wife, and his four-year-old daughter spend in a house they have rented in the mountains of Germany - a house that thwarts the expectations of the narrator's recollection and seems to defy the very laws of physics.
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Great idea, but poorly executed or incomplete.
- By dreyesopen on 08-01-17
By: Daniel Kehlmann, and others
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Girl, Woman, Other
- By: Bernardine Evaristo
- Narrated by: Anna-Maria Nabirye
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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From one of Britain's most celebrated writers of color, Girl, Woman, Other is a magnificent portrayal of the intersections of identity and a moving and hopeful story of an interconnected group of black British women. Winner of the 2019 Booker Prize and short-listed for the Gordon Burn Prize, Girl, Woman, Other paints a vivid portrait of the state of post-Brexit Britain, as well as looking back to the legacy of Britain's colonial history in Africa and the Caribbean.
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smart, compassionate, confronting and enjoyable
- By Kelly on 12-20-19
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Lapvona
- A Novel
- By: Ottessa Moshfegh
- Narrated by: Ottessa Moshfegh
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Little Marek, the abused and delusional son of the village shepherd, believes his mother died giving birth to him. One of Marek’s few consolations is his enduring bond with the blind village midwife, Ina, who suckled him when he was a baby. For some people, Ina’s ability to receive transmissions of sacred knowledge from the natural world is a godsend. For others, Ina’s home in the woods is a godless place.
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uncomfortable
- By Stetson on 07-04-22
By: Ottessa Moshfegh
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Tomb of Sand
- A Novel
- By: Geetanjali Shree
- Narrated by: Deepti Gupta
- Length: 18 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Eighty-year-old Ma slips into a deep depression after the death of her husband. Despite her family’s cajoling, she refuses to leave her bed. Her responsible eldest son, Bade, and dutiful, Reebok-sporting daughter-in-law, Bahu, attend to Ma’s every need, while her favorite grandson, the cheerful and gregarious Sid, tries to lift her spirits with his guitar. But it is only after Sid’s younger brother—Serious Son, a young man pathologically incapable of laughing—brings his grandmother a sparkling golden cane covered with butterflies that things begin to change.
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Amazing endever
- By Sandi on 09-19-23
By: Geetanjali Shree
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Outline
- The Outline Trilogy, Book 1
- By: Rachel Cusk
- Narrated by: Kate Lock
- Length: 7 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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A man and a woman are seated next to each other on a plane. They get to talking - about their destination, their careers, their families. Grievances are aired, family tragedies discussed, marriages and divorces analyzed. An intimacy is established as two strangers contrast their own fictions about their lives. Outline is a novel in 10 conversations. Spare and stark, it follows a novelist teaching a course in creative writing during one oppressively hot summer in Athens.
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Difficult and Better in Print
- By Nick O. on 07-18-23
By: Rachel Cusk
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Tell Me I'm Worthless
- By: Alison Rumfitt
- Narrated by: Nicky Endres
- Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Three years ago, Alice spent one night in an abandoned house with her friends, Ila and Hannah. Since then, Alice’s life has spiraled. She lives a haunted existence, selling videos of herself for money, going to parties she hates, drinking herself to sleep.
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Better Buy Tylenol
- By Silas Hunter on 08-14-23
By: Alison Rumfitt
the discomfort of constipation
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Amazing
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It is dark story expertly told
I noticed some reviewers were upset with some of the sexual content but I think it was necessary to highlight the extreme neglect these children experienced and how they tried to deal with what they were going through
Very good, well written and narrated
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The writing was incredible. The author has an amazing way with words, and they didn't hold anything back. The story was raw and unnerving.
I didn't enjoy it, but I did appreciate.
Rated R: Sexual situations
Daaaarrrrkkkkk
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Loved It!
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Amazing though dark
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Jas’s entire world is her cold, strictly religious parents’ (they are Bible quoting Reformists) dairy farm, where she lives with an older brother and younger sister. A second brother, close to her age, dies in an accident, and the family falls into an abyss of grief. Her parents drift apart from one another and withdraw from their children (Jas yearns for her mother’s touch). The mother becomes anorexic and suicidal, the father harsh, angry and unforgiving. The teenaged brother grows increasingly cruel, abusive and dangerous, while Jas harms her own body as an act of penance for her brother’s death, for which she blames herself.
Death is the warp of this novel, grief the weft. Horrific things take place. But we see it all through the wide eyes of an innocent child. These severely neglected children explore each other sexually. The brother abuses and even kills animals for pleasure. As shocking as this is — for us, the listeners and readers — Jas does not fully understand what she is describing. She is curious, while we are horrified. Her child’s voice, and naïveté, are consistent through out the book. She is young for her years, in many ways, but wise in her observations. I liked her. I wanted to weep for her.
Jas dreams of escaping the farm (crossing the bridge over a lake, to “the other side,” from where, her father tells her, she can never return), but she is held fast by fear of retribution and the need for parental love. Love that is not offered.
The abrupt end of the novel is devastating. There is no denouement, just an end point. Death, and maybe — finally — comfort. This is a novel you will be thinking over for days.
Difficult themes and scenes, artful writing
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Beautifully read, beautiful book
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Brilliant!
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The narrator is wonderful. My cat likes to listen.
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