The Last Cruise
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 $18.00
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Rob Shapiro
-
By:
-
Kate Christensen
About this listen
From the acclaimed PEN/Faulkner Award-winning author of The Great Man comes a riveting high-seas adventure that combines Christensen's signature wit, irony, and humanity to create a striking and unforgettable vision of our times.
The 1950s vintage ocean liner Queen Isabella is making her final voyage before heading to the scrapyard. For the guests on board, among them Christine Thorne, a former journalist turned Maine farmer, it's a chance to experience the bygone mid-20th century era of decadent luxury cruising, complete with fine dining, classic highballs, string quartets, and sophisticated jazz. Smoking is allowed but not cell phones - or children, for that matter. The Isabella sets sail from Long Beach, California, into calm seas on a two-week retro cruise to Hawaii and back.
But this is the second decade of an uncertain new millennium, not the sunny, heedless '50s, and certain disquieting signs of strife and malfunction above and below decks intrude on the festivities. Down in the main galley, Mick Szabo, a battle-weary Hungarian executive sous-chef, watches escalating tensions among the crew. Meanwhile, Miriam Koslow, an elderly Israeli violinist with the Sabra Quartet, becomes increasingly aware of the age-related vulnerabilities of the ship herself and the cynical corners cut by the cruise ship company, Cabaret.
When a time of crisis begins, Christine, Mick, and Miriam find themselves facing the unknown together in an unexpected and startling test of their characters.
©2018 Kate Christensen (P)2018 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
-
The Maid's Diary
- A Novel
- By: Loreth Anne White
- Narrated by: Jane Oppenheimer
- Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Kit Darling is a maid with a snooping problem. She’s the “invisible girl,” compelled to poke into her wealthy clients’ closely guarded lives. It’s a harmless hobby until Kit sees something she can’t unsee in the home of her brand-new clients: a secret so dark it could destroy the privileged couple expecting their first child. This makes Kit dangerous to the couple. In turn, it makes the couple—who might kill to keep their secret—dangerous to Kit.
-
-
Dark, powerful, twisty thriller
- By MA Reviewer on 03-04-23
-
Miss Benson's Beetle
- A Novel
- By: Rachel Joyce
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is 1950. London is still reeling from World War II, and Margery Benson, a schoolteacher and spinster, is trying to get through life, surviving on scraps. One day, she reaches her breaking point, abandoning her job and small existence to set out on an expedition to the other side of the world in search of her childhood obsession: an insect that may or may not exist - the golden beetle of New Caledonia. When she advertises for an assistant to accompany her, the woman she ends up with is the last person she had in mind.
-
-
A well-written panorama of human tragedy
- By Film Fan on 07-03-21
By: Rachel Joyce
-
Conviction
- By: Denise Mina
- Narrated by: Cathleen McCarron
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The day Anna McDonald's quiet, respectable life explodes starts off like all the days before: Packing up the kids for school, making breakfast, listening to yet another true crime podcast. Then her husband comes downstairs with an announcement, and Anna is suddenly, shockingly alone. Reeling, desperate for distraction, Anna returns to the podcast. Other people's problems are much better than one's own - a sunken yacht, a murdered family, a hint of international conspiracy. But this case actually is Anna's problem. She knows one of the victims from an earlier life.
-
-
Not at all what I expected
- By rosemary on 07-10-19
By: Denise Mina
-
Drive
- An Expanse Short Story
- By: James S. A. Corey
- Narrated by: Jefferson Mays
- Length: 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A short story set in the universe of James S. A. Corey's NYT best-selling Expanse series. Now a Prime Original series. This story will be available in the complete Expanse story collection, Memory’s Legion.
-
-
Fun little short story
- By Carson on 12-28-21
-
Xenos
- Eisenhorn: Warhammer 40,000, Book 1
- By: Dan Abnett
- Narrated by: Toby Longworth
- Length: 9 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Inquisition moves amongst mankind like an avenging shadow, striking down the enemies of humanity with uncompromising ruthlessness. When he finally corners an old foe, Inquisitor Gregor Eisenhorn is drawn into a sinister conspiracy. As events unfold and he gathers allies - and enemies - Eisenhorn faces a vast interstellar cabal and the dark power of daemons, all racing to recover an arcane text of abominable power: an ancient tome known as the Necroteuch.
-
-
No one expects the Imperial Inquisition!
- By Charlie M. on 11-13-17
By: Dan Abnett
-
Star Wars: Convergence (The High Republic)
- By: Zoraida Córdova
- Narrated by: Marc Thompson
- Length: 13 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is an age of exploration. Jedi travel the galaxy, expanding their understanding of the Force and all the worlds and beings connected by it. Meanwhile, the Republic, led by its two chancellors, works to unite worlds in an ever-growing community among near and distant stars. On the close-orbiting planets of Eiram and E’ronoh, the growing pains of a galaxy with limited resources but unlimited ambition are felt keenly. The two worlds’ hatred for each other has fueled half a decade of escalating conflict and now threatens to consume surrounding systems.
-
-
Was Skeptical at first…boy was I wrong!
- By Justin Steele on 12-12-22
By: Zoraida Córdova
-
The Maid's Diary
- A Novel
- By: Loreth Anne White
- Narrated by: Jane Oppenheimer
- Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Kit Darling is a maid with a snooping problem. She’s the “invisible girl,” compelled to poke into her wealthy clients’ closely guarded lives. It’s a harmless hobby until Kit sees something she can’t unsee in the home of her brand-new clients: a secret so dark it could destroy the privileged couple expecting their first child. This makes Kit dangerous to the couple. In turn, it makes the couple—who might kill to keep their secret—dangerous to Kit.
-
-
Dark, powerful, twisty thriller
- By MA Reviewer on 03-04-23
-
Miss Benson's Beetle
- A Novel
- By: Rachel Joyce
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is 1950. London is still reeling from World War II, and Margery Benson, a schoolteacher and spinster, is trying to get through life, surviving on scraps. One day, she reaches her breaking point, abandoning her job and small existence to set out on an expedition to the other side of the world in search of her childhood obsession: an insect that may or may not exist - the golden beetle of New Caledonia. When she advertises for an assistant to accompany her, the woman she ends up with is the last person she had in mind.
-
-
A well-written panorama of human tragedy
- By Film Fan on 07-03-21
By: Rachel Joyce
-
Conviction
- By: Denise Mina
- Narrated by: Cathleen McCarron
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The day Anna McDonald's quiet, respectable life explodes starts off like all the days before: Packing up the kids for school, making breakfast, listening to yet another true crime podcast. Then her husband comes downstairs with an announcement, and Anna is suddenly, shockingly alone. Reeling, desperate for distraction, Anna returns to the podcast. Other people's problems are much better than one's own - a sunken yacht, a murdered family, a hint of international conspiracy. But this case actually is Anna's problem. She knows one of the victims from an earlier life.
-
-
Not at all what I expected
- By rosemary on 07-10-19
By: Denise Mina
-
Drive
- An Expanse Short Story
- By: James S. A. Corey
- Narrated by: Jefferson Mays
- Length: 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A short story set in the universe of James S. A. Corey's NYT best-selling Expanse series. Now a Prime Original series. This story will be available in the complete Expanse story collection, Memory’s Legion.
-
-
Fun little short story
- By Carson on 12-28-21
-
Xenos
- Eisenhorn: Warhammer 40,000, Book 1
- By: Dan Abnett
- Narrated by: Toby Longworth
- Length: 9 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Inquisition moves amongst mankind like an avenging shadow, striking down the enemies of humanity with uncompromising ruthlessness. When he finally corners an old foe, Inquisitor Gregor Eisenhorn is drawn into a sinister conspiracy. As events unfold and he gathers allies - and enemies - Eisenhorn faces a vast interstellar cabal and the dark power of daemons, all racing to recover an arcane text of abominable power: an ancient tome known as the Necroteuch.
-
-
No one expects the Imperial Inquisition!
- By Charlie M. on 11-13-17
By: Dan Abnett
-
Star Wars: Convergence (The High Republic)
- By: Zoraida Córdova
- Narrated by: Marc Thompson
- Length: 13 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is an age of exploration. Jedi travel the galaxy, expanding their understanding of the Force and all the worlds and beings connected by it. Meanwhile, the Republic, led by its two chancellors, works to unite worlds in an ever-growing community among near and distant stars. On the close-orbiting planets of Eiram and E’ronoh, the growing pains of a galaxy with limited resources but unlimited ambition are felt keenly. The two worlds’ hatred for each other has fueled half a decade of escalating conflict and now threatens to consume surrounding systems.
-
-
Was Skeptical at first…boy was I wrong!
- By Justin Steele on 12-12-22
By: Zoraida Córdova
-
The Woman in Cabin 10
- By: Ruth Ware
- Narrated by: Imogen Church
- Length: 11 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lo Blacklock, a journalist who writes for a travel magazine, has just been given the assignment of a lifetime: a week on a luxury cruise with only a handful of cabins. The sky is clear, the waters calm, and the veneered, select guests jovial as the exclusive cruise ship, the Aurora, begins her voyage in the picturesque North Sea. At first Lo's stay is nothing but pleasant: The cabins are plush, the dinner parties are sparkling, and the guests are elegant. But as the week wears on, frigid winds whip the deck, and gray skies fall.
-
-
Hours and hours of tired...
- By ROBIN on 07-28-16
By: Ruth Ware
-
Mortal Engines
- Mortal Engines, Book 1
- By: Philip Reeve
- Narrated by: Barnaby Edwards
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Welcome to the astounding world of Predator Cities! Emerging from its hiding place in the hills, the great Traction City is chasing a terrified little town across the wastelands. Soon, London will feed. In the attack, Tom Natsworthy is flung from the speeding city with a murderous scar-faced girl. They must run for their lives through the wreckage - and face a terrifying new weapon that threatens the future of the world.
-
-
Creative but hard to stay engaged in
- By Karissa Eckert on 11-26-17
By: Philip Reeve
-
The Terror
- A Novel
- By: Dan Simmons
- Narrated by: Tom Sellwood
- Length: 28 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The men onboard HMS Terror have every expectation of finding the Northwest Passage. When the expedition's leader, Sir John Franklin, meets a terrible death, Captain Francis Crozier takes command and leads his surviving crewmen on a last, desperate attempt to flee south across the ice. But as another winter approaches, as scurvy and starvation grow more terrible, and as the Terror on the ice stalks them southward, Crozier and his men begin to fear there is no escape.
-
-
Very good then, NOT
- By Randall on 07-24-18
By: Dan Simmons
-
Cruise Confidential: A Hit Below the Waterline
- Where the Crew Lives, Eats, Wars, and Parties? One Crazy Year Working on Cruise Ships (Travelers' Tales)
- By: Brian David Bruns
- Narrated by: Gary Furlong
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Cruise Confidential, Brian David Bruns spills the dirt - or, in this case, the dirty water - on those romantic, fun-filled vacations at sea. His hilarious chronicle of the year he spent working for Carnival Cruise Lines takes listeners down into the areas where the crew works and lives, leaving listeners gasping with laughter as they're assaulted nonstop with events that range from the absurd to the utterly bizarre. Stewards fighting over food. Cutlery allowances and other nonsensical rules.
-
-
Never been on a cruise but this makes me want to take one
- By Mary Karowski on 04-28-16
-
Manhattan Beach
- A Novel
- By: Jennifer Egan
- Narrated by: Norbert Leo Butz, Heather Lind, Vincent Piazza
- Length: 15 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Anna Kerrigan, nearly 12 years old, accompanies her father to the house of a man who, she gleans, is crucial to the survival of her father and her family. Anna observes the uniformed servants, the lavishing of toys on the children, and some secret pact between her father and Dexter Styles. Years later her father has disappeared, and the country is at war. Anna works at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, where women are allowed to hold jobs that had always belonged to men.
-
-
Love !!
- By MNC on 10-28-17
By: Jennifer Egan
-
Titanborn
- By: Rhett C. Bruno
- Narrated by: R.C. Bray
- Length: 7 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After decades hunting wanted offworlders throughout the solar system, Corporate Bounty Hunter Malcolm Graves doesn't bother asking questions. So long as the pay is right, he's the man for the job. And he always works alone. But when a high-profile bombing on Earth has Pervenio Corp clamoring for answers, they force him to team up with a strange, cyber-augmented partner. A young man more interested in statistics than instinct. Their assignment: Track down a suspected group of extremists from Titan who will go to any length to free their moon from the grip of Earth's corporations.
-
-
Great Mystery Sci-fi
- By Bryan on 02-08-19
By: Rhett C. Bruno
-
Great Circle
- A Novel
- By: Maggie Shipstead
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell, Alex McKenna
- Length: 25 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After being rescued as infants from a sinking ocean liner in 1914, Marian and Jamie Graves are raised by their dissolute uncle in Missoula, Montana. There—after encountering a pair of barnstorming pilots passing through town in beat-up biplanes—Marian commences her lifelong love affair with flight. At fourteen she drops out of school and finds an unexpected and dangerous patron in a wealthy bootlegger who provides a plane and subsidizes her lessons, an arrangement that will haunt her for the rest of her life, even as it allows her to fulfill her destiny: circumnavigating the globe.
-
-
So glad I was drawn to this book.
- By timbo on 05-23-21
By: Maggie Shipstead
-
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
- Wayfarers, Book 1
- By: Becky Chambers
- Narrated by: Rachel Dulude
- Length: 14 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Follow a motley crew on an exciting journey through space - and one adventurous young explorer who discovers the meaning of family in the far reaches of the universe - in this lighthearted debut space opera from a rising sci-fi star.
-
-
Unbearable narrator.
- By Christian Woolley on 06-18-19
By: Becky Chambers
-
The Glass Ocean
- A Novel
- By: Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, Karen White
- Narrated by: Vanessa Johansson, Saskia Maarleveld, Brittany Pressley
- Length: 13 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is a captivating historical mystery, infused with romance, that links the lives of three women across a century - two deep in the past, one in the present - to the doomed passenger liner, RMS Lusitania.... Her finances are in dire straits, and best-selling author Sarah Blake is struggling to find a big idea for her next book. Desperate, she breaks the one promise she made to her mother and opens an old chest that belonged to her great-grandfather, who died when the RMS Lusitania was sunk by a German U-boat in 1915. What she discovers there could change history.
-
-
I enjoyed this book, at least most of it.
- By Kevin Greaser on 10-02-18
By: Beatriz Williams, and others
-
Knight's Ransom
- The First Argentines, Book 1
- By: Jeff Wheeler
- Narrated by: Kate Rudd
- Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown. A brutal war of succession has plunged the court of Kingfountain into a power struggle between a charitable king who took the crown unlawfully and his ambitious rival, Devon Argentine. The balance of power between the two men hinges on the fate of a young boy ensnared in this courtly intrigue. A boy befittingly nicknamed Ransom.
-
-
Not as good as the Kingfountain series
- By Helen on 01-31-21
By: Jeff Wheeler
-
The Event
- By: Nathan Hystad
- Narrated by: Luke Daniels
- Length: 6 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cities all around the world reported strange alien vessels descending. Some saw them as the heralds of a new age; others fired everything they had at them. All were taken as the beams lashed down and drew them into the sky. Dean was left behind, seemingly the last man on Earth. A trail of clues left by his dead wife guides Dean on a perilous journey across America and beyond to learn the truth behind the mysterious ships and save humanity from its doom.
-
-
Did not inspire me to get the next book.
- By MD on 12-13-18
By: Nathan Hystad
-
The Silver Ships
- The Silver Ships, Book 1
- By: S. H. Jucha
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An explorer tug captain, Alex Racine detects a damaged alien craft drifting into the system. Recognizing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make first contact, Alex pulls off a daring maneuver to latch on to the derelict. Alex discovers the ship was attacked by an unknown craft, the first of its kind ever encountered. The mysterious silver ship's attack was both instant and deadly.
-
-
Preachy political utopia and arrogant protagonist
- By D. MacNair on 03-19-19
By: S. H. Jucha
Critic reviews
"Entertaining and elegantly written.... Kate Christensen demonstrates there's life to be found in what may appear to be the creakiest of fictional premises.... [She] is a sharp observer, not only of the layered social world of the Queen Isabella but of the shifting relationships between her characters...I kept thinking of Barbara Pym, another novelist who wrote astute novels about contained worlds. Like Pym - who has been described as the most under-rated writer of the 20th century - Christensen is easy to misjudge, but, as she demonstrates in The Last Cruise she's quite capable of navigating deep waters." (Maureen Corrigan, NPR)
“A smart, fast-paced adventure story, two poignant love stories, and a shrewd and chilling warning to us all. What is not to love about The Last Cruise?” (Lily King, author of Euphoria)
"Christensen is a master at drawing us into the interior lives of her characters, toeing the line between satire and sympathy...comedy and humiliation.... Having gathered these disparate people together, Christensen gently rolls and pitches the stage, dislodging stones of sadness that had been safely stuck in the crevices of their everyday lives. That discombobulation is the key to the story's appeal, its unstable mix of romantic comedy, class oppression and spiritual angst - as though Cynthia Ozick wrote an episode of 'The Love Boat.' Christensen also deconstructs the aura of the cruise ship.... Mysterious and existential.... She’s interested in the most intimate and profound changes we’re willing to make only when tossed by the tempest of life." (Ron Charles, The Washington Post)
Related to this topic
-
The Lost Family
- A Novel
- By: Jenna Blum
- Narrated by: Will Damron
- Length: 14 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1965 Manhattan, patrons flock to Masha’s to savor its brisket bourguignon and impeccable service and to admire its dashing owner and head chef Peter Rashkin, the most eligible bachelor in town. But Peter does not care for the parade of eligible women who come to the restaurant hoping to catch his eye. Running Masha’s consumes him, as does his terrible guilt over surviving the horrors of the Nazi death camp while his wife, Masha - the restaurant’s namesake - and two young daughters perished. Then exquisitely beautiful June Bouquet, an up-and-coming young model, appears at the restaurant, piercing Peter’s guard.
-
-
STIMULATES THE HEART, MIND AND IMAGINATION
- By Miss Manners on 07-01-18
By: Jenna Blum
-
Ten Beach Road
- By: Wendy Wax
- Narrated by: Amy Rubinate
- Length: 13 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Madeline, Avery, and Nikki are strangers to each other, but they have one thing in common. They each wake up one morning to discover their life savings have vanished, along with their trusted financial manager - leaving them with nothing but co-ownership of a ramshackle beachfront house. Throwing their lots in together, they take on the challenge of restoring the historic property. But just as they begin to reinvent themselves and discover the power of friendship, secrets threaten to tear down their trust.
-
-
Terrible narrator
- By Kindle Customer on 10-17-18
By: Wendy Wax
-
Outside Looking In
- A Novel
- By: T. C. Boyle
- Narrated by: Johnathan McClain
- Length: 14 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1943, LSD is synthesized in Basel. Two decades later, a coterie of grad students at Harvard are gradually drawn into the inner circle of renowned psychologist and psychedelic drug enthusiast Timothy Leary. Fitzhugh Loney, a psychology PhD student, and his wife, Joanie, become entranced by the drug’s possibilities such that their “research” becomes less a matter of clinical trials and academic papers and instead turns into a freewheeling exploration of mind expansion, group dynamics, and communal living.
-
-
STORYTELLING AS CONSCIOUSNESS-RAISING
- By Christopher Meeks on 05-25-19
By: T. C. Boyle
-
High Dive
- By: Jonathan Lee
- Narrated by: Doyle Gerard
- Length: 11 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Taking us inside one of the 20th century's most ambitious assassination attempts - "making history personal", as one character puts it - High Dive moves between the luxurious hospitality of a British tourist town and the troubled city of Belfast, Northern Ireland, at the height of the armed struggle between the Irish Republican Army and those loyal to the UK government.
-
-
Humor? Not Funny.
- By W Perry Hall on 04-10-16
By: Jonathan Lee
-
The Terranauts
- A Novel
- By: T. C. Boyle
- Narrated by: Lynde Houck, Joy Osmanski, Charlie Thurston
- Length: 20 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is 1994, and in the desert near Tillman, Arizona, 40 miles from Tucson, a grand experiment involving the future of humanity is underway. As climate change threatens the Earth, eight scientists, four men and four women dubbed the Terranauts, have been selected to live under glass in E2, a prototype of a possible off-Earth colony. Their sealed three-acre compound comprises five biomes - rain forest, savanna, desert, ocean, and marsh - and enough wildlife, water, and vegetation to sustain them.
-
-
Aggravating Narrator Ruins Great Book
- By Laura Coen on 12-02-16
By: T. C. Boyle
-
Love with a Chance of Drowning
- A Memoir
- By: Torre DeRoche
- Narrated by: Candice Moll
- Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
City girl Torre DeRoche isn’t looking for love, but a chance encounter in a San Francisco bar sparks an instant connection with a soulful Argentinean man who unexpectedly sweeps her off her feet. The problem? He’s just about to cast the dock lines and voyage around the world on his small sailboat, and Torre is terrified of deep water. However, lovesick Torre determines that to keep the man of her dreams, she must embark on the voyage of her nightmares, so she waves good-bye to dry land and braces for a life-changing journey that’s as exhilarating as it is terrifying.
-
-
True Adventure and Romance--I Loved It!!
- By Kathy in CA on 09-08-15
By: Torre DeRoche
-
The Lost Family
- A Novel
- By: Jenna Blum
- Narrated by: Will Damron
- Length: 14 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1965 Manhattan, patrons flock to Masha’s to savor its brisket bourguignon and impeccable service and to admire its dashing owner and head chef Peter Rashkin, the most eligible bachelor in town. But Peter does not care for the parade of eligible women who come to the restaurant hoping to catch his eye. Running Masha’s consumes him, as does his terrible guilt over surviving the horrors of the Nazi death camp while his wife, Masha - the restaurant’s namesake - and two young daughters perished. Then exquisitely beautiful June Bouquet, an up-and-coming young model, appears at the restaurant, piercing Peter’s guard.
-
-
STIMULATES THE HEART, MIND AND IMAGINATION
- By Miss Manners on 07-01-18
By: Jenna Blum
-
Ten Beach Road
- By: Wendy Wax
- Narrated by: Amy Rubinate
- Length: 13 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Madeline, Avery, and Nikki are strangers to each other, but they have one thing in common. They each wake up one morning to discover their life savings have vanished, along with their trusted financial manager - leaving them with nothing but co-ownership of a ramshackle beachfront house. Throwing their lots in together, they take on the challenge of restoring the historic property. But just as they begin to reinvent themselves and discover the power of friendship, secrets threaten to tear down their trust.
-
-
Terrible narrator
- By Kindle Customer on 10-17-18
By: Wendy Wax
-
Outside Looking In
- A Novel
- By: T. C. Boyle
- Narrated by: Johnathan McClain
- Length: 14 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1943, LSD is synthesized in Basel. Two decades later, a coterie of grad students at Harvard are gradually drawn into the inner circle of renowned psychologist and psychedelic drug enthusiast Timothy Leary. Fitzhugh Loney, a psychology PhD student, and his wife, Joanie, become entranced by the drug’s possibilities such that their “research” becomes less a matter of clinical trials and academic papers and instead turns into a freewheeling exploration of mind expansion, group dynamics, and communal living.
-
-
STORYTELLING AS CONSCIOUSNESS-RAISING
- By Christopher Meeks on 05-25-19
By: T. C. Boyle
-
High Dive
- By: Jonathan Lee
- Narrated by: Doyle Gerard
- Length: 11 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Taking us inside one of the 20th century's most ambitious assassination attempts - "making history personal", as one character puts it - High Dive moves between the luxurious hospitality of a British tourist town and the troubled city of Belfast, Northern Ireland, at the height of the armed struggle between the Irish Republican Army and those loyal to the UK government.
-
-
Humor? Not Funny.
- By W Perry Hall on 04-10-16
By: Jonathan Lee
-
The Terranauts
- A Novel
- By: T. C. Boyle
- Narrated by: Lynde Houck, Joy Osmanski, Charlie Thurston
- Length: 20 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is 1994, and in the desert near Tillman, Arizona, 40 miles from Tucson, a grand experiment involving the future of humanity is underway. As climate change threatens the Earth, eight scientists, four men and four women dubbed the Terranauts, have been selected to live under glass in E2, a prototype of a possible off-Earth colony. Their sealed three-acre compound comprises five biomes - rain forest, savanna, desert, ocean, and marsh - and enough wildlife, water, and vegetation to sustain them.
-
-
Aggravating Narrator Ruins Great Book
- By Laura Coen on 12-02-16
By: T. C. Boyle
-
Love with a Chance of Drowning
- A Memoir
- By: Torre DeRoche
- Narrated by: Candice Moll
- Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
City girl Torre DeRoche isn’t looking for love, but a chance encounter in a San Francisco bar sparks an instant connection with a soulful Argentinean man who unexpectedly sweeps her off her feet. The problem? He’s just about to cast the dock lines and voyage around the world on his small sailboat, and Torre is terrified of deep water. However, lovesick Torre determines that to keep the man of her dreams, she must embark on the voyage of her nightmares, so she waves good-bye to dry land and braces for a life-changing journey that’s as exhilarating as it is terrifying.
-
-
True Adventure and Romance--I Loved It!!
- By Kathy in CA on 09-08-15
By: Torre DeRoche
-
A Killer Plot
- Books by the Bay Mystery Series #1
- By: Ellery Adams
- Narrated by: Karen White
- Length: 11 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Olivia Limoges is the subject of constant gossip. Ever since her mysterious return to the small coastal town of Oyster Bay, North Carolina, Olivia has kept to herself, her dog, and her unfinished novel. With a little cajoling from charming writer Camden Ford, she agrees to join the Bayside Book Writers to break her writer's block and even make a few friends. But when townspeople start turning up dead with haiku poems left by the bodies, anyone with a flair for language is suddenly suspect.
-
-
My new favorite Cozy Mystery Series!
- By Christina on 09-21-15
By: Ellery Adams
-
Summer Love
- A Novel
- By: Nancy Thayer
- Narrated by: Whitney Dykhouse
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Twenty-six years after that amazing summer, Ariel, Sheila, Wyatt, and Nick reunite at the hotel where they first met. Now it’s called The Lighthouse and Nick owns the entire operation with his wife and daughter. Ariel and Wyatt, married for decades, arrive with their son, and Sheila’s back too, with her daughter by her side. Life hasn’t exactly worked out the way they had all hoped.
-
-
Nice Summer Read
- By Raychelle Creech on 05-27-22
By: Nancy Thayer
-
Notes on a Banana
- A Memoir of Food, Love, and Manic Depression
- By: David Leite
- Narrated by: David Leite
- Length: 11 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Reminiscing about the people and events that shaped him, David looks back at the highs and lows of his life, from his rejection of being gay and his attempt to "turn straight" through Aesthetic Realism, a cult in downtown Manhattan, to becoming a writer, cookbook author, and web publisher, to his 23-year relationship with Alan, known to millions of David's readers and listeners as "The One", which began with (what else?) food.
-
-
Finished it in a day!
- By Kathryn on 08-23-17
By: David Leite
-
Sea of Love
- A Barberry Island Novel, Book 1
- By: Susan Donovan
- Narrated by: Amy McFadden
- Length: 10 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Between Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket rests Bayberry Island, home to a bronze mermaid statue that promises to grant true love to anyone who asks with an open heart. For years Rowan Flynn distanced herself from Bayberry Island and its infamous mermaid legend. But after her investor fiancé lost what was left of her family’s fortune, Rowan reluctantly agreed to run the Safe Haven Bed-and-Breakfast, determined never again to fall for the ridiculous fantasy of the mermaid matchmaker.
-
-
Oh My
- By Paula on 09-09-14
By: Susan Donovan
-
The Road Home
- By: Rose Tremain
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Winner of the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction 2008, The Road Home is the best-selling story of Lev, a middle-aged migrant from Eastern Europe, who moves to London in search of work after losing his wife and job. Lev's London is awash with money, celebrity and complacency. The world Tremain creates is both convincing and poignant.
-
-
OK - nice narration - good characters
- By bea on 02-21-11
By: Rose Tremain
-
Love Overboard
- By: Janet Evanovich
- Narrated by: C.J. Critt
- Length: 5 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Stephanie Lowe decides Maine schooner captain and pirate descendent Ivan Rasmussen deserves to be called Ivan the Terrible. The house she just bought from him is falling apart and possibly haunted. He complains about her fish-eye stew and burnt chocolate chip cookies. He makes fun of her hair after she's had to comb it while using a toaster as a mirror. And on top of all that, he has the nerve to be charming, handsome, and overboard in love with her.
-
-
Overbored? Read This!
- By Jami on 01-31-05
By: Janet Evanovich
-
The Happy Man
- A Tale of Horror
- By: Eric C. Higgs
- Narrated by: Matt Godfrey
- Length: 5 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Charles Ripley has a good job as an engineer, a pretty wife, and an expensive house in a fashionable San Diego suburb. But it isn't until Ruskin Marsh moves in next door that Ripley realizes how passionless his life really is. Marsh, a connoisseur of the arts, high-powered lawyer, model husband and father, and effortless seducer of women, is so supremely alive that Ripley finds himself irresistibly drawn to him. But after Marsh's arrival, local girls begin to vanish, marriages end violently, and horribly mutilated corpses are found.
-
-
a neighborhood friend telling you a crazy story
- By Midwestbonsai on 04-15-18
By: Eric C. Higgs
-
The Darkest Secret
- A Novel
- By: Alex Marwood
- Narrated by: Beverley A. Crick
- Length: 12 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Real estate mogul Sean Jackson is throwing himself a splashy 50th birthday party, but trouble starts almost immediately: His ex-wife has sent his teenage daughters to the party without telling him; his current wife has fired the nanny; and he's finding it difficult to sneak away to his mistress. Then something truly terrible happens: one of his three-year-old twins goes missing. No trace of her is ever found. The attendees of the party, nicknamed the Jackson Associates by the press, become infamous overnight.
-
-
Wow
- By Christina on 09-14-16
By: Alex Marwood
-
Death at the Chateau Bremont
- Verlaque and Bonnet Provençal Mystery Series, Book 1
- By: M.L. Longworth
- Narrated by: Christa Lewis
- Length: 9 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When local nobleman Étienne de Bremont falls to his death from the family château, it sets the historic town of Aix-en-Provence abuzz with rumors. The once-idyllic town suddenly seems filled with people who could have benefited from Bremont's death - including his playboy brother, François, who's heavily in debt and mixed up with some unsavory characters. But just as the list of suspects is being narrowed down, another death occurs. And this time, there can be no doubt - it's murder.
-
-
Narrator is awful
- By F. Miller on 05-06-23
By: M.L. Longworth
-
Where Sea Meets Sky
- By: Karina Halle
- Narrated by: Angela Dawe, Nelson Hobbs
- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Joshua Miles has spent his early 20s spinning his wheels. Working dead-end jobs and living at home has left him exhausted and uninspired, with little energy to pursue his passion for graphic art. All that changes when he meets Gemma Henare, a vivacious out-of-towner from New Zealand. What begins as a one-night stand soon becomes a turning point for Josh. He can't get Gemma out of his head, even after she has left for home, and finds himself throwing caution to the wind for the first time in his life.
-
-
Narration great, story boring
- By Desiree on 09-27-20
By: Karina Halle
-
Hemingway's Girl
- By: Erika Robuck
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Depression-era Key West, Mariella Bennet, the daughter of an American fisherman and a Cuban woman, knows hunger. Her struggle to support her family following her father's death leads her to a bar and bordello, where she bets on a risky boxing match...and attracts the interest of two men: world-famous writer Ernest Hemingway, and Gavin Murray, one of the World War I veterans who are laboring to build the Overseas Highway.
-
-
Robuck and Gilbert Lack "Aficion"
- By The Girl Who Reads Too Much on 08-28-13
By: Erika Robuck
-
Marjorie Morningstar
- By: Herman Wouk
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 28 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Marjorie Morningstar is a love story. It presents one of the greatest characters in modern fiction: Marjorie, the pretty 17-year-old who left the respectability of New York's Central Park West to join the theater, live in the teeming streets of Greenwich Village, and seek love in the arms of a brilliant, enigmatic writer.
-
-
Great story with really cheesy narration
- By James on 05-05-12
By: Herman Wouk
What listeners say about The Last Cruise
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- JohnatAmazon
- 08-15-18
Loved it!
Did not want it to end. Loved all the well developed characters! The
Narrator was excellent.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- T. Davis
- 06-12-21
Creative writing textbook?
This could be a textbook in a college writing class where students get the opportunity to take developed characters and from a dramatic moment, write the denouement. It could be really fun.
I enjoyed the story and was excited to hear where the interesting characters ended their journeys but the story did not give us that. Everything had been pretty well thought out and progressions from scene to scene flowed well.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Fran R
- 12-16-23
What’s with the abrupt ending!?!
I loved this book up until the ending left me hanging and I shouted, “WHAT!?!?!?!” I needed so much more. Some of the resolutions were beautiful and the characters deep and complex like real humans.
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
- Essleigh Ekstrom
- 11-30-18
Luxury's sharp edge plus even sharper love stories
Such a compelling portrait of beautiful, brutal America! What would happen if you got to luxuriate in a one-percenter's little folly, but weren't one of them? Who do you, and your integrity, become when something goes wrong? The newest novel from the fiercely intelligent Kate Christensen (one of this country's most consistently interesting writers) gives us several unlikely heroes who are just like us: smart, talented women and men struggling to survive in the new America and the turbulent wake of international corporate power.
The turquoise waters are delightful, but like anything in excess they also hide danger and despair. The tension here is not mortal: it is, like all of Christensen's books, moral. And so wonderfully complex. She refuses to deal in easy stereotypes: no one is simply good or bad. She lures us into this cruise with a delightfully stylish premise, all exquisite food and glamorous settings and vivid characters. Then she turns it all on its head to follow the money. And while chaos threatens, she deftly develops two of the most memorable romances I've ever enjoyed.
The narrator is very good, for male voices. I've given only 4 stars simply because there were so many interesting female characters, of all ages, that I found myself longing for a female voice, or at least a less rumbly male voice.
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
- BC from LB
- 05-04-19
The last cruise
If your a cruiser, you will enjoy this book . There is a storyline involving a few passengers , but the bulk of the story is about the food and entertainment departments and all the issues they face in serving the public . I enjoyed all the character development and the way things work behind the scenes when trouble occurs and the crew still has to do their job .
Barbara C
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Colleen Farrar
- 07-26-18
Great story
Well written characters and plot. The narrator did an excellent job. He made me feel everything they were going through
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Marly
- 03-10-24
Good story, excellent characters, but … the ending…….
I enjoyed this book. I really enjoyed it up until the end. The descriptions of the ship and the characters are all compelling. The story foretells something strange and terrible. There is a huge build up. And then…I feel like the author couldn’t find the right ending, so left it to the reader. Disappointing.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Leigh
- 01-29-20
WTF ending ...
Great narrator. Story was slow in parts. Ending was cheesy and abrupt.
Could’ve been so much better
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
- cleo pirtle
- 02-28-20
Are you kidding me ???
The story was good but a bit draggy . The narration was good too but the ending ???? Seriously ? How could the author do that to leave you hanging like that? I mean that blew it . So only three stars .
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Bibliophile
- 07-16-18
A truly great novel.
This book so consumed me, that I feel lost having finished it. The depth of characters, the nuance and texture of scene and experience became more real than my own existence. Life aboard the ship is richly explored, in its claustrophobic social hierarchy. Ultimately this “Upstairs/Downstairs” explodes, and the denizens of the ship find themselves in a floating dystopia, which encapsulates in miniature all the grievances, desires, essential needs, and limited resources of our entire planet. This novel is profound without being preachy. One is drawn right in by the engaging characters and the immediacy of the action. The dialogue and action play out like a good movie; and the narration is excellent.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
5 people found this helpful