The Lightness
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 $24.29
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Brittany Pressley
-
By:
-
Emily Temple
About this listen
"The Lightness could be the love child of Donna Tartt and Tana French, but its savage, glittering magic is all Emily Temple's own." (Chloe Benjamin, New York Times best-selling author of The Immortalists)
A Most Anticipated Novel by Marie Claire • Elle • WSJ Magazine • Glamour • Vulture • Bustle • Buzzfeed • The Millions • The Philadelphia Inquirer • The Daily Beast • Refinery 29 • Publishers Weekly • Literary Hub • Electric Literature • and more!
A stylish, stunningly precise, and suspenseful meditation on adolescent desire, female friendship, and the female body that shimmers with rage, wit, and fierce longing - an audacious, darkly observant, and mordantly funny literary debut for fans of Emma Cline, Ottessa Moshfegh, and Jenny Offill.
One year ago, the person Olivia adores most in the world, her father, left home for a meditation retreat in the mountains and never returned. Yearning to make sense of his shocking departure and to escape her overbearing mother - a woman as grounded as her father is mercurial - Olivia runs away from home and retraces his path to a place known as the Levitation Center.
Once there, she enrolls in their summer program for troubled teens, which Olivia refers to as “Buddhist Boot Camp for Bad Girls”. Soon, she finds herself drawn into the company of a close-knit trio of girls determined to transcend their circumstances, by any means necessary. Led by the elusive and beautiful Serena and her aloof, secretive acolytes, Janet and Laurel, the girls decide this is the summer they will finally achieve enlightenment - and learn to levitate, to defy the weight of their bodies, to experience ultimate lightness. But as desire and danger intertwine, and Olivia comes ever closer to discovering what a body - and a girl - is capable of, it becomes increasingly clear that this is an advanced and perilous practice, and there’s a chance not all of them will survive.
Set over the course of one fateful summer that unfolds like a fever dream, The Lightness juxtaposes fairy tales with quantum physics, cognitive science with religious fervor, and the passions and obsessions of youth with all of these, to explore concepts as complex as faith and as simple as loving people - even though you don’t, and can’t, know them at all.
©2020 Emily Temple (P)2020 HarperCollins PublishersListeners also enjoyed...
-
A House with Good Bones
- By: T. Kingfisher
- Narrated by: Mary Robinette Kowal
- Length: 6 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"Mom seems off." Her brother's words echo in Sam Montgomery's ear as she turns onto the quiet North Carolina street where their mother lives alone. She brushes the thought away as she climbs the front steps. Sam's excited for this rare extended visit, and looking forward to nights with just the two of them, drinking boxed wine, watching murder mystery shows, and guessing who the killer is long before the characters figure it out. But stepping inside, she quickly realizes home isn’t what it used to be.
-
-
Narrator Kills It
- By Lucinda Perregil on 04-04-23
By: T. Kingfisher
-
The Villa
- A Novel
- By: Rachel Hawkins
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan, Kimberly M. Wetherell, Shiromi Arserio
- Length: 7 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As kids, Emily and Chess were inseparable. But by their 30s, their bond has been strained by the demands of their adult lives. So when Chess suggests a girls trip to Italy, Emily jumps at the chance to reconnect with her best friend.
-
-
like Gillian Flynn's version of Eat pray love
- By Patricia on 01-04-23
By: Rachel Hawkins
-
Rouge
- A Novel
- By: Mona Awad
- Narrated by: Sophie Amoss
- Length: 14 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For as long as she can remember, Belle has been insidiously obsessed with her skin and skincare videos. When her estranged mother Noelle mysteriously dies, Belle finds herself back in Southern California, dealing with her mother’s considerable debts and grappling with lingering questions about her death. The stakes escalate when a strange woman in red appears at the funeral, offering a tantalizing clue about her mother’s demise, followed by a cryptic video about a transformative spa experience.
-
-
What a fun romp!
- By Barbara S on 10-10-23
By: Mona Awad
-
Shine
- A Short Story
- By: Jodi Picoult
- Narrated by: Audra McDonald
- Length: 1 hr and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Today is Ruth's first day of third grade at Dalton. The prestigious institution on New York's Upper East Side couldn't be more different from her old school in Harlem. Despite being the smartest girl in her grade, Ruth suspects that her classmates and teachers see only her dark skin. She also notices that Christina, the daughter of her mother's employer, treats Ruth very differently when they're hanging out with the popular girls rather than playing together. Ruth must navigate between two worlds.
-
-
Short story prequel to Small Great Things
- By Wayne on 12-02-18
By: Jodi Picoult
-
Murder Your Employer
- The McMasters Guide to Homicide
- By: Rupert Holmes
- Narrated by: Neil Patrick Harris, Simon Vance
- Length: 14 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Who hasn’t wondered for a split second what the world would be like if a person who is the object of your affliction ceased to exist? But then you’ve probably never heard of The McMasters Conservatory, dedicated to the consummate execution of the homicidal arts. To gain admission, a student must have an ethical reason for erasing someone who deeply deserves a fate no worse (nor better) than death. The campus of this “Poison Ivy League” college—its location unknown to even those who study there—is where you might find yourself the practice target of a classmate.
-
-
Great idea; not so great book
- By Michael Ferris on 03-06-23
By: Rupert Holmes
-
Sign Here
- By: Claudia Lux
- Narrated by: MacLeod Andrews, Brittany Pressley
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Peyote Trip has a pretty good gig in the deals department on the fifth floor of Hell. Sure, none of the pens work, the coffee machine has been out of order for a century, and the only drink on offer is Jägermeister, but Pey has a plan—and all he needs is one last member of the Harrison family to sell their soul.
-
-
Great book!
- By Kasie on 10-28-22
By: Claudia Lux
-
A House with Good Bones
- By: T. Kingfisher
- Narrated by: Mary Robinette Kowal
- Length: 6 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"Mom seems off." Her brother's words echo in Sam Montgomery's ear as she turns onto the quiet North Carolina street where their mother lives alone. She brushes the thought away as she climbs the front steps. Sam's excited for this rare extended visit, and looking forward to nights with just the two of them, drinking boxed wine, watching murder mystery shows, and guessing who the killer is long before the characters figure it out. But stepping inside, she quickly realizes home isn’t what it used to be.
-
-
Narrator Kills It
- By Lucinda Perregil on 04-04-23
By: T. Kingfisher
-
The Villa
- A Novel
- By: Rachel Hawkins
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan, Kimberly M. Wetherell, Shiromi Arserio
- Length: 7 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As kids, Emily and Chess were inseparable. But by their 30s, their bond has been strained by the demands of their adult lives. So when Chess suggests a girls trip to Italy, Emily jumps at the chance to reconnect with her best friend.
-
-
like Gillian Flynn's version of Eat pray love
- By Patricia on 01-04-23
By: Rachel Hawkins
-
Rouge
- A Novel
- By: Mona Awad
- Narrated by: Sophie Amoss
- Length: 14 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For as long as she can remember, Belle has been insidiously obsessed with her skin and skincare videos. When her estranged mother Noelle mysteriously dies, Belle finds herself back in Southern California, dealing with her mother’s considerable debts and grappling with lingering questions about her death. The stakes escalate when a strange woman in red appears at the funeral, offering a tantalizing clue about her mother’s demise, followed by a cryptic video about a transformative spa experience.
-
-
What a fun romp!
- By Barbara S on 10-10-23
By: Mona Awad
-
Shine
- A Short Story
- By: Jodi Picoult
- Narrated by: Audra McDonald
- Length: 1 hr and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Today is Ruth's first day of third grade at Dalton. The prestigious institution on New York's Upper East Side couldn't be more different from her old school in Harlem. Despite being the smartest girl in her grade, Ruth suspects that her classmates and teachers see only her dark skin. She also notices that Christina, the daughter of her mother's employer, treats Ruth very differently when they're hanging out with the popular girls rather than playing together. Ruth must navigate between two worlds.
-
-
Short story prequel to Small Great Things
- By Wayne on 12-02-18
By: Jodi Picoult
-
Murder Your Employer
- The McMasters Guide to Homicide
- By: Rupert Holmes
- Narrated by: Neil Patrick Harris, Simon Vance
- Length: 14 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Who hasn’t wondered for a split second what the world would be like if a person who is the object of your affliction ceased to exist? But then you’ve probably never heard of The McMasters Conservatory, dedicated to the consummate execution of the homicidal arts. To gain admission, a student must have an ethical reason for erasing someone who deeply deserves a fate no worse (nor better) than death. The campus of this “Poison Ivy League” college—its location unknown to even those who study there—is where you might find yourself the practice target of a classmate.
-
-
Great idea; not so great book
- By Michael Ferris on 03-06-23
By: Rupert Holmes
-
Sign Here
- By: Claudia Lux
- Narrated by: MacLeod Andrews, Brittany Pressley
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Peyote Trip has a pretty good gig in the deals department on the fifth floor of Hell. Sure, none of the pens work, the coffee machine has been out of order for a century, and the only drink on offer is Jägermeister, but Pey has a plan—and all he needs is one last member of the Harrison family to sell their soul.
-
-
Great book!
- By Kasie on 10-28-22
By: Claudia Lux
-
Finlay Donovan Is Killing It
- A Novel
- By: Elle Cosimano
- Narrated by: Angela Dawe
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Finlay Donovan is killing it...except, she’s really not. The new book she promised her literary agent isn’t written, her ex-husband fired the nanny without telling her, and this morning she had to send her four-year-old to school with hair duct-taped to her head.
-
-
So fun!
- By M on 03-15-21
By: Elle Cosimano
-
A Tale for the Time Being
- By: Ruth Ozeki
- Narrated by: Ruth Ozeki
- Length: 14 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Tokyo, 16-year-old Nao has decided there's only one escape from her aching loneliness and her classmates' bullying. But before she ends it all, Nao first plans to document the life of her great grandmother, a Buddhist nun who's lived more than a century. A diary is Nao's only solace—and will touch lives in ways she can scarcely imagine. Across the Pacific, we meet Ruth, a novelist living on a remote island who discovers a collection of artifacts washed ashore in a Hello Kitty lunchbox - possibly debris from the devastating 2011 tsunami.
-
-
Engaging story beautifully read
- By Karen on 01-30-14
By: Ruth Ozeki
-
Just Like Home
- By: Sarah Gailey
- Narrated by: Xe Sands
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
“Come home.” Vera’s mother called and Vera obeyed. In spite of their long estrangement, in spite of the memories — she's come back to the home of a serial killer. Back to face the love she had for her father and the bodies he buried there, beneath the house he'd built for his family.
-
-
Haunted People in a Haunted Place
- By Gus on 11-15-22
By: Sarah Gailey
-
The Summer Place
- A Novel
- By: Jennifer Weiner
- Narrated by: Sutton Foster
- Length: 14 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When her twenty-two-year-old stepdaughter announces her engagement to her pandemic boyfriend, Sarah Danhauser is shocked. But headstrong Ruby has already set a date (just three months away!) and spoken to her beloved safta, Sarah’s mother Veronica, about having the wedding at the family’s beach house in Cape Cod. Sarah might be worried, but Veronica is thrilled to be bringing the family together one last time before putting the big house on the market. But the road to a wedding day usually comes with a few bumps
-
-
Jennifer Weiner???
- By kimberly on 05-19-22
By: Jennifer Weiner
-
Nightbitch
- A Novel
- By: Rachel Yoder
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An ambitious mother puts her art career on hold to stay at home with her newborn son, but the experience does not match her imagination. Two years later, she steps into the bathroom for a break from her toddler's demands, only to discover a dense patch of hair on the back of her neck. In the mirror, her canines suddenly look sharper than she remembers. Her husband, who travels for work five days a week, casually dismisses her fears from faraway hotel rooms.
-
-
If you don’t get it just say so
- By Stephanie Rzonca on 02-19-22
By: Rachel Yoder
-
Circe
- By: Madeline Miller
- Narrated by: Perdita Weeks
- Length: 12 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe is a strange child—not powerful, like her father, nor viciously alluring like her mother. Turning to the world of mortals for companionship, she discovers that she does possess power—the power of witchcraft, which can transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves.
-
-
Refined writing with an intimate performance
- By Michael - Audible Editor on 04-11-18
By: Madeline Miller
-
The Glass Hotel
- A Novel
- By: Emily St. John Mandel
- Narrated by: Dylan Moore
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Vincent is a bartender at the Hotel Caiette, a five-star lodging on the northernmost tip of Vancouver Island. On the night she meets Jonathan Alkaitis, a hooded figure scrawls a message on the lobby's glass wall: Why don’t you swallow broken glass. High above Manhattan, a greater crime is committed: Alkaitis's billion-dollar business is really nothing more than a game of smoke and mirrors.
-
-
Don't waste your time and money
- By Anonymous User on 03-26-20
-
The Hollow Places
- By: T. Kingfisher
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"Pray they are hungry." Kara finds these words in the mysterious bunker that she’s discovered behind a hole in the wall of her uncle's house. Freshly divorced and living back at home, Kara now becomes obsessed with these cryptic words and starts exploring the peculiar bunker - only to discover that it holds portals to countless alternate realities. But these places are haunted by creatures that seem to hear thoughts...and the more you fear them, the stronger they become.
-
-
This could have been a great suspense novel.
- By Graham KUNISCH on 10-28-20
By: T. Kingfisher
-
Room and Board
- A Novel
- By: Miriam Parker
- Narrated by: Eileen Stevens
- Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Gillian thought she had everything she ever wanted—as a successful publicist running her own Manhattan firm and working with a high-profile-celebrity clientele, she finally made herself at home among the elite who eluded her throughout her youth. That is, until her career implodes, leaving her jobless, friendless, and with a reputation that follows her everywhere. So, when she receives an offer to become a “dorm mom” at Glen Ellen Academy, the prestigious Sonoma boarding school she attended two decades earlier on scholarship, she leaps at the opportunity for a change of scene.
-
-
high school drama for adults?
- By JennyD on 09-27-22
By: Miriam Parker
-
Velvet Was the Night
- By: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
- Narrated by: Gisela Chípe
- Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mexico in the 1970s is a dangerous country, even for Maite, a secretary who spends her life seeking the romance found in cheap comic books and ignoring the activists protesting around the city. When her next-door neighbor, the beautiful art student Leonora, disappears under suspicious circumstances, Maite finds herself searching for the missing woman—and journeying deeper into Leonora’s secret life of student radicals and dissidents.
-
-
Amazing, entertaining, and insightful
- By Mogopolis on 09-07-21
-
A Certain Hunger
- By: Chelsea G. Summers
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Ugh.
- By Kimberly on 02-03-20
-
The Book of Two Ways
- A Novel
- By: Jodi Picoult
- Narrated by: Patti Murin
- Length: 15 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Everything changes in a single moment for Dawn Edelstein. She’s on a plane when the flight attendant makes an announcement: Prepare for a crash landing. She braces herself as thoughts flash through her mind. The shocking thing is, the thoughts are not of her husband but of a man she last saw 15 years ago: Wyatt Armstrong. Dawn, miraculously, survives the crash, but so do all the doubts that have suddenly been raised.
-
-
✫✫ 5 Stars ✫✫
- By ❤️Cyndi Marie❤️🎧Audiobook Addicts🎧 on 09-23-20
By: Jodi Picoult
Related to this topic
-
A Phoenix First Must Burn
- Sixteen Stories of Black Girl Magic, Resistance, and Hope
- By: Patrice Caldwell - editor
- Narrated by: York Whitaker
- Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Evoking Beyoncé’s Lemonade for a teen audience, these authors who are truly Octavia Butler’s heirs have woven worlds to create a stunning narrative that puts Black women and gender-nonconforming individuals at its center. A Phoenix First Must Burn will take you on a journey from folktales retold to futuristic societies and everything in between. Filled with stories of love and betrayal, strength and resistance, this collection contains an array of complex and true-to-life characters through which you cannot help but see yourself reflected.
-
-
Absolutely brilliant
- By Ruthi on 03-11-20
-
An Ordinary Wonder
- By: Buki Papillon
- Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh
- Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Oto leaves for boarding school with one plan: Excel and escape his cruel home. Falling in love with his roommate was certainly not on the agenda, but fear and shame force him to hide his love and true self. Back home, weighed down by the expectations of their wealthy and powerful family, the love of Oto's twin sister wavers, and, as their world begins to crumble around them, Oto must make drastic choices that will alter the family's lives for ever.
-
-
Intriguing
- By Mary P Browne on 09-20-21
By: Buki Papillon
-
The Last House on Needless Street
- By: Catriona Ward
- Narrated by: Christopher Ragland
- Length: 12 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a boarded-up house on a dead-end street at the edge of the wild Washington woods lives a family of three. A teenage girl who isn’t allowed outside, not after last time. A man who drinks alone in front of his TV, trying to ignore the gaps in his memory. And a house cat who loves napping and reading the Bible. An unspeakable secret binds them together, but when a new neighbor moves in next door, what is buried out among the birch trees may come back to haunt them all.
-
-
I can only listen in 1-2 hour segments!
- By Brenda on 10-04-21
By: Catriona Ward
-
The Dark Side of Innocence
- Growing Up Bipolar
- By: Terri Cheney
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 7 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The New York Times best-selling author blends a pitch-perfect childlike voice with keen adult observation as she shares her heartrending, groundbreaking insider's look into the fascinating and frightening world of childhood bipolar disorder.
-
-
Eye opening
- By Anonymous User on 03-13-23
By: Terri Cheney
-
Godshot
- A Novel
- By: Chelsea Bieker
- Narrated by: Lauren Ezzo
- Length: 11 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Drought has settled on the town of Peaches, California. The area of the Central Valley where fourteen-year-old Lacey May and her alcoholic mother live was once an agricultural paradise. Now it's an environmental disaster, a place of cracked earth and barren raisin farms. In their desperation, residents have turned to a cult leader named Pastor Vern for guidance. He promises, through secret "assignments," to bring the rain everybody is praying for.
-
-
flawless novel, not the best narration
- By Adrienne on 05-05-20
By: Chelsea Bieker
-
The End and Other Beginnings
- Stories from the Future
- By: Veronica Roth
- Narrated by: Emily Rankin, MacLeod Andrews
- Length: 6 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
No world is like the other. Within this masterful collection, each setting is more strange and wonderful than the last, brimming with new technologies and beings. And yet, for all the advances in these futuristic lands, the people still must confront deeply human problems. In these six stories, Veronica Roth reaches into the unknown and draws forth something startlingly familiar and profoundly beautiful.
By: Veronica Roth
-
A Phoenix First Must Burn
- Sixteen Stories of Black Girl Magic, Resistance, and Hope
- By: Patrice Caldwell - editor
- Narrated by: York Whitaker
- Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Evoking Beyoncé’s Lemonade for a teen audience, these authors who are truly Octavia Butler’s heirs have woven worlds to create a stunning narrative that puts Black women and gender-nonconforming individuals at its center. A Phoenix First Must Burn will take you on a journey from folktales retold to futuristic societies and everything in between. Filled with stories of love and betrayal, strength and resistance, this collection contains an array of complex and true-to-life characters through which you cannot help but see yourself reflected.
-
-
Absolutely brilliant
- By Ruthi on 03-11-20
-
An Ordinary Wonder
- By: Buki Papillon
- Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh
- Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Oto leaves for boarding school with one plan: Excel and escape his cruel home. Falling in love with his roommate was certainly not on the agenda, but fear and shame force him to hide his love and true self. Back home, weighed down by the expectations of their wealthy and powerful family, the love of Oto's twin sister wavers, and, as their world begins to crumble around them, Oto must make drastic choices that will alter the family's lives for ever.
-
-
Intriguing
- By Mary P Browne on 09-20-21
By: Buki Papillon
-
The Last House on Needless Street
- By: Catriona Ward
- Narrated by: Christopher Ragland
- Length: 12 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a boarded-up house on a dead-end street at the edge of the wild Washington woods lives a family of three. A teenage girl who isn’t allowed outside, not after last time. A man who drinks alone in front of his TV, trying to ignore the gaps in his memory. And a house cat who loves napping and reading the Bible. An unspeakable secret binds them together, but when a new neighbor moves in next door, what is buried out among the birch trees may come back to haunt them all.
-
-
I can only listen in 1-2 hour segments!
- By Brenda on 10-04-21
By: Catriona Ward
-
The Dark Side of Innocence
- Growing Up Bipolar
- By: Terri Cheney
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 7 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The New York Times best-selling author blends a pitch-perfect childlike voice with keen adult observation as she shares her heartrending, groundbreaking insider's look into the fascinating and frightening world of childhood bipolar disorder.
-
-
Eye opening
- By Anonymous User on 03-13-23
By: Terri Cheney
-
Godshot
- A Novel
- By: Chelsea Bieker
- Narrated by: Lauren Ezzo
- Length: 11 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Drought has settled on the town of Peaches, California. The area of the Central Valley where fourteen-year-old Lacey May and her alcoholic mother live was once an agricultural paradise. Now it's an environmental disaster, a place of cracked earth and barren raisin farms. In their desperation, residents have turned to a cult leader named Pastor Vern for guidance. He promises, through secret "assignments," to bring the rain everybody is praying for.
-
-
flawless novel, not the best narration
- By Adrienne on 05-05-20
By: Chelsea Bieker
-
The End and Other Beginnings
- Stories from the Future
- By: Veronica Roth
- Narrated by: Emily Rankin, MacLeod Andrews
- Length: 6 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
No world is like the other. Within this masterful collection, each setting is more strange and wonderful than the last, brimming with new technologies and beings. And yet, for all the advances in these futuristic lands, the people still must confront deeply human problems. In these six stories, Veronica Roth reaches into the unknown and draws forth something startlingly familiar and profoundly beautiful.
By: Veronica Roth
-
The Star Side of Bird Hill
- By: Naomi Jackson
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 7 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Two sisters, ages 10 and 16, are exiled from Brooklyn to Bird Hill in Barbados, after their mother can no longer care for them. The young Phaedra and her older sister, Dionne, live, for the summer of 1989, with their grandmother, Hyacinth, a midwife and practitioner of the local spiritual practice of obeah. Dionne spends the summer in search of love, testing her grandmother's limits, and wanting to go home. Phaedra explores Bird Hill, where her family has lived for generations.
-
-
My absolute favorite book of all time
- By Eme on 07-16-15
By: Naomi Jackson
-
Before You Knew My Name
- A Novel
- By: Jacqueline Bublitz
- Narrated by: Penelope Rawlins
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When she arrived in New York on her eighteenth birthday carrying nothing but $600 cash and a stolen camera, Alice Lee was looking for a fresh start. Now, just one month later, she is the city’s latest Jane Doe. She may be dead but that doesn’t mean her story is over. Meanwhile, Ruby Jones is also trying to reinvent herself. After travelling halfway around the world, she’s lonelier than ever in the Big Apple. Until she stumbles upon a woman’s body by the Hudson River, and suddenly finds herself unbreakably tied to the unknown dead woman.
-
-
Excellent
- By cristina on 11-11-22
-
Love Walked In
- By: Marisa de los Santos
- Narrated by: Jennifer Ikeda
- Length: 11 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Award-winning poet Marisa de los Santos crafts an irresistibly touching debut novel. Love Walked In is a contemporary tale, steeped in nostalgic, cinematic charm, of love in all its forms. Unapologetically idealistic about love, Cornelia Brown appears to catch the break of a lifetime when the dashing Martin Grace, her own personal Cary Grant, comes strolling into her life. But it is Martin's connection to 11-year-old Clare Hobbes that touches Cornelia's heart in ways she never imagined.
-
-
Dreadful audio quality
- By Marenghi on 09-16-11
-
The Vine of Desire
- By: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 11 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Anju and Sudha formed an astounding, almost psychic connection during their childhood in India. When Anju invites Sudha, a single mother in Calcutta, to come live with her and her husband, Sunil, in California, Sudha foolishly accepts, knowing full well that Sunil has long desired her. As Sunil's attraction rises to the surface, the trio must struggle to make sense of the freedoms of America - and of the ties that bind them to India and to one another.
-
-
Vine of desire
- By Mz Shantay on 03-27-21
-
Elfland
- Aetherial Tales, Book 1
- By: Freda Warrington
- Narrated by: Matthew Lloyd Davies
- Length: 22 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Elfland is an intimate, sensual novel of people—both human and Aetherial—caught between duty and desire. It is a story of families, and of Rose Fox, a woman born to magic but tormented by her place in her adopted world.Led by Auberon Fox, a group of Aetherials—call them the Fair Folk, if you will—live among us, indistinguishable from humans. Every seven years, on the Night of the Summer Stars, Lawrence Wilder, the Gatekeeper, throws open all gates to the Other World. But this time, something has gone wrong.
-
-
Miscommunication is an obnoxious plot device
- By Robin on 05-26-16
By: Freda Warrington
-
The Last Werewolf
- By: Glen Duncan
- Narrated by: Robin Sachs
- Length: 11 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Meet Jake. A bit on the elderly side (he turns 201 in March), but you’d never suspect it. Nonstop sex and exercise will do that for you - and a diet with lots of animal protein. Jake is a werewolf, and after the unfortunate and violent death of his one contemporary, he is now the last of his species. Although he is physically healthy, Jake is deeply distraught and lonely.
-
-
The Ennui of a Naughty Dog
- By Mel on 09-12-11
By: Glen Duncan
What listeners say about The Lightness
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Lauren yett
- 06-22-20
Perfect combination
This book is the best thing i've listened/read since Circe, and I listen to a lot of books. The writing is truly intoxicating. it makes you think and question. It digs in deep about topics we all touch upon sometimes but don't take the time to unravel ourselves. I would pause and rewind certain parts just hear them again and soak them into my brain. This is a very talented writer and the narrator does an exceptional job as well, the combination is perfect. You wont be sorry using a credit on this.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
13 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Tbaley
- 03-15-23
Troubles in River City
People with problems trying to find enlightenment, trying to raise children, but instilling either no values or a lack of values so mixed up on their quest to become Buddha they often know less then when they started their journey.
The young heroine’s angst caused me to want to shake her by the shoulders, trying to get her to think about the consequences of her decisions of her lack thereof.
A friend of mine who read over 200 books during the pandemic year has this in her top three for the year, I was much less enthusiastic to the point of not putting it on any “best” list.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Scott J. Van de Putte
- 08-11-20
Quirky / engaging. Big themes on a small stage
Author managed to capture teenage angst and connect it to universal themes in a tightly told tale.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mara L.
- 06-26-20
Stunning and Deliciously Dark
‘The Lightness’ is a stunningly well-written and perfectly-paced story about events that unfold at a Buddhist summer camp for teen girls. It is deliciously dark and luscious descriptions abound. The story is told in Olivia’s perspective, a 16 year old who has a troubled relationship with her mother and a father who has recently disappeared and was last seen at the Buddhist retreat center where the story is set. Olivia immediately becomes entranced by a small group of mysterious and enigmatic girls and is welcomed into their fold. Most mesmerizing and inscrutable is their leader, Serena, who desires to levitate. What I found most fascinating was how well Temple captures the heightened emotions and perceptions of teenagers. I adored this book and can’t wait to see what Emily Temple writes next.
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
- J. Willow
- 11-02-20
Struggle
I really struggled with this book. I should not have read it. I’m not saying the book is bad...I’m saying my experience was.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Michelle
- 12-08-20
Is this a YA book?
I really tried with this book, but, between the narrators over acting, the surface level take on Buddhism, and the overall plot I found this audio-book very frustrating and a waste of time.
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
- meg hogan
- 07-26-20
Awful!
I couldn’t even finish this I stopped listening after only a few chapters
Annoying storyline. Annoying characters and annoying narrator to boot Sorry I wasted my credit on this
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!