The Middlesteins
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Molly Ringwald
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By:
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Jami Attenberg
About this listen
For more than 30 years, Edie and Richard Middlestein shared a solid family life together in the suburbs of Chicago. But now things are splintering apart, for one reason, it seems: Edie's enormous girth. She's obsessed with food - thinking about it, eating it - and if she doesn't stop, she won't have much longer to live.
When Richard abandons his wife, it is up to the next generation to take control. Robin, their schoolteacher daughter, is determined that her father pay for leaving Edie. Benny, an easy-going, pot-smoking family man, just wants to smooth things over. And Rachelle - a whippet thin perfectionist - is intent on saving her mother-in-law's life, but this task proves even bigger than planning her twin children's spectacular b'nai mitzvah party. Through it all, they wonder: do Edie's devastating choices rest on her shoulders alone? Or are others at fault, too?
With pitch-perfect prose, huge compassion, and sly humor, Jami Attenberg has given us an epic story of marriage, family, and obsession. The Middlesteins explores the hopes and heartbreaks of new and old love, the yearnings of Midwestern America, and our devastating, fascinating preoccupation with food.
©2012 Jami Attenberg (P)2012 Hachette AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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- By Dane Flakeman on 05-21-11
By: Margaux Fragoso
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The Opposite of Loneliness
- Essays and Stories
- By: Marina Keegan
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 5 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Marina Keegan's star was on the rise when she graduated magna cum laude from Yale in May 2012. She had a play that was to be produced at the New York International Fringe Festival and a job waiting for her at the New Yorker. Tragically, five days after graduation, Marina died in a car crash. Even though she was just 22 when she died, Marina left behind a rich, expansive trove of prose that, like her title essay, captures the hope, uncertainty, and possibility of her generation.
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Probably buy the book too.
- By Soupergirl on 09-14-15
By: Marina Keegan
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Disgruntled
- By: Asali Solomon
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
- Length: 9 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Kenya Curtis is only eight years old, but she knows that she's different, even if she can't put her finger on how or why. It's not because she's black - most of the other students in the fourth-grade class at her West Philadelphia elementary school are, too. Maybe it's because she calls her father - a housepainter-slash-philosopher - "Baba" or because her parents' friends gather to pour out libations "from the Creator, for the Martyrs" and discuss "the community".
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Loved It!!!
- By ayodele higgs on 05-20-15
By: Asali Solomon
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Lifted by the Great Nothing
- By: Karim Dimechkie
- Narrated by: Neil Shah
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Max doesn't remember his mother, who was murdered by burglars before they emigrated from Beirut to New Jersey. He lives with his father, Rasheed, who is enamored of his concept of American culture - baseball and barbeques - and tries to shed his Lebanese heritage completely.
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Excellent
- By Cheyenne on 06-13-15
By: Karim Dimechkie
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The Untelling
- By: Tayari Jones
- Narrated by: Michele Blackmon
- Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Aria is no stranger to tragedy. Fifteen years ago, a family outing took the lives of her father and baby sister, leaving remaining members of this fractured family struggling with their own guilt - real and imagined. At 25, Aria believes she can reinvent herself through her planned marriage with all its promise of a family of her own. Her infertility changes her life as swiftly and irrevocably as the urban landscape around her.
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Don’t waste your time!
- By shasha on 09-18-20
By: Tayari Jones
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The UnAmericans
- Stories
- By: Molly Antopol
- Narrated by: Jennifer Van Dyck
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Again and again, Molly Antopol’s deeply sympathetic characters struggle for footing in an uncertain world, hounded by forces beyond their control. Their voices are intimate and powerful and they resonate with searing beauty. Antopol is a superb young talent, and The UnAmericans will long be remembered for its wit, humanity, and heart.
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Sensational stories! Brilliant new author.
- By MidwestGeek on 05-04-14
By: Molly Antopol
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Notes on a Banana
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- Narrated by: David Leite
- Length: 11 hrs and 58 mins
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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.
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Finished it in a day!
- By Kathryn on 08-23-17
By: David Leite
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Save Me
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- Narrated by: Nan McNamara
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Daphne Mitchell has always believed in cause and effect, right and wrong, good and bad. The good: her dream job as a doctor; Owen, her childhood sweetheart and now husband; the beautiful farmhouse they're restoring together. In fact most of her life has been good - until the day Owen comes home early from work to tell her he's fallen head over heels for someone else.
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story
- By ngoza on 08-10-15
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The Opposite of Maybe
- By: Maddie Dawson
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 13 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Jonathan and Rosie have been together so long they finish each other's sentences - so when he (finally) proposes and asks her to move across the country with him, everyone is happily surprised. But when things suddenly unravel, Rosie sends Jonathan packing and moves back home with Soapie, the irascible, opinionated grandmother who raised her.
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Well written book. The characters grow on you~
- By chatteycathi on 08-01-18
By: Maddie Dawson
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Nearly Normal
- Surviving the Wilderness, My Family and Myself
- By: Cea Sunrise Person
- Narrated by: Cea Sunrise Person
- Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
In her best-selling memoir North of Normal, Cea wrote with grace about her unconventional childhood - her early years living in a tipi in Alberta with her pot-smoking, free-loving counterculture family. But her struggles do not end when she leaves her family at the age of 13 to become a model. Honest and daring, Nearly Normal reveals the many ways that Cea's unconventional childhood continues to reverberate through the years.
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This one is just not for me
- By Pamela Plimpton on 03-15-19
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She's Come Undone
- By: Wally Lamb
- Narrated by: Linda Stephens
- Length: 18 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Meet Dolores Price. She's 13, wise-mouthed but wounded, having bid her childhood goodbye. Beached like a whale in front of her bedroom TV, she spends the next few years nourishing herself with the Mallomars, potato chips, and Pepsi her anxious mother supplies. When she finally rolls into young womanhood at 257 pounds, Dolores is no stronger and life is no kinder. But this time she's determined to rise to the occasion and give herself one more chance before really going belly-up.
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Really disappointing narrator!
- By Jessica Williams on 01-21-12
By: Wally Lamb
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Love Walked In
- By: Marisa de los Santos
- Narrated by: Jennifer Ikeda
- Length: 11 hrs and 40 mins
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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.
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Dreadful audio quality
- By Marenghi on 09-16-11
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What listeners say about The Middlesteins
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Colleen
- 12-18-19
Delightful book !
I just did the text version of this book for my book club and liked it so much I got it on audio, just for fun. Of course I served brownies and rugelach at the meeting. A lot of very lively discussion on addiction, responsibility and duty.
I only have one quibble and it's a small one. A lot of us found the attitudes towards Richard after the divorce to be anachronistic.
You may not love her characters but they are all fascinating.
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- Marjee
- 10-31-12
Ended too soon
I heard this book reviewed on NPR and was happy to see that it was available on Audible. The NPR review mentioned Attenberg's unflinchingly honest character portrayals and that piqued my interest. During several of the first chapters, I wasn't sure if I really liked the book, or if I was easily delighted by the amazingly accurate portrayal of life on the North side of the Chicago metro area. I'm originally from there, and the detail the author paints on that setting is so realistic, I felt like I was home for the holidays.
But as I got to the end of the book, I can confirm that it was the story in its entirety that charmed me. To be sure, I was left wanting so much more. It felt like it ended too soon, I wanted to know so much more about the characters past and present. That is bad news for me, but a credit to the author. Speaking of credits, I usually download really long tomes to get my credit worth in Audible, so this was an usually short book for me.
Ringwald did a nice job narrating. She was a little bit stilted at times, but it did not interfere with my enjoyment of this book and the sound of her voice likely contributed to the overall nostalgia I experienced visiting Superdogs on Milwaukee, Wicker Park, and Polish nail salons in Skokie.
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14 people found this helpful
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- M. Young-Stone
- 01-10-19
A Jewish Delight
Brilliant. The story of this family, particularly Edie’s story, was smartly rendered. The characters are deliciously flawed. The word “delicious” is intentional. I really appreciated how the author moved seamlessly back and forth through generations and how she empathized with peripheral characters, making them as real as the main characters. The early scenes of Edie as a child and Edie amongst her father’s immigrant friends, stayed with me throughout the entirety of the book. I kept seeing her on the stairwell, the spilled groceries, the rye bread. Everything about this book feels genuine and brave. I can’t wait to read Attenberg’s next book.
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- Jen
- 07-23-17
Simply fabulous
I didn't want this book to end. Such a fantastic portrayal of the complicated nature of intergenerational family relationships-- from denial, blame, addiction, aging, love, connection, obligation, and so much more. Heartbreakingly honest.
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- Sheila M
- 05-12-15
A Read not listen
Although I'm a huge audio fan, I wish I read this book instead of audio. If felt like someone was reading instead of getting lost in the story that was being told.
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- Lisa
- 11-09-12
Great story - Narration leaves A LOT to be desired
Any additional comments?
Wonderful story but it was embarrassing to hear Molly Ringwald mispronounce the Jewish words (e.g. "meshugah, b'nai mitzvah, dayenu...") It took away from the book's authenticity. I am surprised the author, director and producer didn't consider those as necessary edits. Her tone was also very flat and I felt that it did a disservice to what was a great story.
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19 people found this helpful
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- GmaPeach
- 06-05-22
Sad, Sad Story
This book made me very sad. The characters were so unhappy and bitter. I could identify with Edie's struggles. The Jewish people in the Chicago and Skokie areas are portrayed quite stereotypically. The reader, Ms. *Ringwood should have checked with a source familiar with Hebrew and Yiddish vocabulary. B'nai Mitzvah, was mispronounced every time she said it. It should have been pronounced B'' neigh, not B' nigh. She also goofed on several others.
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- Love, Peace & Happiness
- 05-17-17
Pleasantly Surprised
I didn't know much about this book prior to reading it. However I was pleasantly surprised. the characters were easy to relate to. This book made me appreciate my family all the more. ☺
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- SomervilleWhereElse
- 12-09-12
Good writing
This well written book isn't for everyone. Not one character is likeable, but the writing is very good and kept me listening to the whole story. Molly Ringwald is an awful reader for this book. All of the Yiddish words, or Jewish expressions, were mispronounced. The rest of the reading was flat.
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3 people found this helpful
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- HRH Karen
- 02-25-14
It's B'NAY Mitzvah, Molly. Right, Jami?
What disappointed you about The Middlesteins?
Mispronunciation after mispronunciation of words that were repeated and repeated (and repeated) made me wonder if anyone had even listened to the reading prior to its release. The flattest Jewy accent plunked in seemingly at random made me shudder. Made me shudder and wonder, that is, when I might have been listening to the story but was, alas, too distracted. I think it's not Molly's fault. Nobody told her, I suppose, and she must have figured she knew what she was doing. But it reminds me of this time a Seattle friend told me we had to go get some of this most yummy cookie thing called (phonetically) rhe-GUE-leh. When we got to the bakery it was just, you know, rugelach - pronounced with the short u and the "luh" at the end that just kind of trails off. Anyway.
What was one of the most memorable moments of The Middlesteins?
See above. But the story was nice and I loved some of the digressions. I loved the way food tore the family and wove in and out of the narrative. I loved the relationship between the protagonist's suitor and cooking. And I loved the opening chapter, where we learned how love and food were rendered indistinguishable.
How could the performance have been better?
I think I've been clear.
You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?
I would like to have read it rather than listened to it. I think I may have really appreciated it. I did listen all the way through despite the narration. Thing is, when a author leans so heavily on integrating Yiddish and Hebrew into the text, the listener experience is just so embarrassing, like a terrible talk show interview, you want to look away.
Any additional comments?
Too bad.
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1 person found this helpful