The Obituary Writer
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Narrated by:
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Tavia Gilbert
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By:
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Ann Hood
About this listen
From best-selling author Ann Hood comes a sophisticated and suspenseful novel about the poignant lives of two women living in different eras.
On the day John F. Kennedy is inaugurated, Claire, a young wife and mother obsessed with the glamour of Jackie, struggles over the decision of whether to stay in a loveless but secure marriage or to follow the man she loves and whose baby she may be carrying. Decades earlier, in 1919, Vivien Lowe, an obituary writer, is searching for her lover, who disappeared in the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906. By telling the stories of the dead, Vivien not only helps others cope with their grief but also begins to understand the devastation of her own terrible loss. The surprising connection between these two women will change Claire’s life in unexpected and extraordinary ways.
Part literary mystery and part love story, The Obituary Writer examines expectations of marriage and love, the roles of wives and mothers, and the emotions of grief, regret, and hope.
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- Length: 12 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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A long-forgotten secret, a scandalous attraction and a place where two women's lives are changed forever. 1926: Violet Armstrong is one of the few remaining members of staff working at the grand Evergreen Spa Hotel as it closes down over winter. Only a handful of guests are left, including the heir to a rich grazing family, his sister and her suave suitor. When a snowstorm moves in, the hotel is cut off and they are all trapped. No-one could have predicted what would unfold.
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Soooo Boring
- By Merford on 10-09-19
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The Look of Love
- A Novel
- By: Sarah Jio
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan, Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Born during a Christmas blizzard, Jane Williams receives a rare gift: the ability to literally see true love. Jane has emerged from an ailing childhood a lonely, hopeless romantic when, on her 29th birthday, she receives a card from the midwife who delivered her. Jane must identify the six types of love before the full moon following her 30th birthday - or face grave consequences. When Jane falls for a science writer who doesn't believe in love, she fears that her fate is sealed.
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Highly recommend!!
- By Riley Pennington on 09-19-19
By: Sarah Jio
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The Sound of Glass
- By: Karen White
- Narrated by: Therese Plummer, Susan Bennett
- Length: 14 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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It has been two years since the death of Merritt Heyward's husband, Cal, when she receives unexpected news - Cal's family home in Beaufort, South Carolina, bequeathed by Cal's reclusive grandmother, now belongs to Merritt. Charting the course of an uncertain life - and feeling guilt from her husband's tragic death - Merritt travels from her home in Maine to Beaufort, where the secrets of Cal's unspoken-of past reside among the pluff mud and jasmine of the ancestral Heyward home on the Bluff.
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You'll LAUGH, LOVE, and maybe CRY a little
- By Jennifer on 08-08-15
By: Karen White
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Stars over Sunset Boulevard
- By: Susan Meissner
- Narrated by: Ann Marie Lee
- Length: 10 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Los Angeles, present day. When an iconic hat worn by Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind ends up in Christine McAllister's vintage clothing boutique by mistake, her efforts to return it to its owner take her on a journey more enchanting than any classic movie.... Los Angeles, 1938. Violet Mayfield sets out to reinvent herself in Hollywood after her dream of becoming a wife and mother falls apart, and she lands a job on the film set of Gone with the Wind.
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Pass on this
- By Lulew on 03-24-17
By: Susan Meissner
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Rush Home Road
- By: Lori Lansens
- Narrated by: Ruby Dee
- Length: 6 hrs and 27 mins
- Abridged
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When a 70-year-old woman finds a five-year-old girl abandoned on her doorstep, she is thrust into a sorrowful past that can only be conquered with the help of the girl who opened her memory - the very girl she is trying to save. This first novel, according to author Jacquelyn Mitchard, is one of "exquisite power, honesty, and conviction...quite nearly without flaws."
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filthy language and violent content
- By Anna on 12-16-11
By: Lori Lansens
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Don't Let Him Know
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- Narrated by: Tania Rodrigues
- Length: 9 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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In a boxy apartment building in an Illinois university town, Romola Mitra, a newly arrived young bride, anxiously awaits her first letter from home in India. When she accidentally opens the wrong letter, it changes her life. Decades later, her son Amit finds that letter and thinks he has discovered his mother's secret. But secrets have their own secrets sometimes.
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another great book by Roy
- By Amazon Customer on 04-27-15
By: Sandip Roy
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The Red Address Book
- By: Sofia Lundberg, Alice Menzies - translator
- Narrated by: Xe Sands
- Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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The global fiction sensation - published in 32 countries around the world: Meet Doris, a 96-year-old woman living alone in her Stockholm apartment. She has few visitors, but her weekly Skype calls with Jenny - her American grandniece, and her only relative - give her great joy and remind her of her own youth. In writing down the stories of her colorful past - working as a maid in Sweden, modelling in Paris during the '30s, fleeing to Manhattan at the dawn of the Second World War - she may help Jenny, haunted by a difficult childhood, unlock the secrets of their family....
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narrator was overwrought
- By Janet L. Hamilton on 02-22-19
By: Sofia Lundberg, and others
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The Vine of Desire
- By: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 11 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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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.
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Vine of desire
- By Mz Shantay on 03-27-21
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Modern Girls
- By: Jennifer S. Brown
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Wiley
- Length: 13 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1935, Dottie Krasinsky is the epitome of the modern girl. A bookkeeper in midtown Manhattan, Dottie steals kisses from her steady beau, meets her girlfriends for drinks, and eyes the latest fashions. Yet at heart, she is a dutiful daughter, living with her Yiddish-speaking parents on the Lower East Side. So when, after a single careless night, she finds herself in a family way by a charismatic but unsuitable man, she is desperate: unwed, unsure, and running out of options.
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Super annoying voiceover
- By Amazon Customer on 04-25-17
What listeners say about The Obituary Writer
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Anne
- 05-14-15
The book was a relaxing read
Wonderfully written book. Ann Hood blends the lives of two women related in marriage into a story of how we need to live our lives for today instead of trying to holding onto the dreams of what may never have happened.
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- Tanya E
- 03-27-14
A delightful plum of a novel
Would you consider the audio edition of The Obituary Writer to be better than the print version?
I'm not sure if it's better, but it certainly works really well in audio. Some literary stories don't translate well, but THE OBITUARY WRITER comes to life.
Who was your favorite character and why?
I liked Birdie. I really connected with her.
Have you listened to any of Tavia Gilbert’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
This is my first full book listening to Gilbert. She's pretty terrific. Her reading has a little affectation to it, but it works well for this piece so maybe it's intended. Her male characters all sounded very similar (with exception of the Italian), but since there weren't many men in the same scene they were easy to differentiate.
If you could rename The Obituary Writer, what would you call it?
It's the perfect title.
Any additional comments?
I love Ann Hood's writing and this is one of her best.
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- NotMyMonkeys
- 12-13-20
Well crafted story
This book draws you with its wonderfully woven tail of life in 2 different decades.
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Overall
- Darlene Armstrong
- 07-07-18
nonr
ynbbb mmmmm mmmmm pp ll oo uu oo TT ii rr go if s s
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- Christy
- 09-29-15
Quick read. Hokey at times.
This was a light quick read. Liked the intertwining of historical events throughout the book. Did find the story to be a little predictable and hokey at times but otherwise a great tale.
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- Pat B.
- 06-28-14
Loved this book!
What other book might you compare The Obituary Writer to and why?
The theme is similar to books written by Kate Morton. I enjoy reading books that span 20 to 50 years. This one had a neat little twist.
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- Tango
- 03-08-13
Loss, Grief, Life
Ann Hood has crafted a rather beautiful, albeit short, tale of two women living in two time periods who both struggle with coping with loss (not only through death, but the loss of dreams and hopes) and how to move forward with their lives. The listener realizes almost immediately that these two stories must intersect at some point and you may figure out how well before the author reveals the connection between the two, but that will not detract from the tale. One of the stories is set primarily in 1919 and the other in 1961 and Hood does a nice job of bringing the listener into both time periods so that the setting is clearly playing a role in the story at all times. The characters are delicately drawn and distinct in this book - strangely, I found Vivien (the turn of the century character) much more independent and easier to identify with than the more contemporary Claire of the 60's but both women "rang true" as people. The stories are moving and interesting but this is not a really deep study of grief and it is not really long enough to make the listener sad, but certainly elicits some melancholy. My only real criticism of the book is the ending. After twining the two women's stories together throughout the book, the ending comes on very quickly and does not quite satisfy. Claire's story definitely seemed to end in the wrong place. A major aspect of Claire's grief would undoubtedly be some major guilt because her own very bad decisions lead to the worst of her loss, but the story "wraps up" so fast after the tragic event that there is no real exploration of that.
The book is too short to provide great new insights into grief, but it is a nice study of two women in different eras dealing with loss and the effect of the societies they live in on their coping mechanisms and their ability to move on.
Tavia Gilbert provides very competent narration. Her male voices are not great, but this book is quite "female-centric" so that is a minor flaw.
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15 people found this helpful
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- Carole T.
- 03-20-14
Good and Bad News
I loved Vivien, the 1919 title character of "The Obituary Writer". Her story is haunting and leaps off the page. She's a survivor of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake with unresolved issues of loss and uncertainty - and she fills some of her own need and anguish in dealing brilliantly with the grief and mourning of others in her obituary tributes.
The book is divided, alternating Vivien's story with that of Claire, an early-1960's suburban housewife. Claire's life and trials are, unfortunately, not as compelling. She's a very familiar example of "Feminine Mystique" discontent of the era. There's a wonderful bit about the local wives' betting pool on what Jackie Kennedy will wear to the Presidential inauguration festivities, but mostly I was just anxious to get back to 1919.
Much of the anticipation and suspense of "The Obituary Writer" is in connecting these two women somehow. Unfortunately, that process isn't entirely successful and comes across as rushed and pretty much contrived. It's not a crime for a novel to leave some unanswered questions and unresolved issues - confusion, frustration, and the feeling that something is deeply wrong do not, however, add up to a satisfying conclusion.
So, there was disappointment in this listening experience, but I will not soon forget the lessons that Vivien has to teach about grief and memory. Because of that, and because of Vivien's early story, I do give something of a qualified recommendation to this book.
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8 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 03-18-15
Sad and compelling
This was so well narrated.
In this case the narration added a depth to this story it may not have had, had I read it.
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- Caroline D. Hayes
- 03-07-15
Great portrayal of the 1950s - 60s Suburban Wife
I realize that the intention of this book is to highlight the responsibilities and social conventions by which women were expected to abide during this time period, but it kills me. I am afraid I cannot do this book justice by explaining exactly how I loved and hated it at the same time. Now, I was very clear on the storyline involving Claire and Peter, however, the storyline involving Vivienne completely threw me through a loop. I never really got the true essence of her story and how it connected with Claire's. Otherwise, I gained a lot of perspective on gender roles and etiquette of the times which I thoroughly enjoyed.
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