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The Pregnant Widow
- Narrated by: Steven Pacey
- Length: 14 hrs and 10 mins
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Publisher's summary
The year is 1970, and it's a long, hot summer. In a castle on a mountainside in Italy, half a dozen young lives are afloat on a sea of change, trapped inside the history of the sexual revolution. The girls are acting like boys, the boys are going on acting like boys, and Keith Nearing - 20 years old, a literature student all clogged up with the English novel - is struggling to twist feminism and women's ascendency toward his own ends.
The tragicomedy of manners that ensues will have an indelible effect on all its participants, and we witness, too, how it shapes Keith’s subsequent love life for decades to come. Bitingly funny, full of wit and pathos, The Pregnant Widow is a trenchant portrait of young lives being carried away on a sea of change.
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- By: Alex Marwood
- Narrated by: Beverley A. Crick
- Length: 12 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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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.
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Wow
- By Christina on 09-14-16
By: Alex Marwood
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Ada, or Ardor
- A Family Chronicle
- By: Vladimir Nabokov
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 20 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Published two weeks after Vladimir Nabokov’s seventieth birthday, Ada, or Ardor is one of his greatest masterpieces, the glorious culmination of his career as a novelist. It tells a love story troubled by incest, but it is also at once a fairy tale, epic, philosophical treatise on the nature of time, parody of the history of the novel, and erotic catalogue. Ada, or Ardor is no less than the supreme work of an imagination at white heat. This is the first American edition to include the extensive and ingeniously sardonic appendix by the author, written under the anagrammatic pseudonym Vivian Darkbloom.
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Incest, a game the Whole Family Can Play
- By Darwin8u on 08-12-13
By: Vladimir Nabokov
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After the Party
- By: Lisa Jewell
- Narrated by: Helen Duff
- Length: 14 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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In this irresistible novel from the author of Then She Was Gone, Jem and Ralph discover the power of starting over after 11 years together have left them drifting apart.
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Bitter, Anti-Christian Stereotyping Detracts.
- By Gretchen on 11-23-18
By: Lisa Jewell
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Herzog
- By: Saul Bellow
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 15 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Winner of the National Book Award when it was first published in 1964, Herzog traces five days in the life of a failed academic whose wife has recently left him for his best friend. Through the device of letter writing, Herzog movingly portrays both the internal life of its eponymous hero and the complexity of modern consciousness.
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Grows Within You
- By Chris Reich on 08-06-11
By: Saul Bellow
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East of the Sun
- By: Julia Gregson
- Narrated by: Tania Rodrigues
- Length: 19 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Autumn 1928. Three young women are on their way to India, each with a new life in mind. Rose, a beautiful but naive bride-to-be, is anxious about leaving her family and marrying a man she hardly knows. Victoria, her bridesmaid couldn't be happier to get away from her overbearing mother, and is determined to find herself a husband. And Viva, their inexperienced chaperone, is in search of the India of her childhood, ghosts from the past and freedom.
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Indian history takes a back seat to 3 young women
- By Richard on 05-24-16
By: Julia Gregson
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Tar Baby
- By: Toni Morrison
- Narrated by: Desiree Coleman
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Jadine Childs is a Black fashion model with a white patron, a white boyfriend, and a coat made out of ninety perfect sealskins. Son is a Black fugitive who embodies everything she loathes and desires. As Morrison follows their affair, which plays out from the Caribbean to Manhattan and the deep South, she charts all the nuances of obligation and betrayal between Blacks and whites, masters and servants, and men and women.
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So good that I'm writing my first Audible review!
- By BL on 12-10-11
By: Toni Morrison
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Putney
- A Novel
- By: Sofka Zinovieff
- Narrated by: Michelle Ford
- Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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In the spirit of Zoë Heller’s Notes on a Scandal and Tom Perrotta’s Mrs. Fletcher, an explosive and thought-provoking novel about the far-reaching repercussions of an illicit relationship between a young girl and a man 20 years her senior. Masterfully told from three diverse viewpoints - victim, perpetrator, and witness - Putney is a subtle and enormously powerful novel about consent, agency, and what we tell ourselves to justify what we do, and what others do to us.
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One of the greatest stories of all time!
- By Valarie on 06-17-20
By: Sofka Zinovieff
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Us: A Novel
- By: David Nicholls
- Narrated by: David Haig
- Length: 14 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Douglas Petersen may be mild-mannered, but behind his reserve lies a sense of humor that seduces beautiful Connie into a second date...and eventually into marriage. Now, almost three decades later, they live more or less happily in the London suburbs with their moody seventeen year-old son, Albie. Then Connie tells him she thinks she wants a divorce. The timing couldn’t be worse. Connie has planned a month-long tour of European capitals, a chance to experience the world’s greatest works of art as a family, and she can’t bring herself to cancel. And maybe going ahead is for the best anyway? Douglas is privately convinced that this landmark trip will rekindle the romance in the marriage, and might even help him to bond with Albie. Narrated from Douglas’s endearingly honest, slyly witty, and at times achingly optimistic point of view, Us is the story of a man trying to rescue his relationship with the woman he loves, and learning how to get closer to a son who’s always felt like a stranger.
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Great novel - my favorite in years
- By Mark on 07-21-15
By: David Nicholls
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Marjorie Morningstar
- By: Herman Wouk
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 28 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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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.
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Great story with really cheesy narration
- By James on 05-05-12
By: Herman Wouk
What listeners say about The Pregnant Widow
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Keaton
- 05-29-22
Great Characters
I think Martin Amis’ greatest strength is the characters he creates and this novel is no exception. This book is definitely more about the characters than the story. It’s an interesting examination how “Women’s liberation” created casualties in the new social contract that was ushered it.
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- Andrew Dunn
- 07-04-12
Self-indulgent, narcissistic and unpleasant
This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?
Somebody who doesn't mind following Amis on a one-way journey up his own arse
What do you think your next listen will be?
Something not by Amis
What does Steven Pacey bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
He does well with the characterisation
What character would you cut from The Pregnant Widow?
Amis/Nearing, all the other ones
Any additional comments?
Really, really poor book. Impossibly louche characters used as a vehicle for Amis' own imaginary recollections of his youth, and to reinforce his own particular prejudices. A mean-spirited little book, too. Awful. It was my nth attempt at an Amis Jr., and has forever cured me of the impression that he has something to offer.
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- sheila kehoe
- 08-12-12
Wanted to like this book more; Audible helped.
What did you like best about The Pregnant Widow? What did you like least?
Martin Amis is a super-intelligent writer. He is not just telling a story, but also sharing ideas about how the world spins. The past story within the present story works well for this. The backstory draws the reader into this sexy and mysterious world where you wonder who's going to end up with whom. The downside is the story gets diverted by all the ideas that Amis wants to fit around it. The book is just too long for the story. I was reading it as a book group assignment and running out of time finishing it, so I downloaded the Audible and made it to the end. I was the only one in our group that did. They complained about the length as well as the characters which they found unlikeable. I actually liked the anti-hero aspect of the narrator, but I agree about the length. Having the story read by the male reader doing all the voices gave a sense of the narrator being just that -- a storyteller. It help make the book more like-able and humorous.
What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?
I really loved the setting of the past story. This castle with all its twists and turns fits the story very well; but the story has far too many twists and turns and divergences. It could have been shorter.
What about Steven Pacey’s performance did you like?
He was very amusing doing the female voices. It helped make the book more humorous and the narrator more like-able.
Do you think The Pregnant Widow needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?
No. We already have TMI. Although it would be interesting to hear the story told from the point of view of one of the women. I don't think Martin Amis could write it though. He has a very distinctly male voice.
Any additional comments?
It got me curious to read more of Martin Amis' shorter and earlier books.
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- Blick Nevins
- 08-25-20
Like a Guest that just won't leave
Steven Pacey saves this book from itself! He is a genius. Martin Amis does a lot of blah blah blah, but sometimes reaches back for an amazing comic moment or insight; the kind that makes him always worth suffering through!
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Overall
- Julia Childress Beck
- 05-13-10
awful
After 15 minutes I turned it off. This is the worst book I have ever listened to. The story line is offensive and the language is repulsive. Dont buy this!!!
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6 people found this helpful
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Overall
- BOB LAROCHE
- 08-17-10
A SHORT READ
I LASTED 20 MINUTES. WHY WASTE ANY MORE TIME? I SHOULD ASK FOR MY MONEY BACK !!
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall
- IF
- 05-22-10
great book
I "read" it in a day.
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6 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Rob Holland
- 09-22-10
Rich, caustic, hilarious
I very much enjoyed my stay with this rich cast of characters as they acted out their "formative" summer in Italy. Raunchy, yes, but also fiercely intelligent and socially astute. And funny as hell. Very well narrated as well.
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Cariola
- 07-16-10
A Real Bore
Honestly, how long do you want to listen to a 20-year old guy in the 1960s obsessing about getting into the pants of a girl ridiculously named Scheherazade? Or hear about rich, pampered brats staying in an Italian castle for the summer, spending most of their time ridiculing others and trading beds? I lived through the '60s, and even I was bored by this book. I'm halfway through Part 2 (that's 10.5 hours of good time wasted), and I'm sacking it. I'll check back later, just in case someone who has finished it can convince me to go back to it.
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3 people found this helpful