The Smash-Up
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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MacLeod Andrews
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Rebecca Lowman
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Dion Graham
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Shayna Small
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By:
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Ali Benjamin
About this listen
Smart, sublime, and wickedly clever, The Smash-Up captures - then transcends - our current polarized moment
“An exhilarating ride ... hilarious ... a modern and energetic story about a marriage on the skids.” (The New York Times)
Ethan has always been one of the good guys, and for years, nobody has appreciated this fact more than his wife, Zo. Until now. Jolted into activism by the 2016 election, Zo’s transformed their home into the headquarters for the local resistance, turning their comfortable decades-long marriage inside-out.
Meanwhile, their boisterous daughter, Alex, grows wilder by the day. Ethan’s former business partner needs help saving the media company they’d co-founded. Financial disaster looms. Enter a breezy, blue-haired millennial making her way through the gig economy. Suddenly Ethan faces a choice unlike any he’s ever had to make.
Unfolding over fivet urbulent days in 2018, The Smash-Up wrestles shrewdly with some of the biggest questions of our time: What, exactly, does it mean to be a good guy? What will it take for men to break the “bro code”? How does the world respond when a woman demands more? Can we ever understand another's experiences...and what are the consequences of failing to try? Moving, funny, and cathartic, this portrait of a marriage - and a nation - under strain is, ultimately, a magic trick of empathy, one that will make you laugh and squirm until its final, breathless words.
©2021 Ali Benjamin (P)2021 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
“An exhilarating ride...hilarious...there are no heroes here; I got whiplash trying to figure out who I trusted and what I was rooting for, and the sensation was mesmerizing. Benjamin is like an overly chatty but skilled magician...a modern and energetic story about a marriage on the skids.” (The New York Times)
“Borrow names and plot elements from Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome. Satirize progressive parenting and education à la Where’d You Go, Bernadette. Then light it all up with the feminist fire ignited by the Brett Kavanaugh hearings - and what do you get? A fun, timely novel that’s unexpectedly full of hope.” (People)
“It is not the transposition of that well-trod narrative and its character types that compels; it is the contrast sharpened in the act.... Benjamin doesn’t remake Ethan Frome so much as she contends with it. The Smash-Up is an homage and a critique.... An astute commentary on the differences between Wharton’s time and ours.” (Los Angeles Times)
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Story
Mystery-book aficionado Birdie Lindberg has an overactive imagination. Raised in isolation and homeschooled by strict grandparents, she's cultivated a whimsical fantasy life in which she plays the heroic detective and every stranger is a suspect. But her solitary world expands when she takes a job the summer before college, working the graveyard shift at a historic Seattle hotel. In her new job, Birdie hopes to blossom from introverted dreamer to brave pioneer, and gregarious Daniel Aoki volunteers to be her guide.
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Great characters wrapped in a mystery inside a romance
- By cheryl anderson on 07-11-19
By: Jenn Bennett
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No Hiding in Boise
- By: Kim Hooper
- Narrated by: Devon Sorvari, Stephanie Willing, Hillary Huber, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Angie is awakened by a midnight call from an officer with the Boise Police Department and thinks there must be a misunderstanding. The officer tells her that her husband was involved in a shooting at a local bar, but how can that be when her husband is sleeping right next to her? But when she turns to wake him, he isn’t there. Tessa is the 23-year-old bartender who escapes to a backroom storage closet during the shooting. When it comes to light that five people were killed, she is burdened with the question of why she survived.
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fantastic audio involving contemporary issues
- By Barbara S on 07-07-21
By: Kim Hooper
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The Stuff that Never Happened
- A Novel
- By: Maddie Dawson
- Narrated by: Teri Clark Linden
- Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Annabelle McKay knows she shouldn’t have any complaints. She’s been in a stable marriage that’s lasted almost three decades and has provided her with two wonderful children and thousands of family dinners around a sturdy oak table. Other wives envy the fact that Grant is not the type of man who would ever cheat on her or leave her for a younger woman. The trouble is Annabelle isn’t sure she wants to be married to Grant anymore. The trouble is she’s still in love with someone else.
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Don’t pass this one up.
- By Lauren on 03-10-20
By: Maddie Dawson
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The Admissions
- A Novel
- By: Meg Mitchell Moore
- Narrated by: Allyson Ryan
- Length: 14 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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The Hawthorne family has it all. Great jobs, a beautiful house in one of the most affluent areas of Northern California, and three charming kids whose sunny futures are all but assured. And then comes their eldest daughter's senior year of high school....
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Anything for success
- By JillHen on 09-13-15
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You Say It First
- By: Katie Cotugno
- Narrated by: Jorjeana Marie, Kirby Heyborne
- Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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One conversation can change everything. Meg has her entire life set up perfectly: She and her best friend, Emily, plan to head to Cornell together in the fall, and she works at a voter registration call center in her Philadelphia suburb. But everything changes when one of those calls connects her to a stranger from small-town Ohio.
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Good for a placeholder
- By KJzCola on 07-16-21
By: Katie Cotugno
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The Voting Booth
- By: Brandy Colbert
- Narrated by: Robin Eller, Cary Hite
- Length: 6 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Marva Sheridan was born ready for this day. She's always been driven to make a difference in the world, and what better way than to vote in her first election? Duke Crenshaw is so done with this election. He just wants to get voting over with so he can prepare for his band's first paying gig tonight. Only problem? Duke can't vote. When Marva sees Duke turned away from their polling place, she takes it upon herself to make sure his vote is counted. She hasn't spent months doorbelling and registering voters just to see someone denied their right.
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I vote yes for the Voting Booth!
- By Nikia Marie on 07-13-20
By: Brandy Colbert
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Permanent Midnight
- A Memoir (20th Anniversary Edition)
- By: Jerry Stahl, Nic Sheff - foreword
- Narrated by: Jerry Stahl, Scott Merriman
- Length: 11 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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A searing confessional infused with the darkest humor, Permanent Midnight chronicles the opiated abyss of a Hollywood screenwriter and his formidable climb into sobriety. Made into a major motion picture starring Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson, Permanent Midnight is revered by critics and an ever-growing cult of devoted fans as one of the most compelling contemporary memoirs.
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Point deduction for the recording
- By Amazon Customer on 11-21-20
By: Jerry Stahl, and others
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A Killing in the Hills
- A Novel (Bell Elkins, Book 1)
- By: Julia Keller
- Narrated by: Shannon McManus
- Length: 12 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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What’s happening in Acker’s Gap, West Virginia? Three elderly men are gunned down over their coffee at a local diner, and seemingly half the town is there to witness the act. Still, it happened so fast, and no one seems to have gotten a good look at the shooter. Was it random? Was it connected to the spate of drug violence plaguing poor areas of the country just like Acker’s Gap? Or were Dean Streeter, Shorty McClurg, and Lee Rader targeted somehow?
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A wonderful treat!
- By Joanne on 09-11-12
By: Julia Keller
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The Vanishing Season
- By: Joanna Schaffhausen
- Narrated by: Lauren Fortgang
- Length: 8 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Ellery Hathaway knows a thing or two about serial killers, but not through her police training. She's an officer in sleepy Woodbury, Massachusetts, where a bicycle theft still makes the newspapers. No one there knows she was once victim number 17 in the grisly story of serial killer Francis Michael Coben. The only victim who lived. When three people disappear from her town in three years, all around her birthday - the day she was kidnapped so long ago - Ellery fears someone knows her secret. Someone very dangerous.
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Engaging mystery debut!
- By robbie mcgraw on 06-15-18
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Reprieve
- A Novel
- By: James Han Mattson
- Narrated by: JD Jackson
- Length: 12 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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On April 27, 1997, four contestants make it to the final cell of the Quigley House, a full-contact haunted escape room in Lincoln, Nebraska, made famous for its monstrosities, booby-traps, and ghoulishly costumed actors. If the group can endure these horrors without shouting the safe word, “reprieve,” they’ll win a substantial cash prize - a startling feat accomplished only by one other group in the house’s long history. But before they can complete the challenge, a man breaks into the cell and kills one of the contestants.
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creepy escape room story
- By Barbara S on 11-18-21
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The Mother Next Door
- A Novel of Suspense
- By: Tara Laskowski
- Narrated by: Andi Arndt, Teri Schnaubelt, Emily Lawrence
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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The annual Halloween block party is the pinnacle of the year on idyllic suburban cul-de-sac Ivy Woods Drive. An influential group of neighborhood moms—known as the Ivy Five—plans the event for months. Except the Ivy Five has been four for a long time. When a new mother moves to town, eager to fit in, the moms see it as an opportunity to make the group whole again. This year's block party should be the best yet... until the women start receiving anonymous messages threatening to expose the quiet neighborhood's dark past—and the lengths they've gone to hide it.
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I Didn't Want It to End!
- By Sally on 10-16-21
By: Tara Laskowski
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The Good Father
- By: Diane Chamberlain
- Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne, Arielle DeLisle, Emily Durante
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Four years ago, 19-year-old Travis Brown made a choice: to raise his newborn daughter on his own. While most of his friends were out partying and meeting girls, Travis was at home, changing diapers and worrying about keeping food on the table. But he's never regretted his decision. Bella is the light of his life. The reason behind every move he makes. And so far, she is fed. Cared for. Safe. But when Travis loses his construction job and his home, the security he's worked so hard to create for Bella begins to crumble....
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A must-read tear jerker!
- By Wayne on 12-01-15
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Not So Pure and Simple
- By: Lamar Giles
- Narrated by: Korey Jackson
- Length: 11 hrs
- Unabridged
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Del has had a crush on Kiera Westing since kindergarten. And now, during their junior year, she’s finally available. So when Kiera volunteers for an opportunity at their church, Del’s right behind her. Though he quickly realizes he’s inadvertently signed up for a Purity Pledge. His dad thinks his wires are crossed, and his best friend, Qwan, doesn’t believe any girl is worth the long game. But Del’s not about to lose his dream girl, and that’s where fellow pledger Jameer comes in.
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Whew!
- By nikoe oliver on 08-15-24
By: Lamar Giles
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Kissing Games of the World
- By: Sandi Kahn Shelton
- Narrated by: Myra Platt
- Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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What if the one person you can't bear to be with is also the one person you can't bear to be without? Jamie McClintock is a free-spirited artist and single mother who has at last found peace and freedom sharing a farmhouse with an elderly man and his young grandson. But when the old man dies suddenly her idyllic country life comes to a halt as the old man's estranged son, Nate, returns to claim the house and his child.
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Great Writer, Great Narrator ! Loved it!
- By Ms. Critic on 05-30-09
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When a Stranger Comes to Town
- By: Michael Koryta
- Narrated by: Cindy Kay, Janina Edwards, Fajer Al-Kaisi, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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It's been said that all great literature boils down to one of two stories—a man takes a journey, or a stranger comes to town. While mystery writers have been successfully using both approaches for generations, there's something undeniably alluring in the nature of a stranger: the uninvited guest, the unacquainted neighbor, the fish out of water. In the newest collection of stories by the Mystery Writers of America, each author weaves a fresh tale surrounding the eerie feeling that comes when a stranger enters our midst, featuring stories by prolific mystery writers.
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The narrators are outstanding here.
- By Jennifer Baratta She/Her on 05-16-21
By: Michael Koryta
What listeners say about The Smash-Up
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Carol Stein-Payne
- 04-07-21
Love this author
I read everything Ali Benjamin writes. Her work for young adults is wonderful. Go, Ali!
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- Barbara S
- 03-19-21
what happened????
So many emotions are drummed up in “The Smash-Up” by Ali Benjamin. Benjamin creates a story about a marriage that is on the ebb of a crisis. Ethan Frome (yes that’s his name) is a man in midlife who is living off his rapidly dwindling royalties from a media start-up. He is trying to figure out the next chapter of his life; what to do for work. His wife, Zenobia (Zo) is a has-been documentary film maker who is distracted by the “me-too” movement. This is the year 2018, when Brett Kavanaugh’s Senate Confirmation hearings is high drama after the Trump administration created a feminist backlash. Zo and her feminist friends form a resistance movement (All Them Witches) and hold meetings in Zo and Ethan’s home.
But the story really begins with “what happened?” We learn something bad happened, and we aren’t sure what it was, not how it started. But we know it has a political vibe. It begins with social unrest with a changing society and women not allowing men to subjugate them, and definitely with women being tired of sexual harassment.
So the story begins on a Tuesday before the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings. The resistance group is meeting at the Frome family home. Ethan and Zo have a hilarious and zany daughter, Alex, who is struggling in her 6th grade class at a progressive and liberal private school. Alex has ADHD, and no one has written a better characterization of a typical ADHD child as Benjamin. She writes Alex as annoyingly hyper, yet interesting and funny (if you can read about her and not LIVE with her). Benjamin shows how ADHD children possess a sweet and smart side, which is hard to notice when the child is talking non-stop, 24/7, in rapid staccato. Yet, reading what she says is hilarious. Her mind jumps faster than Mexican jumping beans.
To help with Alex, the Fromes hire a 26 year old woman to pick up the child rearing slack that is required when one has a super hyper child.
The story perfectly reflects our culture. Ethan’s former business partner is sketchy, and Ethan must come to terms with that. Zo is indignant, angry, and frustrated, to the point of distraction with our cultural gender issues. Ethan is worried about money and supporting his family while coming to terms with his former business partner. Poor Alex is treated horribly at her private school, and she’s so innocent she doesn’t even see it. Oh, and that school! Benjamin must have had some insider info on people who send their children to private school. It is so funny. There’s a bit surrounding “the emotion board” that is laugh out loud funny. In fact, more than half the novel left me giggling and snorting laughing. It’s all so real.
Benjamin is able to show both sides of highly charged issues, and she does it with a dollop of humor (some dollops are bigger than others). But she also shows the heart-wrenching sides. The adult characters are portrayed warts and all. The character Alex, hopefully, will open eyes to the beauty of those ADHD children. Nonetheless, this is a story that shows how deeply fractured our society has become. Benjamin needed the humor to keep the reader on board. Otherwise, this story is a dark tragedy.
The ending was a total surprise to me. It was a plot twist I didn’t see coming and had me shaken.
The only complaint I had was with a strange illicit mushroom trip that I thought was distracting and not really necessary. Other than that, I feel that this is a novel that illuminates our culture in crisis.
I listened to the audio and enjoyed the narrators.
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2 people found this helpful
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- LB
- 03-05-21
Felt like watching the news before 2020 election
I thought "Zo" was a caricature of a hysterical American woman with too much time on her hands, and "Ethan" was given all the grace by this author. He was the more deeply damaged person of the two and yet he got no repercussions for some really crappy behavior. I felt myself getting anxious all over again (as if watching the news before the recent change in leadership in DC) by the political undercurrents this author portrayed. I bought this book because of a great interview on NPR with the author but I was very disappointed.
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1 person found this helpful