The Thing about December
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Narrated by:
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Wayne Farrell
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By:
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Donal Ryan
About this listen
Donal Ryan's second novel, The Thing about December, was a finalist for Novel of the Year at the Irish Book Awards. Ryan's first novel, The Spinning Heart, is an international best-seller and winner of the prestigious Guardian First Book Award.
While the Celtic Tiger rages, and greed becomes the norm, Johnsey Cunliffe desperately tries to hold on to the familiar, even as he loses those who all his life have protected him from a harsh world. Following the deaths first of his father and then his mother, Johnsey inherits the family farm, and a healthy bank account, both of which he proves incapable of managing on his own. Village bullies and scheming land-grabbers stand in his way, no matter where he turns. Though companionship, and the promise of love, enter his life as a result of a hospital stay following a brutal beating, Johnsey remains a lonely man struggling to keep up with a world that moves faster than he does.
Set over the course of one year of Johnsey's life, The Thing about December breathes with Johnsey's bewilderment, humor, and agonizing self-doubt. Listeners will fall in love with Johnsey in a bittersweet tale that serves as a poignant reminder that we are surrounded in life by simple souls who are nonetheless more insightful and wise than we realize, or can even imagine. Told from Johnsey's point of view, The Thing about December is at once life affirming and heartbreaking.
©2013 Donal Ryan (P)2014 Steerforth Press LLCListeners also enjoyed...
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- Length: 16 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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How Green Was My Valley is Richard Llewellyn’s best-selling - and timeless - classic, as well as the basis of a beloved film. As Huw Morgan is about to leave home forever, he reminisces about the golden days of his youth when South Wales still prospered, when coal dust had not yet blackened the valley. Drawn simply and lovingly, with a crisp Welsh humor, Llewellyn’s characters fight, love, laugh, and cry, creating an indelible portrait of a people. Richard Llewellyn (1906–1983), a Welsh novelist, was born in Hendon, England, in the county of Middlesex.
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The rhythm of life... the pattern of words...
- By Jan on 04-16-13
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Some Kind of Fairy Tale
- A Novel
- By: Graham Joyce
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Twenty years ago, 16-year-old Tara Martin disappeared from a small town in the heart of England. Now, her sudden return and the mind-bending tale of where she’s been will challenge our very perception of the truth. For 20 years after Tara Martin disappeared, her parents and her brother, Peter, lived in denial of the grim fact that she was gone for good. Then suddenly on Christmas Day, the doorbell rings at her parents’ home, and there, dishevelled and slightly peculiar looking, Tara stands. It’s a miracle, but alarm bells are ringing for Peter. Tara’s story just does not add up.
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Extremely Well Done
- By Amanda on 07-11-12
By: Graham Joyce
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The Woman of the House
- By: Alice Taylor
- Narrated by: Aoife McMahon
- Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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An enchanting and nostalgic tale of Ireland in the 1950s by Ireland’s favourite writer, Alice Taylor. The Phelans have owned Mossgrove for generations. The small, rural Irish farm has been the pride of them all until Ned's wife, Martha, arrives and begins to undermine generations of hard work and happiness. She resents the deep history of the place and sets about making it her own, shutting out what is left of Ned's family. She is particularly jealous of Ned's sister, Kate, a local nurse and doting aunt to Martha's children.
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Brings you right there
- By Amazon Customer on 08-26-20
By: Alice Taylor
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A Fraction of the Whole
- By: Steve Toltz
- Narrated by: Colin McPhillamy, Craig Baldwin
- Length: 25 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Stewing in an Australian prison, Jasper Dean reflects on his relationship with his dead father and recounts the many zany adventures they shared together.
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A Funny and Thought-provoking Tale of Human Nature
- By Asha Ember on 01-27-10
By: Steve Toltz
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Mudbound
- By: Hillary Jordan
- Narrated by: Ezra Knight, Kate Forbes, Joseph Collins, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Hillary Jordan's mesmerizing debut novel won the Bellwether Prize for fiction. A powerful piece of Southern literature, Mudbound takes on prejudice in its myriad forms on a Mississippi Delta farm in 1946. City girl Laura McAllen attempts to raise her family despite questionable decisions made by her husband. Tensions continue to rise when her brother-in-law and the son of a family of sharecroppers both return from WWII as changed men bearing the scars of combat.
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May this South never rise again.
- By Betty on 03-25-12
By: Hillary Jordan
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The Brightest Star in the Sky
- A Novel
- By: Marian Keyes
- Narrated by: Caitriona Keyes
- Length: 17 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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The Brightest Star in the Sky follows seven neighbors whose lives become entangled when a sassy and prescient spirit pays a visit to their Dublin townhouse with the intent of changing at least one of their lives. But what will this metamorphosis be and who will the sprite choose?
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Terrible sound quality, worse narration
- By Jan on 02-23-10
By: Marian Keyes
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American Gods: The Tenth Anniversary Edition (A Full Cast Production)
- By: Neil Gaiman
- Narrated by: Ron McLarty, Daniel Oreskes, full cast
- Length: 19 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Locked behind bars for three years, Shadow did his time, quietly waiting for the day when he could return to Eagle Point, Indiana. A man no longer scared of what tomorrow might bring, all he wanted was to be with Laura, the wife he deeply loved, and start a new life. But just days before his release, Laura and Shadow's best friend are killed in an accident. With his life in pieces and nothing to keep him tethered, Shadow accepts a job from a beguiling stranger he meets on the way home, an enigmatic man who calls himself Mr. Wednesday.
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New to Neil
- By Michael on 07-27-11
By: Neil Gaiman
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Companion Piece
- A Novel
- By: Ali Smith
- Narrated by: Natalie Simpson
- Length: 4 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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With an eye for rendering the timely in a timeless way and enchanting audiences with lyrical prose and grace, Ali Smith's ambitious Seasonal Quartet—a series of four stand-alone novels, separate but interconnected—artfully guided us through #MeToo, Brexit, the refugee crisis, a global pandemic, and more. Now, Smith's highly anticipated Companion Piece looks to the future and builds upon this "time-sensitive project". This new novel stands apart from the Quartet, which remains discrete unto itself.
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She said she said she said
- By Cate on 05-29-22
By: Ali Smith
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Honor
- By: Elif Shafak
- Narrated by: Mozhan Marno, Piter Marik
- Length: 12 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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An honor killing shatters and transforms the lives of Turkish immigrants in 1970s London. Internationally best-selling Turkish author Elif Shafak’s new novel is a dramatic tale of families, love, and misunderstandings that follows the destinies of twin sisters born in a Kurdish village. While Jamila stays to become a midwife, Pembe follows her Turkish husband, Adem, to London, where they hope to make new lives for themselves and their children. In London, they face a choice: stay loyal to the old traditions or try their best to fit in.
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Complex but Compelling
- By Cariola on 04-14-13
By: Elif Shafak
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The Guards
- By: Ken Bruen
- Narrated by: Gerry O'Brien
- Length: 4 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Still stinging from his unceremonious ouster from the Garda Siochana, and staring at the world through the smoky bottom of his beer mug, Jack Taylor is stuck in Galway with nothing to look forward to. He is teetering on the brink of his life's sharpest edges, his memories of the past cutting deep into his soul and his prospects for the future non-existent.
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This is literature, not just crime fiction
- By John on 08-09-13
By: Ken Bruen
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The Book of Ebenezer le Page
- By: G. B. Edwards
- Narrated by: Roy Dotrice
- Length: 21 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Ebenezer Le Page, cantankerous, opinionated and charming, is one of the most compelling literary creations of the late 20th century. Eighty years old, Ebenezer has lived his whole life on the Channel Island of Guernsey, a stony speck of a place caught between England and France yet a world away from either. Ebenezer himself is fiercely independent, but as he reaches the end of his life he is determined to tell his own story and the story of those he has known.
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I miss Ebenezer
- By Mel on 01-15-18
By: G. B. Edwards
What listeners say about The Thing about December
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Jeff Lacy
- 02-08-18
The best contemporary writer
A poignant story about a memorable character, written with delicate, deliberate skill. Donal Ryan is the best writer going today.
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2 people found this helpful
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- trixie
- 11-06-14
The thing about December
Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?
There is a gentleness that pervades this book, the slow thoughtfulness of the main character. This book is. beautifully written, it sweeps you up into his world. I really enjoyed listening to this audiobook.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Teresa
- 12-06-14
Brillantly Bittersweet
The Thing About December was an absolute pleasure to listen to. It was engrossing and bittersweet and I had a hard time putting it down. It was a genuinely moving story told in ‘I think’ third person point of view by the protagonist Johnsey Cunliffe. This was brilliant writing by Donal Ryan. A work of art, the story felt poetic and almost prophetic. It does indeed give a person pause to think about the childlike innocence some people live with. How gentleness and simplicity are often mistaken for weakness. Johnsey was bullied and taken advantage of his whole life yet managed to remain without barriers or grudges.
He was lonely even while his parents were alive but they were his comfort, his safe place. When he was in the hospital after being beaten by the bullies and the townie and was temporarily blind, he was able to see things differently, realizing he was seeing with his mind rather than his eyes. I think he may have been simple and complex at the same time. I liked the part where he was reflecting about his mother and how she had said that being around a certain person was like a tonic. That the person was good for her. This was how the nurse Siobhan and his friend Mumbly Dave made him feel. They were his tonic.
His parents left him a wealthy man, but riches don’t live in the pocketbook. Richness lives in the heart. I was so happy when I heard him finally tell the old man who came to try to talk him into selling his family farm that he would have to check with his accountant. He finally stood up for himself. His reward was the newspaper reporter labeling him as greedy. This truly was a bittersweet story.
About the narrator: Wayne Farrell did an incredible job with this book. It was his touch, his voice that took an already great story straight over the top to perfection. The steady cadence of his voice really captured the character of Johnsey. His professionalism shone through in the poetic artistry of his performance. One of my favorite voice actors, Wayne Farrell raises the bar on this one. I definitely recommend listening to this audiobook.
Blog review at: SixthDimension Audiobook Reviews
http://sixthdimensionblog.wordpress.com/2014/12/06/the-thing-about-december/
I received this audiobook foc inx for an unbiased review.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Kebh
- 07-13-21
Well, that sucked
Incredible story with narrator giving the perfect voice to Johnsey. The beauty of a truthful viewpoint.
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- asassyvic
- 01-21-15
Inner Thoughts of a Mentally Challenged Man
The Narrator was really excellent. Helps the he is Irish so the accent is natural to him.
Overall story is about how bullies torment Johnsey and we hear his thoughts about what they say and do. His father challenges for him in all regards and his mother, slightly less kind to him is ameliorated by his fathers standing up for him. They protect him from the outside world as much as they can but don't prepare him to deal with life on his own once they have passed on.
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3 people found this helpful
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- CR-Berkeley
- 04-30-22
well written and narrated
While a sad story, it was well written and I'm a sucker for a narrator with an Irish accent telling the story of a an Irish character.
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