The Whole World Over
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Narrated by:
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Ann Marie Lee
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By:
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Julia Glass
About this listen
It is at Walter's restaurant that the visiting governor of New Mexico tastes Greenie's coconut cake and decides to woo her away from the city to be his chef. For reasons both ambitious and desperate, she accepts, and finds herself heading west without her husband. This impulsive decision will change the course of several lives within and beyond Greenie's orbit. Alan, alone in New York, must face down his demons; Walter, eager for platonic distraction, takes in his teenage nephew. Yet Walter cannot steer clear of love trouble, and despite his enforced solitude, Alan is still surrounded by women: his powerful sister; an old flame; and an animal lover named Saga, who grapples with demons all her own. As for Greenie, living in the shadow of a charismatic politician leads to a series of unforeseen consequences that separate her from her only child. We watch as folly, chance, and determination pull all these lives together and apart over a year that culminates in the fall of the twin towers at the World Trade Center, an event that will affirm or confound the choices each character has made, or has refused to face.
Julia Glass is at her best here, weaving a glorious tapestry of lives and lifetimes, of places and people, revealing the subtle mechanisms behind our most important, and often most fragile, connections to others. In The Whole World Over she has given us another tale that pays tribute to the extraordinary complexities of love.
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Critic reviews
"Glass brings the same assured narrative drive and engaging prose to this exploration of the quest for love and its tests: absence, doubt, infidelity, guilt, and loss." (Publishers Weekly)
"Glass deftly explor[es] the sacrifices, compromises, and leaps of faith that accompany love." (Booklist)
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- By: Nancy Thayer
- Narrated by: Sarah Mollo-Christensen
- Length: 12 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Abbie Fox hasn’t seen her father or two younger sisters in almost two years, during which she’s jetted around the world and experienced life, if not love. But now Lily, the baby of the family, is sending Abbie urgent emails begging her to return home to Nantucket. Their middle sister, Emma, has taken to her bed, emotionally devastated after the loss of her high-powered stockbroker’s job and a shockingly unexpected break-up with her fiancé.
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Insufferable behavior
- By Sonseenahray on 05-08-24
By: Nancy Thayer
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Coming Home
- Chesapeake Diaries Series #1
- By: Mariah Stewart
- Narrated by: Xe Sands
- Length: 8 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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In the wake of his wife's murder, agent Grady Shields turned his back on the FBI - and everything else-to retreat into the vast solitude of Montana, grieve for his lost love, and forget the world. But after years in seclusion, his sister's wedding draws him to St. Dennis, a peaceful town on the Chesapeake Bay. Though he swears he isn't interested in finding love again, Grady can't ignore the mutual sparks that fly when he meets Vanessa Keaton.
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Graet New Series from Audible
- By casey on 08-25-12
By: Mariah Stewart
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Tapestry of Fortunes
- By: Elizabeth Berg
- Narrated by: Barbara Caruso
- Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Cecilia Ross is looking for a change. She has decided to take time off from her job as a successful motivational speaker and sell her home. She moves in to a beautiful old house in St. Paul, Minnesota, complete with a big front porch, a wild garden, a chef's kitchen - and three roommates. The four women are different ages, but all are feeling restless, and want to take a roadtrip to find the people and things they miss.
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Mellow story
- By Amazon Customer on 04-24-17
By: Elizabeth Berg
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Isle of Palms
- A Lowcountry Tale, Book 3
- By: Dorothea Benton Frank
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 18 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Dorothea Benton Frank is a treasure of American letters with numerous New York Times best-sellers to her credit and a portfolio full of critical acclaim. “Mixing high drama and high jinks” ( Booklist), her third Lowcountry novel follows the fortunes of the dysfunctional Abbot family. Looking to set her life aright, Anna Lutz Abbot returns to her South Carolina lowcountry hometown. And as she attempts to right past wrongs, Anna receives help and support from a quirky cast of lovable locals sure to endear themselves to listeners.
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A feel good story
- By Sheryl on 02-04-13
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The Story of Arthur Truluv
- A Novel
- By: Elizabeth Berg
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Berg
- Length: 6 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Three people find their way back from loss and loneliness to a different kind of belonging in this deeply moving novel. Arthur, an old widower struggling to overcome his grief, meets Maddy, a troubled teenage girl who avoids school by hiding out where Arthur goes every day for lunch. The two strike up a friendship that draws them out of isolation.
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Sickly Sweet
- By Amazon Customer on 01-19-18
By: Elizabeth Berg
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Garden Spells
- By: Sarah Addison Allen
- Narrated by: Susan Ericksen
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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The Waverleys have always been a curious family, endowed with peculiar gifts that make them outsiders even in their hometown of Bascom, North Carolina. Even their garden has a reputation, famous for its feisty apple tree that bears prophetic fruit, and its edible flowers, imbued with special powers.
Generations of Waverleys tended this garden. Their history was in the soil. But so were their futures.
Together again in the house they grew up in, the Waverley sisters realize they must deal with their common legacy - if they are ever to feel at home in Bascom - or with each other.
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I so want to give it 5 stars...!!!!
- By Joihelene on 10-09-10
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The Island House
- A Novel
- By: Nancy Thayer
- Narrated by: Emily Sutton-Smith
- Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Every summer since college, twenty-nine-year-old Jenny has traded the familiarity of the Midwest for the allure of Nantucket. Now an established university professor in Kansas City, she finds herself caught between two lifestyles and two very different men. She chooses Nantucket and the glamorous life she associates with it, unaware that the summer will take an unexpected turn, and she will have to let her heart decide what it truly wants.
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I love Nancy Thayer's style of writing
- By L.W. on 07-31-16
By: Nancy Thayer
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One True Thing
- By: Anna Quindlen
- Narrated by: Christina Moore
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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A young woman sits in jail, accused of the mercy killing of her dying mother. She didn't do it, but she thinks she knows who did. In the last months of her life, Ellen Gulden's mother revealed startling secrets that challenged everything Ellen believed about her family. Now, in jail, Ellen believes those secrets will tell her who had the courage to end her mother's suffering.
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Quindlen's writing skills shine in One True Thing.
- By Bonny on 08-26-13
By: Anna Quindlen
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Here on Earth
- By: Alice Hoffman
- Narrated by: Susan Ericksen
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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March Murray, along with her 15-year-old daughter, Gwen, returns to the small Massachusetts town where she grew up to attend the funeral of Judith Dale, the beloved housekeeper who raised her. After nearly 20 years of living in California, March is thrust into the world of her past.
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The magical realm of Alice Hoffman
- By Brendolynne on 07-09-12
By: Alice Hoffman
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My True Love Gave to Me
- Twelve Holiday Stories
- By: Stephanie Perkins - editor
- Narrated by: Various
- Length: 12 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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You're going to fall in love with My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories by twelve bestselling young adult writers, edited by the international bestselling Stephanie Perkins. Whether you celebrate Christmas or Hanukkah, Winter Solstice or Kwanzaa, there's something here for everyone. So curl up by the fireplace and get cozy. You have twelve reasons this season to stay indoors and fall in love.
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Nice Holiday Read
- By Doha on 11-23-16
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Coyote Dream
- By: Jessica Davis Stein
- Narrated by: Julie Dretzin
- Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Sarah Friedman journeys to the Southwest to buy art for her family's New York gallery. Determined to put aside personal disappointments, she seeks new perspectives in the serenity of the desert landscape. Then her car breaks down on a Navajo reservation near the home of an aloof artist. And soon she will have to choose between love and duty, commitment and freedom - and learn to fight for what matters most.
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GREAT
- By Texasrodie on 06-20-10
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After the Parade
- By: Lori Ostlund
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 12 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Sensitive, big-hearted, and achingly self-conscious, 40-year-old Aaron Englund long ago escaped the confines of his Midwestern hometown, but he still feels like an outcast. After 20 years under the Pygmalion-like direction of his older partner, Walter, Aaron at last decides it is time to stop letting life happen to him and to take control of his own fate.
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Narrator
- By Barbara on 11-10-24
By: Lori Ostlund
What listeners say about The Whole World Over
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Kindle Customer
- 06-12-06
Pleasantly Engrossing
I enjoyed both the narrator and the story of Julia Glass's first novel, The Three Junes. This one was narrated by a woman, instead of a man and my only criticism of the book is of her voice when doing the child, George, (whom I grew to dislike intensely and would predict that if he were a real, not a fictional character, he would grow up to be an eco-terrorist) grated on my nerves. Aside from the brat, the book is an engaging and wonderful 22 hours long.
I was delighted to find Fenno McCloud appearing in this book, as he was the main character in The Three Junes. I also liked the author's handling of the gay characters as real human beings, capable of grown up love, and not some limp-wristed parodies of themselves.
Were I not gluten intolerant I would sure love eating the wonderful cakes baked by the main character, Greenie, as she wins a coveted position as chef to the governor of New Mexico. I enjoyed the descriptions of the food items as well as the beauty of New Mexico. I liked her handling of 9/11 and the crazyness of that scene and what a profound effect, both direct and indirect, that it had on so many lives.
I am awaiting the next novel in hopes that Fern, who was a character in The Three Junes, will appear as did Fenno McCloud in this one.
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6 people found this helpful
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
- JillHen
- 09-08-13
Good, not excellent
I bought this because it was long. I kept listening because it was good. Not great, but very good. Good enough to keep listening, not great enough to keep listening thru the smallest distraction. I'd call this a cozy story, with familiar characters and pleasant settings. Transports you to the West Village effectively. Doesn't thrill nor disappoint.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Mark
- 04-23-08
Loved the book, disliked the narration
While the temporal and geographic shifts, along with the sheer number of characters, made this novel more difficult to follow than Glass' Three Junes, it had a similar sweet, lyrical feeling, perhaps mixed with a bit of Anne Tyleresque oddity. I found myself caring about all the characters immensely, even when I didn't agree with their choices.
However, I must say that I agree with other reviewers' reaction to the narration. I found it distracting and just irritating. The voices for Greeny (too Romper Room, as another reviewer pointed out), George (if this were my child...), and, especially Walter (as a gay man, I found this voice actually offensive, which I've never encountered before) were particularly bothersome, but the entire narrative style detracted from the book.
You might be better off reading this book yourself. I give the book itself 5 stars, but took off one for the narration.
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall
- krinreno
- 11-05-06
Loved it...But
Ms Glass' characters and scenes are as lively and engaging, as I've come to expect. I cared about them from first acquaintance and looked forward to each new "page". The diversity of living and loving arrangements was elucidating and fun.
But, just a word of forewarning for Audible listeners...there are LOTS of characters and locations whose lives and times interact and intertwine. This, coupled with the writing scheme that changes narrator/character and "time" frequently, can make it just a bit hard to follow while listening. Plan to back up a fair amount, or some might simply prefer to do this lovely book as a read rather than a listen.
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10 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Scott
- 06-28-06
Relationships are everything
The title of my review is truly the theme of "The Whole World Over" in which Ms. Glass weaves the intersecting relationships of many people. The characters are rich and fully thought out. You have to keep listening because you can't help wondering who will end up with who? Like life every character is loveable in many ways and loathesome in a few. Family relationships are dead on. This is not a book for prudes because all are represented, gay, straight, young, older, and even one handicapped, in an evenhanded and joyous manner. The narrator has the perfect soft tone to sound out all the love which is at the center of the theme of this wonderful book.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall
- David
- 08-30-08
Guys, avoid this
Nothing happens (of interest). As awful as it is to say but 9/11 was the only chance that the characters might display their core humanity when confronted by a real shock to their beliefs and sense of safety. They are just the same as before.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Coriander
- 07-25-06
disappointed
I was looking forward to this one; I read Three Junes (as a book-book, not an audiobook) and really liked it. But this narrator drove me crazy! She seemed to want to make every word seem special and wondrous, with this enthusiastic intonation that would have fit right in on Romper Room but got very tiresome for me after a few hours of listening. Her Scottish accent was very peculiar, and I *cringed* every time she spoke in the voice of Walter, the main gay character. Over all, I think the book itself wasn't as good as Three Junes either, but it was hard for me to tell for sure given how annoying I found the delivery.
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10 people found this helpful