To Be Sung Underwater
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Susan Boyce
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By:
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Tom McNeal
About this listen
Judith Whitman always believed in the kind of love that "picks you up in Akron and sets you down in Rio." Long ago, she once experienced that love. Willy Blunt was a carpenter with a dry wit and a steadfast sense of honor. Marrying him seemed like a natural thing to promise. But Willy Blunt was not a person you could pick up in Nebraska and transport to Stanford. When Judith left home, she didn't look back.
Twenty years later, Judith's marriage is hazy with secrets. In her hand is what may be the phone number for the man who believed she meant it when she said she loved him. If she called, what would he say?
To Be Sung Underwater is the epic love story of a woman trying to remember, and the man who could not even begin to forget.
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Critic reviews
"To Be Sung Underwater is such an immensely readable novel. McNeal has the enviable talent of making splendid writing look easy at no cost to the complexity and the beauties of what fascinates him (and me) - the terrain occupied by women and men in love with each other. This is a wonderful book." (Richard Ford)
"In this thoughtful and compelling look at the road not taken, McNeal calls up the landscape of the Great Plains as a place where it's possible to see that it's the simple things--a secluded swimming hole, a cold beer, the laughter of the person you love--that are the most valuable." (Booklist)
"Beautifully written.... a compelling story, uniting the literary, character-driven novel with what eventually becomes quite a page turner....This novel will make for great book-club discussions." (Sarah Willis, The Cleveland Plain-Dealer)
"Smart, sexy, gorgeous, and at times devastatingly sad - these words describe the woman at the heart of this wonderful novel almost as well as they do the book itself. This ravishing love story will envelop you for a few days and then linger for a long time thereafter." (Ann Packer, author of Swim Back to Me and The Dive from Clausen's Pier)
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Story
Anders is an angry, cynical man. A book critic known for his scathing reviews, he finds any excuse to dismiss, belittle, or insult. This afternoon is no more agitating than the next. Angers finds himself in a long line at the bank, waiting to reach a teller. Even after two men - wearing masks and carrying guns - take control of the building, Anders is unfazed. It's this behavior that lands him with a pistol against his stomach and a man screamingin his face. And when the bank robber, indignant over Anders' behavior, shoots the book critic in the head, his mind floats through the memories of his life, settling on one particular event....
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The Perfect Example
- By Sarah on 08-01-17
By: Tobias Wolff
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Shadow Show
- All-New Stories in Celebration of Ray Bradbury
- By: Sam Weller - editor, Mort Castle - editor
- Narrated by: George Takei, Edward Herrmann, Kate Mulgrew, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Ray Bradbury - peerless storyteller, poet of the impossible, and one of America's most beloved authors - is a literary giant whose remarkable career spanned seven decades. Now 26 of today's most diverse and celebrated authors offer new short works in honor of the master; stories of heart, intelligence, and dark wonder from a remarkable range of creative artists.
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THE MAN WHO FORGOT RAY BRADBURY
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 05-27-17
By: Sam Weller - editor, and others
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The Visiting Privilege
- New and Collected Stories
- By: Joy Williams
- Narrated by: Richard Powers, Emily Woo Zeller, Elisabeth Rodgers, and others
- Length: 20 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Joy Williams has been celebrated as a master of the short story for four decades, her renown passing from one generation to the next even in the shifting landscape of contemporary writing. And at long last the incredible scope of her singular achievement is put on display: 33 stories drawn from three much-lauded collections and another 13 appearing here for the first time in book form.
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I sure tried.
- By A.C. CALLOWAY on 01-28-24
By: Joy Williams
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Lost Lake
- By: Sarah Addison Allen
- Narrated by: Janet Metzger
- Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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The first time Eby Pim saw Lost Lake, it was on a picture postcard. Just an old photo and a few words on a small square of heavy stock, but when she saw it, she knew she was seeing her future. That was half a lifetime ago. Now Lost Lake is about to slip into Eby’s past. Her husband, George, is long passed. Most of her demanding extended family are gone.
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Pure Sarah Addison Allen
- By tooonce72 on 01-27-14
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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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Strong Motion
- By: Jonathan Franzen
- Narrated by: Scott Aiello
- Length: 20 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Louis Holland arrives in Boston in a spring of ecological upheaval (a rash of earthquakes on the North Shore) and odd luck: the first one kills his grandmother. Louis tries to maintain his independence, but falls in love with a Harvard seismologist whose discoveries about the earthquakes' cause complicate everything.
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Compelling Story, Ridiculous Narrator
- By DianeReads on 02-28-16
By: Jonathan Franzen
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To See the Moon Again
- By: Jamie Langston Turner
- Narrated by: Eva Kaminsky
- Length: 13 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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The first step to letting go of the past is forgiving it …Every day of her life Julia Rich lives with the memory of a horrible accident she caused long ago. In the years since, she has tried to hide her guilt in the quiet routine of teaching at a small South Carolina college, avoiding close relationships with family and would-be friends. But one day a phone call from Carmen, a niece she has never met, disrupts her carefully controlled world.
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Beautiful Story of Forgiveness and Selfless Love
- By sharon on 09-20-14
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The Art of Crash Landing
- A Novel
- By: Melissa DeCarlo
- Narrated by: Johanna Parker
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Mattie Wallace has really screwed up this time. Broke and knocked up, she's got all her worldly possessions crammed into six giant trash bags and nowhere to go. Try as she might, Mattie can no longer deny that she really is turning into her mother, a broken alcoholic who never met a bad choice she didn't make. When Mattie gets news of a possible inheritance left by a grandmother she's never met, she jumps at this one last chance to turn things around.
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Unlikable character
- By RueRue on 09-18-15
By: Melissa DeCarlo
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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
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Love Walked In
- By: Marisa de los Santos
- Narrated by: Jennifer Ikeda
- Length: 11 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Award-winning poet Marisa de los Santos crafts an irresistibly touching debut novel. Love Walked In is a contemporary tale, steeped in nostalgic, cinematic charm, of love in all its forms. Unapologetically idealistic about love, Cornelia Brown appears to catch the break of a lifetime when the dashing Martin Grace, her own personal Cary Grant, comes strolling into her life. But it is Martin's connection to 11-year-old Clare Hobbes that touches Cornelia's heart in ways she never imagined.
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Dreadful audio quality
- By Marenghi on 09-16-11
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The UnAmericans
- Stories
- By: Molly Antopol
- Narrated by: Jennifer Van Dyck
- Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Again and again, Molly Antopol’s deeply sympathetic characters struggle for footing in an uncertain world, hounded by forces beyond their control. Their voices are intimate and powerful and they resonate with searing beauty. Antopol is a superb young talent, and The UnAmericans will long be remembered for its wit, humanity, and heart.
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Sensational stories! Brilliant new author.
- By MidwestGeek on 05-04-14
By: Molly Antopol
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Finding the Grain
- By: Wynn Malone
- Narrated by: Amber Benson
- Length: 14 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Kentucky was only ever going to be a summer job. Come fall, Blue Riley would be back in North Carolina, in college. But one job led to another, one town led to another, and one woman led to another. Now, after twenty years Blue faces the hardest question of all - is it time to go home?
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The Passage of Time feels undefined.
- By Delennish on 01-29-15
By: Wynn Malone
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Keeper of the Light
- Keeper Trilogy, Book 1
- By: Diane Chamberlain
- Narrated by: Arielle DeLisle
- Length: 14 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Dr. Olivia Simon is on duty in the emergency room of North Carolina's Outer Banks Hospital when a gunshot victim is brought in. Midway through the desperate effort to save the young woman's life, Olivia realizes who she is - Annie O'Neill, the woman Olivia's husband, Paul, is in love with.
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I can't finish this...
- By Calmeridian Tink on 03-31-16
What listeners say about To Be Sung Underwater
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- mary
- 06-21-11
Very Good
This was one of the best books I have read in a very long time. It touched my heart.
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2 people found this helpful
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- js33
- 07-08-12
On the Water
Did not want to stop listening. It is a great book with depth of feeling.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Pamela Harvey
- 07-14-12
Can you go back again? And why would you want to?
This book seems intent on perpetuating the myth of specialness. When we first "fall in love" - in quotes because I don't think of such a state as real in any emotional sense - we think this one person will fix all the holes and complete all the unfinished sentences in our souls. I don't happen to share that opinion of first love, and consider it, and all attractions that could possibly follow, to be just another drug, evolution's method of perpetuating the species.
Perhaps I'm too jaded and have outgrown all this stuff and so I have little interest in finding that one special person from my past. It doesn't appeal to me and I don't sigh in support and envy. I don't think one person is ever going to be all that, although certain hookups can and do prove to be advantageous from a child-rearing or economic point of view.
I liked the story, though, even with its antiquated writing style and narration which I'll label "Jane Austen With Cell Phone", and the one thing that spoke to me throughout the book was the creation of a faux persona, the modern iteration of the treehouse, and when you see you've clearly strayed from any sort of productive or meaningful path and have no other resources than your own imagination, you do a "do-over".
This novel does happen to be beautifully written and flows seemingly effortlessly, even though the plot lines ignore the protagonist's ties to reality. However, I just don't get how a person can just walk out of her life. Anne Tyler presented this topic in one of her books and was more successfully believable about it, as the main character walks into town and just keeps on walking.
I also did not relate to the retreat to Nebraska from Vermont. I am a reader who thinks of many interior locations in the continent to be "fly-over" states - shame on me, I know, but I am owning up to my elitist perspective and i am working on it. I do empathize that the abortive departure of the father was due to job circumstances, but how he came to embrace a life as different from the one he left (would have been easier to move to France, or Italy, culturally speaking) was a story arc that I felt needed more exploration.
On balance, this was an entertaining and enlightening read, in spite of its casting away of practical detail, and, having tried and failed at the same kind of culture shock that Judith and her father successfully achieved, I was hooked from the beginning and like many, hated that it had to end. Maybe a sequel can turn up somewhere. Either by this author or by someone else.
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14 people found this helpful
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- Pauline C. Mac Kay
- 06-30-11
Nostalgic
This was the kind of book that I prolonged finishing listening to the ending as I did not want
it to end. It is beautifuly written. The characters were so well developed that I felt I must
know them from someplace.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Adrienne
- 04-02-12
An entrancing story
If you could sum up To Be Sung Underwater in three words, what would they be?
thought provoking story
What did you like best about this story?
The dialogue and character development.
What about Susan Boyce’s performance did you like?
She gave the characters life without stretching to voices out of her range. She let the story be the important thing, not her performance.
If you could rename To Be Sung Underwater, what would you call it?
Its perfect the way it is.
Any additional comments?
This might be more of a woman's book, I'm not sure my husband would enjoy it, but I think most of my women friends and book club groups would appreciate it. There is a lot to think about or discuss in the story. I plan to purchase copies for friends. I hope this author will write another book again soon.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Julie
- 08-06-12
Gorgeous story that pumped my heart!
Would you consider the audio edition of To Be Sung Underwater to be better than the print version?
I only listened to this story which provoked every emotion and extra miles in the car. I could not stop listening as every chapter unfolded with surprise, joy and sadness.
What does Susan Boyce bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
The narrator's voice allowed me a clear vision of the characters. She did not just read McNeal's descriptions, but developed a picture for me.
If you could take any character from To Be Sung Underwater out to dinner, who would it be and why?
I cannot identify anything wrong with the narrator's performance. She was soft and equally firm depending upon the character and situation.
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- Anonymous User
- 11-05-11
Lovely
This book read like poetry. A heartbreakingly beautiful story. I liked it so much I have purchased the paper back to give as gifts.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Helen
- 12-18-12
Meh
Would you try another book from Tom McNeal and/or Susan Boyce?
The romance was too smooth, the performance was too staccato, I wanted to like it but didn't. It would serve well for those who like Bridges of Madison County or any Sparks book.
You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?
The author was good at pulling you in.
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1 person found this helpful