Under the Influence
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Joyce Maynard
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By:
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Joyce Maynard
About this listen
The New York Times best-selling author of Labor Day and After Her returns with a poignant story about the true meaning - and the true price - of friendship.
Drinking cost Helen her marriage and custody of her seven-year-old son, Ollie. Once an aspiring art photographer, she now makes ends meet by taking portraits of schoolchildren and working for a caterer. Recovering from her addiction, she spends lonely evenings checking out profiles on an online dating site. Weekend visits with her son are awkward. He's drifting away from her fast.
When she meets Ava and Swift Havilland, the vulnerable Helen is instantly enchanted. Wealthy, connected philanthropists, they have their own charity devoted to rescuing dogs. Their home is filled with fabulous friends, edgy art, and dazzling parties.
Then Helen meets Elliott, a kind, quiet accountant who offers loyalty and love with none of her newfound friends' fireworks. To Swift and Ava, he's boring. But even worse than that, he's unimpressed by them.
As Helen increasingly falls under the Havillands' influence - running errands, doing random chores, questioning her relationship with Elliott - Ava and Swift hold out the most seductive gift: their influence and help to regain custody of her son. But the debt Helen owes them is about to come due.
Ollie witnesses an accident involving Swift, his grown son, and the daughter of the Havillands' housekeeper. With her young son's future in the balance, Helen must choose between the truth and the friends who have given her everything.
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With unparalleled honesty, Dyan Cannon shares the heartwarming and heartbreaking story of her magical romance and stormy marriage to screen legend Cary Grant.He was the ultimate star, defining Hollywood glamour as well as cinematic achievement. She was a bright new actress, beautiful and funny, who would one day prove her talent by being the first woman to receive Academy Award nominations for her work on-screen and behind the camera. When he asked to meet Dyan, she assumed it was for an acting part, but he had a different role in mind for her....
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A Wasted 10 Hours
- By NANCAN on 10-19-12
By: Dyan Cannon
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Mother Daughter Me
- A Memoir
- By: Katie Hafner
- Narrated by: Katie Hafner
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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The complex, deeply binding relationship between mothers and daughters is brought vividly to life in Katie Hafner's remarkable memoir, an exploration of the year she and her mother, Helen, spent working through, and triumphing over, a lifetime of unresolved emotions. Dreaming of a "year in Provence" with her mother, Katie urges Helen to move to San Francisco to live with her and Zoe, Katie's teenage daughter. Katie and Zoe had become a mother-daughter team, strong enough, Katie thought, to absorb the arrival of a 77-year-old woman set in her ways....
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Listen and be swept away!
- By Barbara Quick on 06-02-22
By: Katie Hafner
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My Inappropriate Life
- Some Material Not Suitable for Small Children, Nuns, or Mature Adults
- By: Heather McDonald
- Narrated by: Heather McDonald
- Length: 5 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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In her hilarious New York Times best seller You’ll Never Blue Ball in This Town Again, Heather McDonald recounted her adventures as an unwilling virgin in Hollywood. Now happily married with three wonderful kids, she shows that life as a grown-up - even a pretend grown-up - has its challenges. Heather’s a working mom with parents who live next door, a sister who keeps asking for one of her still-fertile eggs, and friends who are up to more hijinks than even Heather can handle.
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Irritating
- By TrishS on 04-23-13
By: Heather McDonald
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This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Ann Patchett
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Blending literature and memoir, Ann Patchett, author of State of Wonder and Bel Canto examines her deepest commitments: to writing, family, friends, dogs, books, and her husband in This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage. Together, these essays, previously published in The Atlantic, Harper, Vogue, and The Washington Post, form a resonant portrait of a life lived with loyalty and with love.
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Entertaining, engrossing, and elucidative essays
- By Bonny on 01-07-14
By: Ann Patchett
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The Unspeakable
- And Other Subjects of Discussion
- By: Meghan Daum
- Narrated by: Meghan Daum
- Length: 6 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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It's a report tempered by hard times. In "Matricide", Daum unflinchingly describes a parent's death and the uncomfortable emotions it provokes; and in "Diary of a Coma" she relates her own journey to the twilight of the mind. But Daum also operates in a comic register. With perfect precision, she reveals the absurdities of the marriage-industrial complex, of the New Age dating market, and of the peculiar habits of the young and digital.
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Complaining about her dead mom.
- By Erik Hermansen on 11-23-14
By: Meghan Daum
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May We Be Forgiven
- By: A. M. Homes
- Narrated by: Andy Paris
- Length: 20 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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May We Be Forgiven, a darkly comic novel of 21st-century domestic life, stars Harold Silver, a historian who's always been jealous of his successful brother, George. But when the hot-tempered George is institutionalized for committing a violent act, Harold finds himself comforting his brother's wife and children. What follows is a scathing examination of a family so fractured it may never be whole again.
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Give this one a try!
- By JWB on 02-13-13
By: A. M. Homes
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God-Shaped Hole
- A Novel
- By: Tiffanie DeBartolo
- Narrated by: Rachael Warren
- Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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When Beatrice Trixie Jordan replies to a personal ad, she meets Jacob Grace, a charming, effervescent 30-something free-spirit writer passionately seeking life. He possesses his own turns of phrase and ways of thinking and feeling that dissonantly harmonize with Trixie's off-center vision. As they rollercoaster through the joys and furies of their wrenching romance, they try to come to terms with the hurt brought about by both of their distant fathers who, in different ways, forsook them.
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To see a fortune teller or not to see one...
- By Renee on 08-08-18
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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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Overall
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Performance
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Story
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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Saints for All Occasions
- A Novel
- By: J. Courtney Sullivan
- Narrated by: Susan Denaker
- Length: 15 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Story
Nora and Theresa Flynn are 21 and 17 when they leave their small village in Ireland and journey to America. Nora is the responsible sister; she's shy and serious and engaged to a man she isn't sure that she loves. Theresa is gregarious; she is thrilled by their new life in Boston and besotted with the fashionable dresses and dance halls on Dudley Street. But when Theresa ends up pregnant, Nora is forced to come up with a plan - a decision with repercussions they are both far too young to understand.
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The narration ruined it
- By Janis Reynolds on 06-12-17
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She Regrets Nothing
- A Novel
- By: Andrea Dunlop
- Narrated by: Rachel Dulude
- Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
When Laila Lawrence becomes an orphan at 23, the sudden loss unexpectedly introduces her to three glamorous cousins from New York who show up unannounced at her mother's funeral. The three siblings are scions of the wealthy family from which Laila's father had been estranged long before his own untimely demise 10 years before. Two years later, Laila has left behind her quiet life in Grosse Point, Michigan to move to New York City, landing her smack in the middle of her cousins' decadent world.
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Good Listen
- By Vallena on 02-19-18
By: Andrea Dunlop
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Get Lucky
- By: Katherine Center
- Narrated by: Morgan Hallett
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Filled with wit and heart, Get Lucky by Katherine Center explores the deep bonds of sisterhood. Sarah Harper’s whole world revolved around her job at a New York advertising agency before an email snafu got her fired. Now she’s seeking refuge at her sister Mackie’s home in Houston. But Mackie, who’s unable to get pregnant, is also down-and-out these days. So Sarah decides to do something good and becomes a surrogate mother.
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Finding what matters most in life
- By bizymom7 on 10-12-24
By: Katherine Center
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On Turpentine Lane
- A Novel
- By: Elinor Lipman
- Narrated by: Mia Barron
- Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
At 32, Faith Frankel has returned to her claustro-suburban hometown, where she writes institutional thank-you notes for her alma mater. It's a peaceful life, really, and surely with her recent purchase of a sweet bungalow on Turpentine Lane, her life is finally on track. Never mind that her fiancé is off on a crowdfunded cross-country walk, too busy to return her texts (but not too busy to post photos of himself with a different woman in every state).
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A little slow...
- By Mary on 06-15-17
By: Elinor Lipman
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Loved this book!
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Endearing and Heartbreaking Sister Bond
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In 2011, when she was in her late 50s, beloved author and journalist Joyce Maynard met the first true partner she had ever known. Jim wore a rakish hat over a good head of hair; he asked real questions and gave real answers; he loved to see Joyce shine, both in and out of the spotlight; and he didn't mind the mess she made in the kitchen. He was not the husband Joyce imagined, but he quickly became the partner she had always dreamed of. Then, just after their one-year wedding anniversary, her new husband was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
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I love Joyce Maynard- I'm a longtime fan
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Labor Day
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In a manner evoking Ian McEwan's Atonement and Nick Hornby's About a Boy, acclaimed author Joyce Maynard weaves a beautiful, poignant tale of love, sex, adolescence, and devastating treachery as seen through the eyes of a young teenage boy - and the man he later becomes - looking back at an unexpected encounter that begins one single, long, hot, life-altering weekend.
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Good story but anti clamatic
- By Nana on 11-25-13
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Count the Ways
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In her most ambitious novel to date, New York Times best-selling author Joyce Maynard returns to the themes that are the hallmarks of her most acclaimed work in a mesmerizing story of a family - from the hopeful early days of young marriage to parenthood, divorce, and the costly aftermath that ripples through all their lives
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AA Deeply Felt Story that Sometimes Goes Too Far Afield…
- By Molly on 07-18-21
By: Joyce Maynard
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How the Light Gets In
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Following the death of her former husband, Cam, fifty-four-year-old Eleanor has moved back to the New Hampshire farm where they raised three children to care for their brain-injured son, Toby, now an adult. Toby’s older brother, Al, is married and living in Seattle with his wife; their sister, Ursula, lives in Vermont with her husband and two children. Although all appears stable, old resentments, anger, and bitterness simmer just beneath the surface. How the Light Gets In follows Eleanor and her family through fifteen years (2010 to 2024).
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Touching but over-long and very sentimental
- By David H on 08-25-24
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The Good Daughters
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They were born on the same day, in the same small New Hampshire hospital, into families that could hardly have been less alike. Ruth Plank is an artist and a romantic with a rich, passionate, imaginative life. The last of five girls born to a gentle, caring farmer and his stolid wife, she yearns to soar beyond the confines of the land that has been her family's birthright for generations. Dana Dickerson is a scientist and realist whose faith is firmly planted in the natural world.
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Loved this book!
- By DIANE on 03-04-11
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After Her
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Performance
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Summer, 1979: A dry, hot Northern California school vacation stretches before Rachel and her younger sister, Patty - the daughters of a larger-than-life, irresistibly handsome (and chronically unfaithful) detective father and the mother whose heart he broke. When we first meet her, Patty is 11 - a gangly kid who loves basketball and dogs and would do anything for her older sister, Rachel.
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Endearing and Heartbreaking Sister Bond
- By tooonce72 on 09-21-13
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The Best of Us
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In 2011, when she was in her late 50s, beloved author and journalist Joyce Maynard met the first true partner she had ever known. Jim wore a rakish hat over a good head of hair; he asked real questions and gave real answers; he loved to see Joyce shine, both in and out of the spotlight; and he didn't mind the mess she made in the kitchen. He was not the husband Joyce imagined, but he quickly became the partner she had always dreamed of. Then, just after their one-year wedding anniversary, her new husband was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
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I love Joyce Maynard- I'm a longtime fan
- By Susie Q on 11-06-17
By: Joyce Maynard
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Labor Day
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In a manner evoking Ian McEwan's Atonement and Nick Hornby's About a Boy, acclaimed author Joyce Maynard weaves a beautiful, poignant tale of love, sex, adolescence, and devastating treachery as seen through the eyes of a young teenage boy - and the man he later becomes - looking back at an unexpected encounter that begins one single, long, hot, life-altering weekend.
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Good story but anti clamatic
- By Nana on 11-25-13
By: Joyce Maynard
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Count the Ways
- A Novel
- By: Joyce Maynard
- Narrated by: Joyce Maynard
- Length: 15 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In her most ambitious novel to date, New York Times best-selling author Joyce Maynard returns to the themes that are the hallmarks of her most acclaimed work in a mesmerizing story of a family - from the hopeful early days of young marriage to parenthood, divorce, and the costly aftermath that ripples through all their lives
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AA Deeply Felt Story that Sometimes Goes Too Far Afield…
- By Molly on 07-18-21
By: Joyce Maynard
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How the Light Gets In
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- Unabridged
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Touching but over-long and very sentimental
- By David H on 08-25-24
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At Home in the World
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In the spring of 1972, Joyce Maynard, a freshman at Yale, published a cover story in The New York Times Magazine about life in the sixties. Among the many letters of praise, offers for writing assignments, and request for interviews was a one-page letter from the famously reclusive author, J.D. Salinger. At Home in the World is the story of a girl who loved and lived with J.D. Salinger, and the woman she became. A crucial turning point in Joyce Maynard's life occurred when her own daughter turned eighteen--the age Maynard was when Salinger first approached her.
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Narration Distracted From Beautiful Writing
- By AMANDA on 04-18-16
By: Joyce Maynard
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The Usual Rules
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
It's a Tuesday morning in Brooklyn - a perfect September day. Wendy is heading to school, eager to make plans with her best friend, worried about how she looks, mad at her mother for not letting her visit her father in California. An hour later comes the news: A plane has crashed into the World Trade Center - her mother's office building. Through the eyes of Wendy, we gain entrance to the world rarely shown by those who documented the events of that one terrible day: a family's slow and terrible realization that Wendy's mother has died, and their struggle to go on with their lives.
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Narration ruined a good book
- By Susie Q on 05-17-23
By: Joyce Maynard
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The Bird Hotel
- A Novel
- By: Joyce Maynard
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- Length: 12 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
After a childhood filled with heartbreak, Irene, a talented artist, finds herself in a small Central American village where she checks into a beautiful but decaying lakefront hotel called La Llorona at the base of a volcano.
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Review of ‘The Bird Hotel’.
- By g. marks on 11-13-23
By: Joyce Maynard
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To Die For
- A Novel
- By: Joyce Maynard
- Narrated by: Michael Crouch, Piper Goodeve, Carly Robins, and others
- Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Local weather reporter Suzanne Maretto craves nothing more than to transcend life at her suburban cable television news station and follow in the footsteps of her idol: Barbara Walters. When she concludes that her unglamorous husband is getting in the way of her dream of stardom, the solution seems obvious: Get rid of him. She seduces a 15-year-old admirer, Jimmy, and persuades him to do her dirty work. Mission accomplished, Suzanne takes to the airwaves in her new role as grieving widow, in search of a TV deal. If that means selling Jimmy down the river, she’s ready.
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Great movie, even better book
- By RueRue on 12-19-23
By: Joyce Maynard
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Looking Back
- A Chronicle of Growing Up Old in the Sixties
- By: Joyce Maynard
- Narrated by: Joyce Maynard
- Length: 6 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Joyce Maynard was 18 years old when her 1972 New York Times Magazine cover story catapulted her to national prominence. Published one year later, Looking Back is her remarkable follow-up—part memoir, part cultural history, and part social critique. She wrote about diving under her desk for air-raid practice during the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Beatles’ first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, and catching the first glimpse (on the cover of Life magazine) of a human fetus in utero.
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The Story of My Life!
- By Sharlotte on 02-26-24
By: Joyce Maynard
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The Cloud Chamber
- By: Joyce Maynard
- Narrated by: Joel Johnstone
- Length: 5 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The minute the school bus carrying Nate Chance and his little sister, Junie, pulls up in front of his family's farmhouse, Nate can tell something's terribly wrong: Somehow his father has been wounded by a gunshot. Nate sees him stagger across the yard, then watches as the police take him away.
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good
- By Steven on 11-10-05
By: Joyce Maynard
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Internal Combustion
- The Story of a Marriage and a Murder in the Motor City
- By: Joyce Maynard
- Narrated by: Janey Ivey
- Length: 16 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
On Mother's Day night, 2004, award-winning fourth grade teacher Nancy Seaman left the Tudor home she shared with her husband of 32 years in the gated community of Farmington Hills, near Detroit, Michigan, and drove in a driving rain storm to Home Depot, to purchase a hatchet. Three days later, police discovered the mutilated body of Bob Seaman - a successful auto industry engineer, softball coach and passionate collector of vintage Mustangs - in the back of the family's Ford Explorer.
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Gripping account of a gruesome murder in an average middle class neighborhood
- By NRo on 10-30-24
By: Joyce Maynard
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The Influencer
- A Short Story
- By: Joyce Maynard
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber, Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 3 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Tammy Partridge and her boyfriend, Kevin, are on a photo-ready road trip across America in pursuit of influencer fame. Only a couple hundred followers so far, including Roxanne, a superfan of the beautiful young couple. But when Tammy’s body is discovered in the Utah wilderness, and Kevin is nowhere to be found, the picture-perfect adventure suddenly goes wrong—and viral, with three million followers and counting. Motives are questionable. Conspiracy theories cloud the dark corners of the internet. As everyone spins their own version of the truth, reality is getting harder to see.
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im litterly 3 min in and I'm irritated.
- By liz on 02-20-24
By: Joyce Maynard
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Under the Influence
- By: Noelle Crooks
- Narrated by: Midori Francis, Noelle Crooks
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
After a series of go-nowhere jobs in the New York publishing world, Harper Cruz is desperate for a salary that won’t leave her scrambling to make rent each month. So when she stumbles across a job posting from an influencer offering triple her last paycheck, she automatically submits her résumé.
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Super fun listen!
- By Sheryl A. on 12-09-23
By: Noelle Crooks
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Moral Injuries
- A Novel
- By: Christie Watson
- Narrated by: Miranda Raison
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Ruthlessly ambitious Olivia, anxious perfectionist Laura, and free-spirited risk-taker Anjali couldn’t be more different. Yet their friendship—which began the first day of medical school—has kept them inseparable these past twenty-five years. As wild all-nighters and exam pressure gave way to the struggles and joys of new motherhood and new jobs, their unbreakable bond helped them support each other through it all.
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Loads of character building
- By KC Chiefs Fan on 11-18-24
By: Christie Watson
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The Address
- A Novel
- By: Fiona Davis
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld, Brittany Pressley
- Length: 11 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
When a chance encounter with Theodore Camden, one of the architects of the grand New York apartment house the Dakota, leads to a job offer for Sara Smythe, her world is suddenly awash in possibility - no mean feat for a servant in 1884. The opportunity to move to America. The opportunity to be the female manager of the Dakota. And the opportunity to see more of Theo, who understands Sara like no one else...and is living in the Dakota with his wife and three young children.
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Should be a movie!
- By Linda Slater on 10-19-17
By: Fiona Davis
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The Magnolia Palace
- A Novel
- By: Fiona Davis
- Narrated by: Karissa Vacker
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Eight months since losing her mother in the Spanish flu outbreak of 1919, 21-year-old Lillian Carter's life has completely fallen apart. For the past six years, under the moniker Angelica, Lillian was one of the most sought-after artists' models in New York City, with statues based on her figure gracing landmarks from the Plaza Hotel to the Brooklyn Bridge
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This isn't my favorite but entertaining
- By Linda on 02-01-22
By: Fiona Davis
What listeners say about Under the Influence
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
- Sheila S
- 11-06-19
Engrossing contemporary tale
I enjoyed every page of this contemporary story about friendship and romance, and I always found it hard to stop listening. The storyline was intriguing, and the characters were well-developed. If you're looking for an intelligent tale about relationships today, this is it! Would love to have lunch with this author.
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Performance
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- Tami Pritchard
- 05-07-16
Wonderful author
I discovered this author by having interest in the premise of the main character, a recovering alcoholic. The characters struggles were relatable but I feel readers who are not in recovery will enjoy the book as much as I did. I'm ordering another Joyce( Maynard book today!
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Overall
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Performance
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- NRo
- 09-20-24
Too good to be fiction
Once again, Maynard hits it out of the park! This reads like a memoir and seems so true to life that I had to check and double check that it was in fact, a novel. It is a story about sincere friendship and the kind of friendship that only appears to be sincere. I loved it so much that I would like to see if these characters appear again in a future Maynard novel.
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
- GB
- 08-31-16
A talented writer becomes a pawn for the media
Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?
The story seems obligated to include the talking points of the liberal media.
Rich people must be bad and corrupt. Poor people are better. The best people
are the illegals who come from Central America.
If you’ve listened to books by Joyce Maynard before, how does this one compare?
I have read and enjoyed books by Joyce Maynard before, but never felt that she
had to suck up to the liberal media to have her book published.
Which character – as performed by Joyce Maynard – was your favorite?
Joyce Maynard did an excellent job of narrating her own novel.
Did Under the Influence inspire you to do anything?
I remember Maynard's essay in the New York Times Magazine section when she was in college. I will be very hesitant to read her other novels because it may be more propaganda from the liberal press.
Any additional comments?
Your novels would be much better when you don't have to push a liberal agenda.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall
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Performance
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- sharon
- 04-16-16
Excellent
First off - great storyteller and writer. The story has everything to keep your interest. Intrigue, romance and human unpredictability. Loved this book and will seek out others from this author.
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- Katpearl
- 03-23-16
Parents make mistakes, hers was a big one...
Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?
I liked this book but still had a few issues with it. It got really slow in places. I found myself wanting to skip to the end of a chapter just so that the story could actually move on to a different subject.
What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?
Most interesting was how Helen grew as a mother and as a person. She was so unsure of herself when she met Ava and Swift. By the time the "Lake Tahoe incident" was behind them, she was much stronger, sure of herself and was on the road to being an excellent mother. The least interesting would be too much detail. I know! How can a book have too much detail?! The more the better, right? For me in this book, it sometimes would drag on and on. I usually have favourite characters in a book. This one for me didn't really have any stand out awesome characters other than Estella, the Havilands maid. Scenes toward the end with her had me choked up. She was probably the one really good person in the book. Elliot was also a great person and I didn't have anything against him, he was just bland. Good-hearted but bland. My least favourite characters were Swift and his "I'm above the law and nothing can touch me" son, Cooper. He isn't in the book a whole lot, but he's a scoundrel.
Have you listened to any of Joyce Maynard’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
No but I've read To Die For.
Was Under the Influence worth the listening time?
I'd say yes.
Any additional comments?
Some of the characters (most of them actually) are extremely irritating. Helen is a good mother who made a really stupid mistake. She drove her 5 year son to the hospital after drinking a couple of bottles of wine. My first thought was, what an idiot, why not call an ambulance to get them both to the ER? It's not against the law for a single mom to have a few drinks after she's put her child to bed, but driving with them while drunk is. So I can understand why she got into trouble. That being said, her ex-husband, Dwight and his whole family, were the ex and ex in-laws from hell. Then there's Swift and Ava, her "saviours", they grated on my nerves from the very moment they were introduced. They were both condescending, overbearing and snobby. Add loud, obnoxious and no morality and you get Swift. These two definitely gave off the air that if you were in their presence, you were an extremely lucky person. When Helen met the Havilands, she thought her luck was changing! They took her under their wings and she finally felt like she had a real family. But we all know the saying "if something seems too good to be true, it probably is". Hmmm, this is where Helen got really irritating. It's one thing to make friends and have them offer help and guidance, but Helen completely lost what little personality and backbone she had. If the Havilands didn't like her clothes, she dressed like Ava wanted her to, she blew off plans with her one REAL friend (and lost her) because she was so busy sucking up to the Havilands, she lost the only man she'd ever truly loved because the Havilands deemed him (Elliot), not good enough for her. Anything they said went. Now let's talk about her son, Ollie. The kid was a brat. Many, many kids are the product of divorce but they don't act like Ollie did. Helen loved him. She was always so excited to see him but nothing she ever did was good enough for him. That is until she bribed Ollie to stay overnight with her by offering use of the Haviland's big house, pool and their other fun amenities. He only did so to be able to go "see the monkey man" as he called Swift (that in itself was beyond annoying). Swift was not the best influence to have over a child either! In closing, Helen grew on me and grew as a mother. Oh and Ollie? Well, I won't give the WHOLE book away!
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4 people found this helpful
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- Barbara Brownyard
- 04-04-16
Hard to put down
This unfolded so perfectly. I could see each character in their places. The narration, by the author, so well done. Thank you, Joyce Maynard.
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- Cristina Souza-Piranio
- 11-25-19
Not a mistery or thriller
Not bad but not a mistery or thriller, just a romance / drama so I cannot give a better rate, since it is incorrectly classified
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- M. W. MILLER
- 09-29-21
One of Joyce Maynard's best!
I've read or listened to all of Joyce Maynard's books and this one was unexpectedly one of my favorites...great characterization, intriguing story line and superb narration by the author. Loved it.
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- Debra
- 01-18-17
Perfect for these times
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
I loved both Ms Maynard's writing and narration. This is a book I have continued to think about since I finished listening. In these days when the gap between the ultra rich and the poor is growing, this book rang true to me.
Which character – as performed by Joyce Maynard – was your favorite?
My favorite was Eliot. Although Connor was a minor character, I loved Ms Maynard's portrayal of him: an entitled, selfish, user who gets away with everything because he has a wealthy father who thinks he can do no wrong. I know lots of people just like him!
If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?
Behind every great fortune there is a great crime
OR
Things are not always as they appear
OR
All that glitters is not gold
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