Early Morning Riser

A Novel

By: Katherine Heiny

Narrated by: Kate Rudd

Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

Alternately bittersweet and laugh-out-loud funny, a wise, bighearted novel of love, disaster, and unconventional family—from the acclaimed author of Standard Deviation, who has been called the "literary descendant of Jane Austen, sharing Austen's essentially comic world view" (NPR).

Jane falls in love with Duncan easily. He is charming, good-natured, and handsome but unfortunately, he has also slept with nearly every woman in Boyne City, Michigan. Jane sees Duncan's old girlfriends everywhere—at restaurants, at the grocery store, even three towns away.

While Jane may be able to come to terms with dating the world's most prolific seducer of women, she wishes she did not have to share him quite so widely. His ex-wife, Aggie, a woman with shiny hair and pale milkmaid skin, still has Duncan mow her lawn. His coworker, Jimmy, comes and goes from Duncan's apartment at the most inopportune times. Sometimes Jane wonders if a relationship can even work with three people in it—never mind four. Five if you count Aggie's eccentric husband, Gary. Not to mention all the other residents of Boyne City, who freely share with Jane their opinions of her choices.

But any notion Jane had of love and marriage changes with one terrible car crash. Soon Jane's life is permanently intertwined with Duncan's, Aggie's, and Jimmy's, and Jane knows she will never have Duncan to herself. But could it be possible that a deeper kind of happiness is right in front of Jane's eyes? Katherine Heiny's Early Morning Riser is her most astonishingly wonderful work to date.

©2021 Katherine Heiny (P)2021 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

A Good Morning America Buzz Pick • A New York Times Book to Watch For • A Washington Post Best Book • An Esquire Best Book • An E! News Best Book • A Refinery29 Book to Read in 2021 • An Apartment Therapy Best Book • A Popsugar Best Book • A Newsweek Book to Read • A Parade Favorite Book of Spring • A Kirkus Best Book to Read in April • A New York Post Best New Novel

"The funniest novel of the year... You have to pay attention to a book like Heiny’s... Sweetly sardonic... Delightful."—Bethanne Patrick, The Washington Post

"The heroine of Katherine Heiny's buoyant new novel, Early Morning Riser, is a young second grade teacher named Jane who lives in Boyne City, Mich. On the very first page of the novel, Jane locks herself out of her house, calls a locksmith, and winds up spending the night and, eventually, her life with him… Heiny writes in a simple droll style about ordinary people who are often being less than their best selves… [A] literary descendant of Jane Austen, sharing Austen's essentially comic world view."—NPR

"Katherine Heiny shows readers how to pay attention to the little things... Jane loves Duncan. But should she? Duncan is a handsome and friendly woodworker who moonlights as a locksmith in small-town Boyne City, Iowa. He’s the guy everybody knows, wink-wink… Fortunately, Duncan is more complicated than that, as is everyone else in Katherine Heiny’s quiet whirlwind of a novel... At its heart, this is a serious story full of lightness."—Connie Schultz, The New York Times Book Review

Warm & Charming

I loved Janes relationship with Jimmy. Jimmy is a lucky man to have such a loving family AND the family is lucky to have Jimmy’s positive & bright perspective. The story reads melodiously. Smooth simple & clear. I was happy to come back to it throughout.

Great book and narration!

This novel is told in the point of view of second-grade teacher and all of the people she loves in a small town in Michigan. Katherine Heiny is a genius at description, and I laughed out loud many times at the turn of phrases she uses. The book is heart-warming without being at all sentimental. Kate Rudd narrates perfectly, using different voices to suit every character, so that the world of the novel unfolds before you. I loved this book, and I loved listening to it on audible.

Like "Seinfeld" a book about "nothing"

Some reviewers indicated this book "had no story" but I would argue that point. Early Morning Riser tells many stories of day-to-day life within a community of people. As in real life, every person has a history that makes them who they are, and I thoroughly enjoyed learning about all the people in this book, esp the main character Jane, who I think is a real hero in the lives of people around her. She helps some, tolerates others, and she is able to accept help and learn from the others too. I finished this book yesterday afternoon and I miss Jane and Duncan and wish I could keep on hearing stories about them and life in Boyne City.

Fantastic!

Always interesting, deceptively simple but beautiful prose, and characters so specifically and brightly drawn they will never leave me. What an achievement!

Congratulations Katherine Heiny. Plus the narration by Kate Rudd is flawless.

Slice of life - in the best way

Great story and narration. Could not stop listening. Great American characters- very relatable even tho I’ve never been to the area.

Not much depth, rather boring

I like a book with rich descriptions so I can see the characters and the settings in color in my mind’s eye while I am reading or listening. This book had very little of that. Some of the secondary characters were pretty extreme, unnecessarily. I thought about stopping listening several times, but I persevered, since sometimes there’s a reward for that. None in this book. I would call it an ordinary story, written with no flare. The central love story was nice, but the surrounding supporting characters didn’t add anything to the story in my opinion. The dilemma of the main character, which drove her choices, was actually the only interesting thing in the book. Oh well.TV

Entertaining and funny!

Funny book about 'normal' people in small town life.
Narrator is perfect for this book!

great road trip read.

Funny. Sweet. Real life. This is a laugh out loud novel that made the miles fly by. I had 120 miles left when the story was over so I started over.

Loved the characters!

I loved this one. It was just a kind of slow story about a small town, but I fell in love with the characters and really enjoyed the voice of the main character Jane. Really nice audible.

A story about everyday life

This is a story about an odd cast of characters who come together to make a family. Not a lot of suspense or excitement. Nonetheless I enjoyed getting to know the characters.