The Friday Night Knitting Club

By: Kate Jacobs

Narrated by: Carrington Macduffie

Length: 12 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

The New York Times bestselling sensation that’s “Steel Magnolias set in Manhattan” (USA Today)

Once a week, an eclectic group of women comes together at a New York City yarn shop to work on their latest projects—and share the stories of their lives…

Walker & Daughter is Georgia Walker’s little yarn shop, tucked into a quiet storefront on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Its Friday night knitting club is improvised by some of Georgia’s regulars, who stroll into the shop looking for tips on knitting and end up finding much, much more. So now, once a week, they gather to work on their latest projects and to chat—and occasionally clash—over their stories of love, life, and everything in between.

However, unexpected changes soon throw these women’s lives into disarray, and the shop’s comfortable world gets shaken up like a snow globe. When the unthinkable happens, they realize that what they’ve created is not just a knitting club—it’s a sisterhood.

©2007 Kathleen Jacobs (P)2007 Blackstone Audio Inc.

Critic reviews

• Nominee, 2008 Audie Award, Fiction

"Kate Jacobs' breezy first novel reads like Steel Magnolias set in Manhattan." (USA Today)
"[P]oignant twists propel the plot and help the pacing find a pleasant rhythm." (Publishers Weekly)

Does anyone proof read the books?

I am a member of a knitting club and enjoyed reading a story with knitting as a backdrop. Our group talks, shares a pot of tea and cookies and sometimes knits for a while.
I liked the story much better than the narration. What irritated and surprised me the most was the mispronounciation of a number of words.
I will not be listening to this narrator again.

Enjoyable Listen

I did like this book and I actually took up knitting after listening to this book! It is a very engaging story and I found myself looking forward to the drive to be able to listen to it. But the ending seemed to almost come out of nowhere and I was not pleased with that aspect of it. Obviously I don't want to ruin the ending for any potential listener, but I was very disappointed with how the characters lives ended up and that almost ruined the whole book for me! But other than that, it was a good book. For those who weren't aware, Julia Roberts is actually starring in and producing this movie in 2008 so that should be fun to see! As far as what other people are saying about the narrator and so on, I actually chose this book based on the narrator because I find her voice very engaging and I was not let down in this book at all either!

I disagree

I don’t know why other reviewers have panned this so hard. I loved it. It’s got likeable characters, a good plot with a twist that this at the heart, and is really a good read. My only complaint is with pronunciation of a few words by the narrator. Not many, and easy to look past. Definitely recommend.

Wow

I would reccomend this book to anyone. The last three chapters were a comple surprise. Jackie 💝

just like Friday night knitting

My overall impression of this book was slightly above average. I am not a knitter but it reminded me alot of what I imagine knitting to be. Takes what seems like forever to finish but when you finally get there it ends up being not too bad. I found even the spicey characters a little sluggish. I also found the passage of time for the characters abit slow...if the character shopped for an hour it seemed you listened for an hour until the character moved on to something else. The end result saved the whole project.

I want to join the Friday Night Knitting Club!

This audiobook is great ... I am totally wrapped up in the characters and I think any reader/listener would seem themselves in any one, two, or three of them!

I hated the sad stuff, but I guess I get it... I have just finished volume 2 and really, really love these people.

As with knitting, lives intwind.

Women, friends & family are wound together just as the art of knitting is. All of us are connected in some way, we just are not always aware of the actual connection. The actual talent or sometimes the lack of knowledge of knitting & it's tangling of colorful threads is life being expressed. It can be frustrating, messy, annoying, full of surprises. The final completion of one's piece of art, can be such a feeling of joy & accomplished as well as sorry, depending on what is taking place in your life. I enjoyed every aspect of the story & it made me laugh a few times. I look forward to reading the next book.

Words are how you hear them.

The Friday Night Knitting Club was a good book BUT...I was very put off by the manner in which this book was read. The accents of the voices, most particularly that of the African Americans, were rather offensive. I do not know what the narrator's experience is with African Americans from the south but the Jim Crow accents she used were awful. MacDuffie also has a particularly hard time doing children without making them seem peevish and whiny. I prefer to have books read without fake voices for each part. When the narrator assigns an attitude to a part, she is deciding how we accept each character. James sounds like Uncle Tom with a mouthful of peanuts. Cat sounds like a 12 year old Valley Girl. Even Georgia, the main character, sounds like a young girl with less than a full deck of cards. Please, no more bad interpretations. We want to listen, but we are not attending a bad play.
If this book had been read in a straightforward way, I would have rated it higher.

Surprised

The book kind of grew on me for the first 3/4 of the book - a "comfortable" read (listen) and no heavy action. But the ending was so wrong (not what happened but the way it happened) - and from a medical point of view - inaccurate. I just couldn't believe what I was hearing. That kind of ruined it for me.

good listen for a car ride

Well-developed characters. Interesting story line without too much complexity. Narrator does a nice job with voices. Dakota character seems more like 10 than 13 (particularly for an only child growing up in NYC). This one is like a good friend telling you a long story during a long drive. Entertaining but not life-changing. Great way to pass the time.