The Drowning Girl

By: Caitlin R. Kiernan

Narrated by: Suzy Jackson

Length: 13 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

Award-winning author, narrator, and screenwriter Neil Gaiman personally selected this book, and, using the tools of the Audiobook Creation Exchange (ACX), cast the narrator and produced this work for his audiobook label, Neil Gaiman Presents.

A few words from Neil on The Drowning Girl: "As with all "Neil Gaiman Presents" titles, it's very important to me to find the voice that comes closest to the voice in the author's head; for Caitlin, for this book, that was Suzy Jackson. It was not until the second round of auditions that we found someone who sounded young but not naïve, someone who could catalogue the sharp detail of Imp's carefully observed daily life but also convey the blurred edges of her reality. Caitlin and Suzy kept in touch during the recording, and the result is a reading that is precise but not "stagey", a literary but accessible reading of the novel."

India Morgan Phelps - Imp to her friends - is schizophrenic. Struggling with her perceptions of reality, Imp must uncover the truth about her encounters with creatures out of myth - or from something far, far stranger....

Winner of the 2013 Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel.

To hear more from Neil Gaiman on The Drowning Girl, click here, or listen to the introduction at the beginning of the book itself.

Learn more about Neil Gaiman Presents and Audiobook Creation Exchange (ACX).

©2012 Caitlin R. Kiernan (P)2012 Caitlin R Kiernan

Androphobic, pretentious crap.

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

It began well, but then devolved into a androphobic rant, poorly constructed and uninteresting.

Has The Drowning Girl turned you off from other books in this genre?

No, Im a fan of horror literature.

What does Suzy Jackson bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Her character interpretation is supberb. she manages to give voice to both the main character as well as the other characters, she is delightful to listen to.

Did The Drowning Girl inspire you to do anything?

Yes: Never to read another Caitlin R. Kiernan book. Ever.

Any additional comments?

Read something else, this crap is foul, pretentious and boring. You better swallow chipped glass than waste your time reading this piece of lesbic manure.

A challenge for those who like linear structure

I found this to be a challenging story to follow. I enjoyed the narration immensely but needed to relax into the non linear structure. The one thing I can recommend when listening to this is just to go with it. Don't try to figure out what is real, what is truth or what is fact; just follow IMP on her journey.

A thrilling listen

Hearing this story was a great experience. Suzy Jackson does a great job interpreting Imp. I think that interpreting such a character is quite complex due to the mental confusion she experiences. I love the fact that she is able to portray the voices of all the characters in a different manner and give each one its deserved uniqueness.

A New Classic

“We weave necessary fictions, and sometimes they save us. Our minds, our bodies.”
- Imp
“You know now that you’ll never be sure what happened?”
- Dr. Ogilvy

Wow. So there are unreliable narrators and then there are schizophrenics. Had I never read PKD I would have been unprepared.

There are chapters where it is a Tai Chi flow of pure crazy; tangent overlapping tangent. I had never really understood the phrase ‘Keep it together.’

Kiernan cleverly draws you into the character’s predicament by overlapping real works of art, fiction, and history with imagined ones: she leaves you uncertain.

I spent at least two hours desperately googling a sculpture that does not exist.

Or does it?

I want to see it.
I need to see it.
I saw it (in my mind.)
It is the truth that I saw it.
It is a fact that it does not exist.
I’m not lying.
I lied.

Moving

This is a book to be understood with your heart, not your head; way too complex for the linear paradigm. Beautifully written, exquisitely narrated - a book I would most certainly recommend.

The best book I heard in a long time

This reading is haunting and beautiful. This story is intelligently written, like a gothic ghost story.

a book where nothing ever happens

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

nope. too much internal dialogue no action no plot.

What do you think your next listen will be?

Armada narrated by Wil Wheaton

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Suzy Jackson?

She might be fine if the book was interesting.

Could you see The Drowning Girl being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Why? Nothing ever happens.

Any additional comments?

I abandoned it half way through.

Charming and beautiful its madness

This book was so close to being all fives for me. The use of the unreliable narrator was powerful and effective. The madness of the main character was simultaneously charming, heartbreaking, and scary. The story was engrossing and, at a few times, downright haunting. It lost steam at the around the last chapter for me though, and the ending was a bit lack luster. I'm not sure how I would have wanted it to end, as I think a traditional "pay off" would have seemed cheap, but perhaps with something darker? Maybe. I think one of the pitfalls of writing a book so far outside of the traditional is that endings are even harder than usual.
All in all, it is one of the most enjoyable listens I have had since getting into audiobooks. The narration was top notch as well, and really added to the experience of the book.
Definitely a must read for fans of strange narratives and weird fiction.

Boring

Would you try another book from Caitlin R. Kiernan and/or Suzy Jackson?

Maybe if I was desperate

What was most disappointing about Caitlin R. Kiernan’s story?

went on way to much in circles... had no idea who was who

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Nil

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Disapointment that I had spent my credit on this.

Disappointed

This book was one of the most disappointing books I have read. Very hard to follow and repetitive throughout the entire story. I love the narrator but did not like the story. It was all over the place