• Shell Game

  • Getaway Collection
  • By: Rumaan Alam
  • Narrated by: Fajer Al-Kaisi
  • Length: 53 mins
  • 2.5 out of 5 stars (206 ratings)

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Shell Game  By  cover art

Shell Game

By: Rumaan Alam
Narrated by: Fajer Al-Kaisi
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Publisher's summary

2023 Audie Award Winner for Best Short Stories/Collection Audiobook

An extended family’s Cape Cod vacation reveals uncomfortable truths that threaten one man’s illusion of happiness in this incisive short story by the New York Times bestselling author of Leave the World Behind.

Mark has a wife and two kids, a sense of purpose, financial security, and a fragile contentment. However wistful his visions of the future, Mark knows who he is. But a summer trip with his abrasive brother-in-law and unhappy sister-in-law leave Mark questioning everything he thinks he knows about his family—and himself.

Shell Game by Rumaan Alam is part of Getaway, a collection of six stories about dream escapes that take unimaginable, even sinister, turns. Each piece can be read or listened to in a single sitting.

©2022 Rumaan Alam. (P)2022 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

What listeners say about Shell Game

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 2.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    13
  • 4 Stars
    27
  • 3 Stars
    62
  • 2 Stars
    57
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Performance
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
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    45
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    54
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    26
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    15
Story
  • 2.5 out of 5 stars
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    10
  • 4 Stars
    22
  • 3 Stars
    42
  • 2 Stars
    52
  • 1 Stars
    61

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Did I miss something?

I feel like this was an epilogue or a something to wet your appetite for a main course. I don’t see how it can be stand along and completed.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

maybe I missed the point

To be totally transparent, I was busy doing other things while listening to this one, but I couldn't get into the story. Overall, it sounded like a short recollection of a boring family vacation.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Felt pointless and weird

This story felt a little pointless. It also felt like it was trying to be smart but all that did was making everything confusing. The way the boys were described made me feel uncomfortable. The characters had no depth and the story literally went nowhere this was my least favorite book of the series.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Confused

Honestly couldn’t tell you what this was.
I’m glad this was part of kindle unlimited, not worth it.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Jarring and real

I am not sure the point of this novella, other than it’s exceptionally real and raw. The author absolutely captures the human condition in an inevitability jarring way.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Not worth the time

This was horrible. No real storyline. Seemed to be about some guy fixated on sex. I wish I had that hour plus of my listening time back.



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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Odd story

Did not quite enjoy the nation type of story and how he was read and described. Very confusing.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

No plot

It’s terrible and I never gathered the plot of the story. I do not recommend.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Na

Not very interesting. Not for me anyway!
Would not recommend this reading to anyone!
Thanks

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars
  • CR
  • 10-06-22

confused

This was an odd story. My mind was thinking of all the directions the story could go as I was listening, but I felt as if there was no point to this story at all. How did this vacation make him rethink everything he thought he knew? A sudden attraction to a lifeguard? All this story do was leave me utterly baffled & confused. This was the only story of the GETAWAY series I didn't like

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