The Turning

By: Francine Prose

Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne, Grover Gardner, Amy Rubinate

Length: 5 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

A dark house.

An isolated island.

Strange dreams...

And even stranger visions...

Jack is spending the summer on a private island far from modern conveniences. No Wi-Fi, no cell service, no one else on the island but a housekeeper and the two very peculiar children in his care. The first time Jack sees the huge black mansion atop a windswept hill, he senses something cold, something more sinister than even the dark house itself.

Soon, he feels terribly isolated and alone. Yet he is not alone. The house has visitors - peering in the windows, staring from across the shore. But why doesn't anyone else see them...? And what do they want? As secrets are revealed and darker truths surface, Jack desperately struggles to maintain a grip on reality. He knows what he sees, and he isn't crazy.... Or is he?

From nationally acclaimed author Francine Prose comes a mind-bending story that will leave you realizing how subtle the lines that separate reality, imagination, and insanity really are.

©2012 Francine Prose (P)2012 HarperCollins Publishers

It gets better as you go along.

At first I disliked the flat narration of the main character. Later on I saw what the narrator was attempting to do. So, if you like the story but find the narration lackluster, just keep with it. It took me a bit to realize that this book seems to be an attempt at homage to The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. Not great, not horrible. A middle of the road suspense/ghost story.

enjoyable listen

Where does The Turning rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I enjoyed the plot of the story-an isolated island, a scary house- the narrator did a wonderful job.

What did you like best about this story?

The characters were rather life like and the suspense was just enough.

Have you listened to any of the narrators’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I dont think I have had the pleasure of listening to anything narrated by him /them before.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

An Isolated island; Scary house...

Well, that took a turn

I knew this book had mixed reviews, but I enjoyed The Turn of the Screw so I gave it a try. I was going along, not really understanding why people had a problem with it and then, well, it took a turn. There are two ways to read The Turn of the Screw - it's about ghosts or it's about a girl going crazy. The same holds true for this story, but the author shoves the story quite forcibly and without much build-up into one direction. I don't necessarily have a problem with it, but I think the whole thing would have come off better if she'd fleshed it out a bit.

I'm not a "teen” but I really enjoyed this book

Ok, so I listen to A LOT of books. Probably 2-3 a week (I am currently doing DIY projects at our little house on the bayou in Louisiana). I listen to several genres and often have to try out new stuff because of how often I listen. I never write reviews although I am not sure why as I find the reviews very helpful when choosing a book. I figured tonight I would write one since when I purchased this book last night it had no reviews. I am far from being a teen (aaagggghhh) and I am not really sure this should be classified as a teen book. This was a great mystery/wtf is going on book. I found myself telling my cats all my theories as I listened to this (my husband is away!) and truthfully after finishing I'm still not sure what actually happened. Usually that frustrates me but I find these are the kind of books that stay with me for a long time. I thoroughly enjoyed this listen, and Kirby Heyborne did a great job as always of narrating this book.