There's a Word for That

By: Sloane Tanen

Narrated by: Therese Plummer

Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

An Elin Hilderbrand Book Club Selection

An "engrossing, hilarious, and tender" chronicle of a wildly flawed family that comes together—in rehab, of all places—even as each member is on the verge of falling apart (Gretchen Rubin, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Happiness Project). Winner of the 2019 NCIBA Golden Poppy Book Award for Fiction

Introducing the Kesslers: Marty, a retired LA film producer whose self-worth has been eroded by age and a late-in-life passion for opioids; his daughter Janine, former child star suffering the aftereffects of a life in the public eye; and granddaughter Hailey, the "less-than" twin sister, whose inferiority complex takes a most unexpected turn.

Nearly six thousand miles away, in London, celebrated author Bunny Small, Marty's long-forgotten first wife, has her own problems: a "preposterous" case of writer's block, a monstrous drinking habit, and a son who has fled halfway around the world to escape her.

When Marty's pill-popping gets out of hand and Bunny's boozing reaches crisis proportions, a perfect storm of dysfunction brings them all together at Directions, Malibu's most exclusive and absurd rehab center.

But for all their failings, the members of this estranged—and strange—family love each other. Rich with warmth, humor, and deep insight, There's a Word for That is a comic ode to surviving the people closest to us, navigating the perils of success, and taking one last look in the rearview mirror before mapping out the road ahead.

©2019 Sloane Tanen (P)2019 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"Engrossing, hilarious, and tender, this novel tells the story of how a family breaks apart and comes together despite years of mistakes and mishaps. I couldn't put it down."—Gretchen Rubin, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Happiness Project

"Readers who miss The Middlesteins by Jami Attenberg and the Lamberts from Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections will welcome the Kesslers. With equal parts humor and empathy, There's a Word for That employs multiple narrators and a skillfully drawn cross-generational family to examine how relatives impact one another."—Tracy Babiasz, Booklist

"Often uproariously funny. Tanen's skill is that you don't laugh at the characters. They know how messed up they are. All you, and they, can do is laugh at the straits they find themselves in and soldier on."—Arlene McKanic, BookPage

Funny and appealing

I love this! I laughed a lot and even teared up a little in places. It’s so compelling I couldn’t stop listening. I loved the writing, and the narrator is wonderful. It all works great together—it’s so good.

relatable in many ways

I loved how the characters in the story evolved, learned forgiveness either for themselves or others, and really came full circle from the beginning to end. Overcoming addictions, illnesses, traumas... there are so many relatable characters and themes to this book that I cannot imagine someone not finding some part of it good.

There's a word for that... adore

Adore (verb): love and respect deeply. I adore this novel! Light, fun and funny. A dramedy with real world issues and laughs. Every character is flawed in some way, some treating each other terribly at times, yet we get an understanding of their history and why they act the way they do. Getting to know each character and watching their relationships grow is satisfying. Reminds me of a mixture of Shameless, Arrested Development, and The Royal Tennenbaums. Like binge watching a good TV show, I've grown attached and am sad for it to end.

Perfect !!

Smart characters, funny , poignant real life story, spot-on reading. I was immediately drawn in and attached by the first 20 minutes and so sad when it ended.
Hey, Reese Witherspoon, make the movie !!!!!!

Love, love LOVE! Could not stop listening!

This book is about families and the disfunction that makes each unique. The cast of characters are lovable and even dislikable, which makes it even better.
There are laugh out loud moments but poignant and heartwarming moments. The storyline is truly solid and woven together beautifully. I immediately searched for more from this author but didn't find any. I'm looking forward to the next gem!
HIGHLY RECOMMEND!

not bad pretty long to get to the point .

very interesting book it did take a bit longer to get good but it wasn't bad.

excellent story and narration

I normally don't read fiction, I normally don't like anything but memoirs and self help on my audible. I picked it out, because I've encountered the author in my daughter's children's picture books from 16 years ago and I was really curious.
Spoilers below, for those of you who hate spoilers.


So, I really enjoyed both the story and the narration. Both are excellent. Each character is unique and sometimes annoying and over the top. I did find that sometimes I would assume the character would over react to a misstatement from another character, but often the characters showed grace and forgiveness to the others. I wonder if the teens were a little over written, I am the mother of two teen agers and I teach teenagers, but maybe not. They are all very separate and nuanced and as the story brings them together they find their inner strength by rebuilding their relationships. I think that's something many of us need to work on and this story is certainly an extreme example of this.
The narrator gets into the characters and acts each one out. I didn't have to keep things sorted out because each person had a unique sound. There may have been a couple of mess ups but 95% of it felt spot on. I really usually don't like male narrators creating female voices, but I didn't Mons this narrator creating male voices, she has a pretty broad repertoire and I didn't get hung up on hating something where I couldn't listen to the story. My teenagers didn't even mind listening to the story in the car.
so even though there are some quirks, as is often the case in life. I feel strongly that this is a five star story and narration and I think it's a great way to have spent 11+ hours.

11hrs 27mins...

...is too long a time to spend in the company of such unlikeable characters . Too much bickering and self absorption for my taste. Even so, I stuck it out to the end - the author is an entertaining writer and I hope she’ll write something less caustic in the future. Also, I, for one, am fed up with constant swearing - especially “f***” in its many forms- in contemporary books. Please stop!!

Good story- loved California vibe

Interesting plot with deep character development. Okay performance, but it was a tough one. Being from California, I loved that it was set there.

So boring

I wish I could say I agreed with all of the positive reviews on this book but I found it SO boring.
A bunch of privileged family members and I could not have cared less about what happened to any of them.