Now and Again

De: Charlotte Rogan

Narrado por: Christine Lakin

A provocative novel about the fallout from a search for truth by the author of the national bestseller The Lifeboat.

For Maggie Rayburn -- wife, mother, and secretary at a munitions plant -- life is pleasant, predictable, and, she assumes, secure. When she finds proof of a high-level cover-up on her boss's desk, she impulsively takes it, an act that turns her world, and her worldview, upside down. Propelled by a desire to do good -- and also by a newfound taste for excitement -- Maggie starts to see injustice everywhere. Soon her bottom drawer is filled with what she calls "evidence," her small town has turned against her, and she must decide how far she will go for the truth.

For Penn Sinclair -- Army Captain, Ivy League graduate, and reluctant heir to his family's fortune -- a hasty decision has disastrous results. Home from Iraq and eager to atone, he reunites with three survivors to expose the truth about the war. They launch a website that soon has people talking, but the more they expose, the cloudier their mission becomes.

Now and Again is a blazingly original novel about the interconnectedness of lives, the limits of knowledge, and the consequences of doing the right thing.

Reseñas de la Crítica

PRAISE FOR NOW AND AGAIN:

"With consummate command of narrative, Charlotte Rogan nimbly brings together whistleblowers and soldiers in a damning--and page-turning--critique of America's military-industrial complex and its massive amount of collateral damage. It's the novel we deserve for the war we didn't."
—Teddy Wayne, author of The Love Song of Jonny Valentine and Kapitoil

"Now and Again is breathtaking in its scope and insight. With wit, humanity, and extraordinary clarity of vision, Rogan has found the uniting thread that weaves together contemporary American life. This is America from the ground up, full of ordinary people trying to make sense of their lives, driven by that brand of frontier idealism that might yet be out last best hope."
—Patrick Flanery, author of Absolution and Fallen Land

"Sprawling and vibrant."
—Matt Gallagher, The Washington Post

"An absorbing search for truth...no less exciting than her first...extremely topical...Rogan writes successfully, and forcefully, about experiences that are foreign until they feel familiar."
—Olivia Lowenberg, The Christian Science Monitor

"Rogan's storytelling is multi-layered and many-faceted."
—Carol Memmott, The Chicago Tribune

"This sophomore novel from Rogan, who wrote the award-winning The Lifeboat, once again displays a strong, bright voice and an uncompromising command of storytelling."
—DuJour Magazine

"Has the same lasting power [as her debut, The Lifeboat]."
—Katherine A. Powers, Barnes & Noble Review

"Rogan's second novel...delineates the journey from outrage to action to doubt, contrasting mundane routines with the philosophical dilemmas of ordinary people."
—Publishers Weekly

"Rogan has an excellent grip of the necessary satisfactions of plot, and of both structure and character...She confidently and swiftly builds a complex, three-dimensional lattice of allegiance and fact."
—Aida Edemariam, The Guardian (US Edition)

"A sprawling contemporary story."
—Book Page, Book Page

"Rogan's debut novel, The Lifeboat, was a suspenseful, psychological survival story, and her new novel is just as harrowing, and even more complex."
—The Huffington Post

"Magnificently architected."
—Bill Goldstein, NBC New York

"Stunning...seemingly unrelated story threads are ingeniously woven into an explosive whole. [A] morally complex story, part Silkwood, part Redeployment...Book groups, take note."
—Library Journal

Major Disappointment

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

One of the readers was covering some kind fo accent, which was just a bit distracting. And this book is just so poorly written.

What could Charlotte Rogan have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Character decision-making is unbelievable. Also, there is no dramatic culmination. The book feels like social justice grandstanding.

What aspect of the narrators’s performance would you have changed?

All of the voice actors were anywhere from fine to exceptional. All of the women were better than the men. And one of the male narrators was covering an accent (maybe British?) and it was a bit distracting.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Now and Again?

I am not sure that I would personally have even enjoyed this as a novella or short story. I picked it up because I loved her first novel. I picked it up without reading the premise, which was a mistake. This is not the sort of book I normally enjoy. I gave it a go anyway because of Lifeboat's impression upon me, but I just could not wait for this one to be over. Every character felt like a shallow stereotype. Nothing big happened at all.

Easily the dumbest...

... Book I have ever listened to. I cannot believe I wasted 14 hours waiting and hoping something would actually happen. Nothing ever did. A mess of nitwit characters whose next move in every situation is really judged. Do NOT under any circumstances but this book. Every single character is dead ended - left hanging in every situation... And then you say to yourself "so what? I have no empathy with any of the characters anyway!". Having so many narrators does not help the story line at all. All the characters are idiots - and having a different narrator for each character makes it feel some troup is going through their lines for a play. I am disgusted with myself that I really listened to the whole thing.