Are You Sitting Down?

By: Shannon Yarbrough

Narrated by: Geoffrey Boyes

Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

A rape victim raising a biracial baby. A drug addict haunted by a dead girlfriend. A homosexual mourning a dead lover. A teacher having an affair with his student. And a businesswoman sexually harassed by her boss. What do they all have in common? They all sit at Lorraine White's holiday dinner table; they are also her children. But Lorraine's children are not the only ones in the family dealing with ghosts of the past. This is the first Christmas the Whites have spent together since the death of their father. And it very well could be their last, as arguments ensue, secrets are revealed, and perhaps a murderer walks among them.

In his latest novel, Shannon Yarbrough explores the damaged soul of one small-town family and breaks through the boundaries of love, convincing his listeners that no matter how hard life gets, sometimes the support of family is often the only true foundation we have left to depend upon - whether we want it or not.

©2010 Shannon Yarbrough (P)2021 Shannon Yarbrough

book and narrator mismatch

I had a hard time with this book. it's not that the book was bad, it isn't. the writing was interesting and I wanted to get to know the characters. however, the choice of one single Australian narrator (even a competent one like this one) to read a book from multiple first person points of view, for a book that takes place in the Southern United states, is a little bit baffling..
I received a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

So much to like and dislike about this book!

First of all when the book started and the narrator was I think Australian I thought OK it’s set in Australia, but now as the story goes on you learn it’s in Tennessee. That’s a big pet peeve of mine when I book is that in one country and read by someone from another. Then each chapter is a POV of a different character from Claire to Eleanor the mom, travis and even the ghost of Travis‘s boyfriend. Everything in the summary is true, but I found each person telling their story or commenting on the story of another was just filler for what we already knew about these characters. There are twist that made me sit up and say “wow, I didn’t see that coming!“ although the book doesn’t really have resolutions I didn’t think the moms first sentence in the last chapter when she says it’s amazing how during the holidays you forget about all your problems or something to that effect and it made me giggle, because it was Christmas and all her kids and neighbors and other important people in their lives did was think and talk about their problems above I said there were no resolutions well there are no cliffhangers either. No matter what I say about this book what I will say as I listen to the end and when I turned it off last night to go to sleep the first thing I did when I woke up with turn it back on. So this is very worth the read or listen I just wish she would’ve used either in American or a foreigner dude doing an American accent that really confuse me and it’s something I don’t like. I thought the narrator was awesome he was phenomenal I mean a real professional his accent just didn’t fit the narrative. Again having said all that I still recommend it and found it quite interesting throughout.

Are you sitting down?

I really liked this book!What a twisty storyline!There were some real surprises. Geoffrey Boyes was a terrific narrator.I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.'