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Atomic Marriage  By  cover art

Atomic Marriage

By: Curtis Sittenfeld
Narrated by: Diane Lane
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Publisher's summary

From New York Times best-selling author Curtis Sittenfeld, a sharp-witted and utterly entertaining audio about the most complicated and compromising partnership there is—marriage.

Academy Award nominee Diane Lane narrates this tale about a Hollywood power broker who travels to Alabama to convince a reluctant author that the studio’s treatment of his best-selling book would make the perfect blockbuster romantic comedy.

What Heather Thiesen knows about marriage is that hers is sputtering, anything but romantic, and utterly exhausting. It’s her job to iron out the details of movie deals with people like Brock Lewis, the self-published and conservative author of Atomic Marriage, even if his preachy rules for a happy, thriving marriage make her want to go back to bed. Harried and married, with a young child at home, she can barely get through the book’s 12-point Atomic Doctrine, let alone follow its advice. Make eye contact with your spouse? Always! Use the bathroom in front of them? Never!

But then she meets Brock. And to her surprise, she likes him—a lot.

Curtis Sittenfeld is one of America’s funniest and most astute cultural commentators. Diane Lane is one of our best leading actresses, sharing Heather’s perspective with depth, candor, and warmth. Together they deliver a remarkable story about the life partners we choose, the secrets we keep, and the compromises we make—or break.

©2018 Curtis Sittenfeld (P)2018 Audible Originals, LLC.

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Publisher's summary

From New York Times best-selling author Curtis Sittenfeld, a sharp-witted and utterly entertaining audio about the most complicated and compromising partnership there is—marriage.

Academy Award nominee Diane Lane narrates this tale about a Hollywood power broker who travels to Alabama to convince a reluctant author that the studio’s treatment of his best-selling book would make the perfect blockbuster romantic comedy.

What Heather Thiesen knows about marriage is that hers is sputtering, anything but romantic, and utterly exhausting. It’s her job to iron out the details of movie deals with people like Brock Lewis, the self-published and conservative author of Atomic Marriage, even if his preachy rules for a happy, thriving marriage make her want to go back to bed. Harried and married, with a young child at home, she can barely get through the book’s 12-point Atomic Doctrine, let alone follow its advice. Make eye contact with your spouse? Always! Use the bathroom in front of them? Never!

But then she meets Brock. And to her surprise, she likes him—a lot.

Curtis Sittenfeld is one of America’s funniest and most astute cultural commentators. Diane Lane is one of our best leading actresses, sharing Heather’s perspective with depth, candor, and warmth. Together they deliver a remarkable story about the life partners we choose, the secrets we keep, and the compromises we make—or break.

©2018 Curtis Sittenfeld (P)2018 Audible Originals, LLC.
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Our favorite moments from Atomic Marriage

You can read the entire thing in under an hour.
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The first three rules of the doctrine
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Eye contact is like Vitamin D...
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  • Atomic Marriage
  • You can read the entire thing in under an hour.
  • Atomic Marriage
  • The first three rules of the doctrine
  • Atomic Marriage
  • Eye contact is like Vitamin D...
Curtis Sittenfeld

About the Author

Curtis Sittenfeld is the best-selling author of the story collection You Think It, I’ll Say It and the novels Prep, The Man of My Dreams, American Wife, and Sisterland, which have been translated into 25 languages. Her nonfiction has been published widely, including in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Time, and Glamour, and broadcast on public radio's This American Life. A native of Cincinnati, she currently lives with her family in St. Louis.

Diane Lane

About the Performer

Diane Lane’s acting career began at New York City's La MaMa experimental theatre at the age of six, performing in Off-Broadway productions of Chekhov and Greek tragedy before making her movie debut opposite Sir Laurence Olivier in A Little Romance. More film roles followed, but it was her portrayal of a cheating wife in Adrian Lyne's Unfaithful that brought her the most critical acclaim. In addition to winning Best Actress awards from the New York Film Critics Circle and the National Society of Film Critics, Lane was nominated for an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a Golden Globe.

Her impressive list of credits and co-stars include Under the Tuscan Sun, directed by Audrey Wells and based on the novel by Frances Mayes, Nights in Rodanthe with Richard Gere, Must Love Dogs with John Cusack, A Perfect Storm with George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg, and A Walk on the Moon opposite Viggo Mortensen and Liev Schreiber. She received an Emmy nomination for her work in the CBS mini-series Lonesome Dove and Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild nominations for her role as Pat Loud in the HBO movie, Cinema Verite.

What listeners say about Atomic Marriage

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Ended way to soon!

It’s like watching only 1/2 of a movie... I wanted to see where it would lead

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5 people found this helpful

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

Cute story

I hated that Heather was so ready to sleep the writer. Other than that I thought it was a cute little story. I like the way things turned out.

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4 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Good listen, but generally not earth moving

Good, quick listen. The dialogue between Brock and the main character was a tad predictable. Additionally, the book was a little political? Maybe a little in your face about beliefs and motives is a better description.

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2 people found this helpful

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

The narrator was great. Is a good short story.

For a short story it was good. The narrator did an excellent job. Very easy to listen to.

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1 person found this helpful

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

uhm....

I struggled with the storyline even though it was thankfully short. The dynamic was just... ick. I appreciated the brief moment of honesty and I think it would have been redeemed without a cotton candy ending.

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

Absolute drivel

Diane Lane seems bored with the material for obvious reasons. The story has no merit. It is trite and predictable with the moral that all you need to have a happy relationship is to fuck more. It isn't worth its price of free because it still wastes an hour of your time. Do anything else.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

A troubling window to society.

I tire of those who are of conservative mind being labeled as hate mongers... is this not also a form of hate?

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

What did I just listen to?

I’m not 100% sure what this book was about. I thought it was a marriage book, but it’s more about the BS that the book really was about (I guess?) it does have some good stuff, at least the last few minutes, but I’m glad it was only an hour long...

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

It is entertaining for a quick listen

The closing felt incomplete but not bad for a good listen. I'll revisit for a quick story in the future.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Why is this book so damn short?

I was just settling into another great Curtis Sittenfeld novel when it ended I had no idea this was just a short story, not even a novella. So disappointed!

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