Comfort Me with Apples

By: Catherynne M. Valente

Narrated by: Karis Campbell

Length: 2 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

Sophia was made for him, her perfect husband. She can feel it in her bones. He is perfect; their home together in Arcadia Gardens is perfect; everything is perfect. It's just that he's away so much - so often. He works so hard. She misses him, and he misses her. He says he does, so it must be true. He is the perfect husband, and everything is perfect.

But sometimes Sophia wonders about things - strange things, dark things - the look on her husband's face when he comes back from a long business trip, the questions he will not answer, the locked basement she is never allowed to enter. And whenever she asks the neighbors, they can't quite meet her gaze.... But everything is perfect - isn't it?

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Absolutely loved this story!

Retelling Adam and Eve. Brilliant! And the narration spectacular (especially the snake). Listened twice and quite frankly, might listen again. Incredible creativity. Bravo! Well done!!!!!

Sooo good

I loved everything about this book It was strange and thrilling and kept me captivated with every word. It felt like a fresh of breath air and a genre where books sometimes can feel a little bit samey so I highly suggest this if you're looking for something new It was really really good. and the ending was just perfect.

short and entertaining

It's best to go in fairly blindly. I thought the length was perfect for the story. An enjoyable read.

Amazing!

This book is unlike anything you will ever read. So unique. I highly recommend this book!

Best to Go in Blind

Another review I saw urged readers to go into this story without reading anything about it, and that was stellar advice. Just read it and see how long it takes you to figure it out. Such a fantastic and chilling little piece.

So good it required immediate replay

I loved this story so much so I had to listen to it twice. I was already familiar with the author but this book in particular has made her my absolute favorite.

Listened to based on a rave review from Reddit…

The narrator was great. However, the story was just a little weird for me. Not what I was expecting in the slightest, especially by the end of it. Had a very similar same story line to Don’t Worry Darling just with a different ending. I should have read reviews before I listened but was told to go into it blindly!

strange story

“Comfort Me with Apples” is an incredibly strange strange story. I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Karis Cambell.

The story opens with a list of rules for living in Acadia Garden. The protagonist, Sophia, loves her husband and feels she was made for him. This is repeated much in the story. Her voice is pleasant and she happily defers to anything and everything her husband tells her to do, which adds a strange vibe. But everything about Acadia Garden alerts the listener to “something is awry”. But, what?

It’s a quick story, there are clues. And when the story got to the end, I couldn’t believe what I did not pick up in clues.

This is a very bizarre story. I’m conflicted because I didn’t like the story from the start. Yet, I kept listening, and kept not liking it. Yet…..I listened to the end…and I was duped! I give it 5 full stars for duping me in such an open way. Most of the story though…it’s like an uncomfortable Twilight Zone episode!.

I get why this has been rated lower, but I did enjoy the nuances of the story.

DO NOT READ more than the publishers synopsis

Someone “spoiled” part of the plot for me, so it wasn’t as enjoyable as it would have been. I still HIGHLY recommend it!
Karis Campbell did a perfect job of narrating.

Wow Amazing & Short - Packs A Punch

This book feels like the movies, Don't Worry Darling and the Stepford Wives with a leading character who's inner voice feels poetic, haunting, and cold.
Sophia's mind and the story was hypnotic and intricate in this short story. This story was so haunting as all the men mentioned were treating women like objects and less like people. All the qoutes I provided actually made my skin crawl due to the tone of the whole story.
This story discusses safety, privelege, power, and reminded me a lot of controlling societies.

There's a scene when someone asks women in a room "if they are happy," and one women digs her nails into a couch and says yes. And the manner that Sophia's understanding of love and the way her findings leave her world crumbling.

The audiobook was only 2 hours and I felt like I was holding a friend's hand while running in the dark. I had no idea where the story was going and that felt freeing and terrifying. The descriptions of the house and the way Sophia is treated like a child yet expected to be the perfect wife was real for many women in history. Being expected to be perfect yet youthful forever, clean yet understanding their husband's every need. The other women were named after animals Mrs.Lion... I wondered more about the metaphors of it all.
The dark themes are threaded through this book, between each chapter rules are listed. Rules about the neighborhood, and the things Sophia finds in her own home scare me. I began to fear her husband despite him not being present most of the book. But this story will stay with me.