Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Creatures of Habit  By  cover art

Creatures of Habit

By: Jill McCorkle
Narrated by: Claire Slemmer, Allyson Johnson, Allison McLemore, Lauren Fortgang, Margaret Daly, Holly Fielding, Elizabeth Evans
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $17.95

Buy for $17.95

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

Jill McCorkle's new collection of 12 short stories is peopled with characters brilliantly like us - flawed, clueless, endearing. These stories are also "animaled" with all manner of mammal, bird, fish, reptile - also flawed and endearing. She asks, what don't humans share with the so-called lesser species? Looking for the answer, she takes us back to her fictional home town of Fulton, North Carolina, to meet a broad range of characters facing up to the double-edged sword life offers hominids.

The insight with which McCorkle tells their stories crackles with wit, but also with a deeper - and more forgiving - wisdom than ever before. In "Billy Goats", Fulton's herd of seventh graders cruises the summer nights, peeking into parked cars, maddening the town madman. In "Monkeys", a widow holds her husband's beloved spider monkey close, along with his deepest secrets. In "Dogs", a single mother who works for a veterinarian compares him - unfavorably - with his patients. In "Snakes", a seasoned wife sees what might have been a snake in the grass and decides to step over it. And, in the exquisite final story, "Fish", a grieving daughter remembers her father's empathy for the ugliest of all fishes. The success behind Jill McCorkle's short stories - and her novels - is, as one reviewer noted, her skill as an archaeologist of the absurd, an expert at excavating and examining the comedy of daily life (Richmond Times-Dispatch). Yes, and also the tragedy.

The complete list of narrators includes Claire Slemmer, Allyson Johnson, Allison McLemore, Lauren Fortgang, Margaret Daly, Holly Fielding, Elizabeth Evans, and Gabra Zackman.

©2001 Jill McCorkle (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about Creatures of Habit

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

So depressing I'd rather open a vein and slowly bleed to death than finish this

What the hell! Does the publisher own shares in Prozac? I got through five stories and while they were well written and performed I simply couldn't take anymore gloom and despair. I want my money back. Can I return this?

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent

She’s a master of the short story, and the narrators do each one of these stories justice. Wrll written! Well produced!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!