Dirty Love

By: Andre Dubus III

Narrated by: Andre Dubus III

Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

In this heartbreakingly beautiful book of disillusioned intimacy and persistent yearning, beloved and celebrated author Andre Dubus III explores the bottomless needs and stubborn weaknesses of people seeking gratification in food and sex, work and love.

In these linked novellas in which characters walk out the back door of one story and into the next, love is "dirty" - tangled up with need, power, boredom, ego, fear, and fantasy. On the Massachusetts coast north of Boston, a controlling manager, Mark, discovers his wife's infidelity after 25 years of marriage. An overweight young woman, Marla, gains a romantic partner but loses her innocence. A philandering bartender/aspiring poet, Robert, betrays his pregnant wife. And in the stunning title novella, a teenage girl named Devon, fleeing a dirty image of her posted online, seeks respect in the eyes of her widowed great-uncle Francis and of an Iraq vet she’s met surfing the Web.

Slivered by happiness and discontent, aging and death, but also persistent hope and forgiveness, these beautifully wrought narratives express extraordinary tenderness toward human beings, our vulnerable hearts and bodies, our fulfilling and unfulfilling lives alone and with others.

©2013 Andre Dubus III (P)2013 Audible Inc.

Critic reviews

“Dubus is an outstanding author, for sure, and here his narrator's voice shines just as brightly as his literary one.” (AudioFile)

“First rate fiction by a dazzling talent.” (Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review)

“I can think of no novelist who renders the gritty, down-and-out corners of New England better than Dubus, and those beautifully specific, contained slices of American life open into whole universes of love, violence, guilt, and betrayal.” (The New Republic)

Just ok

I’ve read/listened to a few of Dubus’ books and enjoyed them all. This one was just ok. I was hoping for the characters to get a smidge of redemption or get some sort of finality to the stories but it didn’t come. Also, he needs to stop narrating his in that monotone manor.

Dark Dirty Love

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I enjoyed listening to the author read it, but it may have taken on a different feel if read by someone else.

Would you recommend Dirty Love to your friends? Why or why not?

Probably not. Did not enjoy this story much. Very dark characters that have like able characteristics despite their addictions to sex and booze. But they never get out of the hell they are in. I wanted to hear more about what happened to a character and the book would move onto a new character. I thought that at the end there might be a revisiting of characters as to what happens to them even if it was sad.

What three words best describe Andre Dubus III’s voice?

Dark story of dirty love with lots of sadness in their life's. While I don't mind reading about sorrow and loss, their seems to be no redemption.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Possibly.

Good book, bad reading.

Where does Dirty Love rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Dubus is an excellent writer and these stories explore all manner of nuances of human relationships.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

But Dubus is not an actor. He would be perfectly fine to listen to for an hour were he to give a reading; but he cannot be expected to read an entire book the way a good actor would. The reading interfered with my enjoyment of the excellent prose.

This one was tough to get through, because it rips your heart out.

With Debus III you come to know you will get people. You will be taken inside them. You will inhabit their lives and see through their eyes. But you will also feel the torpor of their loins and the fatigue in their muscles and you will bear the harpies in their heads and be enlisted to shoulder the burden of their souls. When he takes you down the lanes of these fucked up people, which we all are, that empathy he feeds you can be a very bitter pill. Maybe that best sums up Andre Debus III's writing for me, NO SUGAR COATING. And when your medicine is being administered - all his characters struggle with their medicine - you think, a little sugar might go along way. But he's unrelenting in his eye of honesty. And in his own voice reading it to you like so much truth upon truth, it all wounds and heals at the same time. There were moments in this book where I felt I couldn't go on. But by the end, it had ended far too soon, as Crazy Love always does.

dubus is back with intriguing cast of character

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I usually find short stories and the audiobook medium to not lend themselves to each other, as the unchanging narrative voice can mislead the listener into a blending of storylines, themes, and styles. This can’t be said for Dirty Love, in which the four stories contained all revolve around not only the same themes (realistic, frustrated, and trying love), but also build a snapshot of different communities in the Northeast. The novellas and novel as a whole ask the listener/reader to reconsider the societal distractions and sicknesses that dilute the purity of romance and

To the reviewers that had a problem with Dubus’ narration, I thought that his tired, weary, and at times angst driven performance was perfectly fitting for the stories. His distinctive Northeastern drawl matches the setting of the stories, and he guides the listener forward slowly, often pausing to allow us to take in the gravity and implications of its characters, conversely, the age in which we live. I’d especially recommend this to those who enjoyed Townie, as disappointment, disbelief, and devastation that make up these stories can be traced back to the author’s own upbringing.

Love and Indifference

Ok here's what I think worked in this book..... The novellas/ short stories/novel held my interest throughout. The authors desire to delve into the emotions and messiness of romantic relationships was apparent from beginning to end, making the story/stories interesting and somewhat insightful. And many of the characters were well developed and interestng.
Ok......so what I think didn't work so well was this author again decided to narrate his own book. Mr Dubus'111 narration this time, in attempt I believe to avoid the monotone issue of his narration in his memoir Townie, Dubus111 narrates this book in a sing song style that for me is reminiscent of the style of slam poets. I found this narration style distracting and unfortunately not a positive asset to this book.
Also what is going on with so many authors recent works? The endings are non-endings. The "endings"seem to be from the "figure it out for yourself" school of thought. Is it just my imagination that more and more authors now are choosing to end their books this way?
So if I could I'd give this book a solid 3.5. Good, not great.

sadly the narration is a big problem

I honestly feel bad saying that the author of the book, who is a wonderful author, does not do the reading of this justice.

His pace is very laboured and dull and since the book has such a heavy subject matter it is hard to listen to.

If you want to take a nap, listen to this one.

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

I love to listen to books while I'm driving. Unfortunately, this book will not be on my listening list because I'm afraid I'll fall asleep. Even if the book is good, I'll never know because the performer was so dreadful.

What do you think your next listen will be?

Amy Tan's newest

Would you be willing to try another one of Andre Dubus III’s performances?

Never.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Irritation and boredom.

Any additional comments?

I probably would have liked this book, but the performance was so droll and unemotional I couldn't listen. I made several attempts, but got to the point where I was unable to follow the story line because of that irritating voice.

Drone, drone, drone....OmG make it stop.

Just stupid of me - that's all I can say. I've not followed my earlier in life protocol for picking books and I'm highly paying for it. :(

Not His Best Work...

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

Toning down on the oral sex.

What do you think your next listen will be?

Not sure if I will listen to another book by this author. "Sand & Fog" was AWESOME and it got me hooked on this author, but "Dirty Love" was "Down-Right Dirty" to me. IMHO there was too much talk about the young lady and her exploits!

What didn’t you like about Andre Dubus III’s performance?

Narration should have been performed by someone else to keep my attention.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Dirty Love?

The over-the-top and amount of time/effort on the exploits of the young lady.

Any additional comments?

Initially, I was intrigued and liked the book, but as the story developed I lost interest and then got a little disturbing to me.