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.
And Again  By  cover art

And Again

By: Jessica Chiarella
Narrated by: Julia Whelan,Joy Osmanski,Rebekkah Ross,Corey Brill
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $17.99

Buy for $17.99

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

In the spirit of Station Eleven and The Age of Miracles, this exciting literary debut novel imagines the consequences when four ordinary individuals are granted a chance to continue their lives in genetically perfect versions of their former bodies.

Would you live your life differently if you were given a second chance? Hannah, David, Connie, and Linda - four terminally ill patients - have been selected for the SUBlife pilot program, which will grant them brand-new, genetically perfect bodies that are exact copies of their former selves - without a single imperfection. Blemishes, scars, freckles, and wrinkles have all disappeared; their fingerprints are different; their vision is impeccable; and, most importantly, their illnesses have been cured.

But the fresh start they've been given is anything but perfect. Without their old bodies, their new physical identities have been lost. Hannah, an artistic prodigy, has to relearn how to hold a brush; David, a congressman, grapples with his old habits; Connie, an actress whose stunning looks are restored after a protracted illness, tries to navigate an industry obsessed with physical beauty; and Linda, who spent eight years paralyzed after a car accident, now struggles to reconnect with a family that seems to have built a new life without her. As all try to reenter their previous lives and relationships, they are faced with the question: How much of your identity rests not just in your mind but in your heart, your body?

©2016 Jessica Chiarella (P)2016 Simon & Schuster

More from the same

What listeners say about And Again

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    88
  • 4 Stars
    132
  • 3 Stars
    85
  • 2 Stars
    27
  • 1 Stars
    10
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    124
  • 4 Stars
    127
  • 3 Stars
    46
  • 2 Stars
    10
  • 1 Stars
    3
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    87
  • 4 Stars
    110
  • 3 Stars
    77
  • 2 Stars
    25
  • 1 Stars
    11

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

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • M
  • 01-16-16

Having chronic illness, I was so intrigued. But...

I got a little more than half way through and realized I disliked every single one of the main characters...and their partners. So I stopped listening. Such a shame. I was so hopeful for this story, and intrigued by its premise. Every one has someone they know and/ or love who is stuck inside a body that doesn't represent who they really want to be because of an illness or disability. This story could have been something that represents people who have a fantasy that a sick body can be made whole again while alive on earth. I liked that the characters were completely imperfect. I also found it interesting that each character needed to go through child like emotions again. Unfortunately, the focus on the negative and selfish thoughts ( not to mention how off putting the many multiple uses of the "F-word" was) left me feeling sad and a little sickened by it.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

22 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Not what I hoped

The writing was good, but I need at least one character I care about. All of these characters were so self-absorbed and selfish, I really didn't care what happened to them. And although the plot was an intriguing idea, there were holes big enough to drive a tank through. The narrators were good, but they couldn't save this story. If you are looking for a mindless beach listen, this would be fine.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

17 people found this helpful

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

A book that asks you how you know who you are

Hannah, David, Linda, and Connie.
Four strangers chosen at random to be stolen from the brink of death given a second chance at life.
They are cloned, and moved into genetically perfect versions of themselves.

But there are unforeseen consequences that come along with the wonder of it all.

Questions are addressed about which parts of ourselves are physical and which are carried with us on a deeper level.

Hannah, an extremely talented artist, seems to have left her muse in her old body.

David has been freed from his old physical addictions but he just picks them back up again.

Linda, who spent 8 years trapped awake in her paralyzed body, is having trouble reconnecting with the world.

Connie too, goes down roads that led to her original destruction.

They all find that a piece of themselves has been lost, that suddenly being a fresh perfect version of themselves comes with some loss and confusion. Reinventing themselves is more than just something physical, and it takes awhile for the rest of them to catch up.

I loved this story. I have imagined a world where something like this would be possible a lot, as an answer to health problems as it was here. Its a popular theme in science fiction.
I enjoyed how in this story, they missed their old imperfections and how they discovered that perfection isn't as wonderful as one would assume because our imperfections are a big part of who we are, they shape us into the person we become throughout the story of our lives.
Of course there is a big upside too: freedom from pain, beauty, a second chance, and the thrill of experiencing everything again for the first time.

The writing was well done, I felt like I was there with the characters, and the narrators were all excellent.

5 stars across the board for this , I recommend it to anyone who finds the subject matter even a little interesting . The story will sweep you up and take you on a journey that will make you think about some big questions, and carry you into the storm to experience all its beauty and pain.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

9 people found this helpful

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

Super depressing story

What disappointed you about And Again?

The description of the story sounded like it would be interesting, but this book was more of a depressing drama than a science fiction story. Didn't like it at all. Very disappointing.

What three words best describe the narrators’s performance?

The various characters were narrated by different people. The narration was ok.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from And Again?

All of it; didn't like the story.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

8 people found this helpful

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

Surprised how much I liked this!

Three terminally ill people and one who was left paralyzed after an accident are given a second chance at life in new cloned bodies. But this book is not really about the science. It's about four people rediscovering who they really are--and what makes them "them." Can they change and become better people? Conversely, can they remain the same even in bodies that did not 'experience' their memories and lives? I was sorry to see it end. Well done, Ms. Chiarella. And very well performed by all four narrators.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful

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

Real Potential Unfulfilled

I was excited to listen to this book because I was anticipating some genuine insights into human nature and the unfolding of a larger "world view," but I found the book very disappointing in these regards. As several other reviewers have noted, the major problem with this novel is that the four main characters are unlikeable people who have been given a second chance at life and are, to my mind, surprisingly ungrateful and wasteful of that chance. They are simultaneously self-absorbed and unself-aware. I think that Ms. Chiarella wanted us to draw certain understandings from the characters' experiences because she came very close to lecturing her readers on what was obvious to us but, oddly enough, not to her characters. It would have been better had she let these life lessons come through more subtly via the evolution of her characters over their first year past Sub-Life. Unfortunately, what might have been a clever and fascinating conceit was quite poorly executed.

About the narration: I love to listen to Julia Whelan read--as long as she is reading female characters. All of her males, however, sound like hoarse old men no matter the age they are supposed to be. Joy Osmanski did a nice job, but Rebekkah Ross and Corey Brill were simply adequate.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

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

There's no "there" there

I kept waiting for something big to happen... And nothing. Very disappointing.
Oh and there's nothing more annoying than to hear a female narrator attempt to "sound" like a male character.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

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

This was more of a Harlequin novel, than Sci-fi.

Kind of a struggle to finish. Was more like a Harlequin novel than Sci-fi. The performances were OK

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

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

thought provoking and utterly heartbreaking

i thought this novel was captivating. following these sad sad people rediscovering life after getting a second chance was actually heartbreaking. their lives before their operations were not ideal....their lives after were kind of worse. it's interesting because you imaging getting a second chance at life would be hopeful and happy and wondrous..and in this novel you see a different side of it. confusion, disappointment and fear. i can't stop thinking about it.

loved it.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

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

Finally! A book that lived up to the hype!

Any time somebody writes a fairly depressing story with characters that have some aspect of unlikablity to them and I really like it, it's a feat! I rarely enjoy a book with unlikable characters and am not really in a mental space for depressing narratives, so the fact that I so enjoyed this novel speaks to the writing and the author's high level of psychological insight.

Don't be put off by what seems to be the sci-fi premise. The story isn't about that, really. It's a story about relationships, what it means to start over (in a rather unusual way) and what that entails, going from dying to healthy, ethics, morality, etc.

Also, four great narrators (one for each of the characters) is a real bonus.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful