The First Bad Man

Publisher's Summary

From the acclaimed filmmaker, artist, and best-selling author of No One Belongs Here More Than You, a spectacular debut novel that is so heartbreaking, so dirty, so tender, so funny - so Miranda July - that listeners will be blown away.

Here is Cheryl, a tightly-wound, vulnerable woman who lives alone, with a perpetual lump in her throat. She is haunted by a baby boy she met when she was six, who sometimes recurs as other people's babies. Cheryl is also obsessed with Phillip, a philandering board member at the women's self-defense nonprofit where she works. She believes they've been making love for many lifetimes, though they have yet to consummate in this one.

When Cheryl's bosses ask if their 21-year-old daughter Clee can move into her house for a little while, Cheryl's eccentrically ordered world explodes. And yet it is Clee - the selfish, cruel blond bombshell - who bullies Cheryl into reality and, unexpectedly, provides her the love of a lifetime.

Tender, gripping, slyly hilarious, infused with raging sexual obsession and fierce maternal love, Miranda July's first novel confirms her as a spectacularly original, iconic, and important voice today, and a writer for all time. The First Bad Man is dazzling, disorienting, and unforgettable.

©2015 Miranda July (P)2015 Simon & Schuster

Couldn't stop listening

Miranda July is amazing at crafting and performing this hypnotic story that explores the idea of desire. Highly recommend it.

11 of 11 people found this review helpful

I feel bad for the next book I listen to.

I feel bad for the next book I listen to. It will most likely get an unfair "meh" review because it's following something so brilliant.

The author narrates. I'm not sure anyone else could have done the it justice. 5 stars is a puny rating for the perfection of her narration.

Recommend.

10 of 10 people found this review helpful

Um, like, what did I just listen to?!

To sum up this book- it's a mix of Fight Club and someone's awfully super personal diary. And I liked it.
I never buy a book without combing the reviews first. And I saw that this book was raunchy, and I'm pretty ok with raunchy. But, I have to say, this book made me more uncomfortable than American Psycho... Maybe I have issues, but I'm not here to talk about that. This book was funny- like made me laugh out loud funny. Embarrassing, if anyone saw me, but I couldn't help it. I loved the awkward, dry humor that ran through this whole book. And I liked the story in its self- everything that happened was weird, uncomfortable, funny and made me happy for the lead character. I really do recommend this read.

8 of 8 people found this review helpful

A real Surprise for me!

I am a huge Audio book fan. My favorite kinds are horror, thrillers, and I'm a sucker for "Best Sellers". This was very mistakenly classified under Horror and I am confused as to why I even chose it. But, I am really happy I did. I also usually stay away from authors reading their own books because I've been disappointed SOO many times but Miranda did an amazing job. In a way this is the most bizarre book I've read, but in a true to life way....not the way horror books are unreal in a sense. I laughed and made funny faces throughout the book, but I truely enjoyed this book!

7 of 7 people found this review helpful

A good story for the open-minded- weird and poetic

A 'coming-of-age' story of sorts about a woman 'finding herself' in her early 40's. Interesting, weird, and poetic. Not my usual kind of book, but I actually liked the characters and enjoyed it overall. I'd give it a 3.5 if I could.

7 of 7 people found this review helpful

Amazing!

Miranda July is amazing! Her narrating her own book was perfect! Top 10 for 2015

6 of 6 people found this review helpful

The book we've been fighting for

Where does The First Bad Man rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Brilliant first novel. Are there really so few that stream the consciousness of lonely people?

What was one of the most memorable moments of The First Bad Man?

whatever moments inspired my meditations on impaired narrators and the readers' superior insight; on how lost souls are driven by biology, since they have no other compass; on how playing games opens one up, and then its not a game.
And the crtical recognition that exactly what we do in bed, the specific acts, with others and with ourselves, emerge from and are continuations of who we are, our wishes, fears and fantasies, and so very important in understanding these things, every bit as important as our speech and our acts, and our non-sexual thoughts and dreams..

Have you listened to any of Miranda July’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

no

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

yes, yes

Any additional comments?

This is, of course, a dirty book, a very dirty book. It could not be otherwise.
Fortunately we are in the hands of a generous author, and all that dirt, and the hot sex, and the other kind, are all in the service of an honest and warm showing of life, and how it works out, rewarding some very satisfying consolations to those who open to it.

13 of 14 people found this review helpful

Yes, yes, yes.

Miranda July really has a thing for writing about everyday people but in the most shocking, interesting, and detailed of ways. This more than anything I've read or watched of hers had what I've come to love about her unique literary voice with the added perk of it being a novel where so much more exploration and depth could be mined. The way she writes comedic moments is so unlike anything I've seen, unexpected, hilarious, and weird (but in a good way). On top of that, while I worried there might be just a bunch of dry humor without going any deeper, she did go deeper, and made me feel a lot of things. Cheryl and Clee are characters I'll never forget. The way the book unfolds, the ways you can feel so many conflicted emotions about certain scenes, characters, and resolution is what makes it such a rich satisfying read. I can't wait to go back and read it again and again.

P.S. Miranda July's narration was also top notch, it's a treat to hear her gravelly calming voice impart the story to you with such subtlety and care.

18 of 20 people found this review helpful

Original and touching

Complex characters with many inspected neuroses fill this wonderfully bizarre story. If you are a fan of Miranda July, you will love this one. However, this book was incorrectly filed under 'horror'. If you're looking for a horror story, you'll be extremely disappointed... unless you also appreciate the regular life horrors involved in being a human.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

OK I admit... I Love this Author, this Book

Quirky... YES! Weird...Maybe. And oh how I loved this book. The main character is a woman many of us have known in our lives. Perhaps we've wondered how this woman might live her private life. Ms. July fleshes her odd-ball main character out in a most interesting and loving idiosyncratic way. She treats each of her characters with kindness and exposes their vulnerabilities in a gentle way; she teases apart their edges and delivers to her readers (listeners) the essence of their soul.
Some of my favorite lines from the book ..."She wanted it more than he did, this made her lower than him; there was no way to knock down a woman who was already lying on the ground"........"her face shaking with regret about things she had not nipped while they were still in the bud"
Genius, right? Yea.

9 of 10 people found this review helpful