The Half Life

By: Jennifer Weiner

Narrated by: Katie Finneran

#1 New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Weiner’s short story, The Half Life, previously published in Redbook magazine is now available on audio.

From Redbook ’s Red-Hot Read series, a short story by the New York Times #1 bestselling author of In Her Shoes and Fly Away Home …

“My life is over,” Piper DeWitt thinks to herself, awaiting departure in the overcrowded International Terminal of the Philadelphia airport for an overseas business trip, to romantic Paris no less. She watched as her husband, Tosh, put his own suitcase into the trunk of a taxi the day before. He’d been telling her for months that he wasn’t happy, and though she still wants to believe it is just a phase, after a call to her mother from the Admiral’s Club, she can no longer deny that he’s left her, left their home, left their four-year-old daughter in her mother’s sole care.

Piper met Tosh when she was only twenty-two, just the way self help books said she would—when she wasn’t looking. Now at forty, she wonders how, through all those years, they’d gotten to this place in their marriage. When her flight is canceled due to volcanic ash spreading from Iceland across Europe, and when a handsome stranger offers her an invitation to share a cab, she realizes she can take a departure from her own life. And after a day of living like a tourist in her own city, she hopes she can still find her way home…

Short story dud! Save the credit.

A good short story opens in the middle of action, this one did but the action was uninteresting. Originally published in a magazine, I found the premise reasonably but the character utterly unbelievable. Weiner did not convince me that Mrs. Piper DeWitt is believable. She failed to make her argument and to create any sort of conflict or tension. The 1 hour and 11 minutes were a meandering and rumination that is best left unread or in this case un-listened. The only bright spot was the narrator. Save the credit and look elsewhere.

Boring...

I have had telephone conversations that are more interesting and longer than this story.
There is no real plot or character development. Just a "pick yourself up and dust yourself off" tale.

Disappointing

I have read all of Jennifer Weiner's books, and have enjoyed them. I was looking forward to listening to this one, but was terribly disappointed. It was too short, and seemed to be a quick book that was written for a deadline. It read more like a magazine story than a book. Too much money for too little content

Didn't realize it was a short story...

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

I'm more interested in novels, people who only need a short story would find this one good.

Didn't realize this was a half book!

Very disappointed. Although this is Weiner's usual formula I'm not sure what I expected other than an entire story.