The Pilot's Wife

A Novel

By: Anita Shreve

Narrated by: Melanie Griffith

Anita Shreve's hauntingly beautiful #1 bestseller and Oprah's Book Club selection about tragedy, grief, betrayal, and the 'impossibility of knowing another person.'
As a pilot's wife, Kathryn has learned to expect both intense exhilaration and long periods alone, but nothing has prepared her for a late-night knock that lets her know her husband has died in a crash.
Until now, Kathryn Lyons's life has been peaceful if unextraordinary: a satisfying job teaching high school in the New England mill town of her childhood; a picture-perfect home by the ocean; a precocious, independent-minded fifteen-year-old daughter; and a happy marriage whose occasional dull passages she attributes to the unavoidable deadening of time.
As Kathryn struggles with her grief, she descends into a maelstrom of publicity stirred up by the modern hunger for the details of tragedy. Even before the plane is located in waters off the Irish coast, the relentless scrutiny of her husband's life begins to bring a bizarre personal mystery into focus. Could there be any truth to the increasingly disturbing rumors that he had a secret life?

Excellent book

The story was wonderful, and Melanie Griffith is very good as the narrator. I'll definitely read more from this author.

Great story, bad narration

Like others have said, the narration is not great and can be annoying at times. I stuck it out though. Maybe the lack of inflection was intentional to make the character sound malaise and a bit whiny. If you can get past that, the story is actually really good. Some of the twists and turns are unexpected and not predictable.

Good story, could have been "more"?

I did enjoy this book, but it seems like there could have been more depth of detail, a longer suspense-building.
And why oh why Melanie Griffith? Great person, S_L_O_W reader. Sped up to 1.25 was perfect.

the mystery ending.

I loved that it gathered momentum. ending was poor. Melanie Griffin should win an audiobook award. she and Tom Hanks are the best readers.

Great story, whiny narrator

I thoroughly enjoyed the story with the authors vivid descriptions and the plot twists. However, I found Melanie Griffith as the narrator to be whiny and challenging to listen to. There was no inflection at key times during the story. No sorrow, no intensity, no intimacy. Her Irish accent was appalling and simply shouldn’t have been attempted. I found myself challenged this connect with the story because of the voice. Definitely a great book to enjoy but perhaps try hard copy or digital.