Your audiobook is waiting…
Things That Happened Before the Earthquake
People who bought this also bought...
-
Mrs. Fletcher
- By: Tom Perrotta
- Narrated by: Finn Wittrock, Carrie Coon
- Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,142
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 1,042
-
Story3.5 out of 5 stars 1,036
Eve Fletcher is trying to figure out what comes next. A 46-year-old divorcée whose beloved only child has just left for college, Eve is struggling to adjust to her empty nest when one night her phone lights up with a text message. Sent from an anonymous number, the mysterious sender tells Eve, "U R my MILF!" Over the months that follow, that message comes to obsess Eve. Before long, Eve's online fixations begin to spill over into real life, revealing new romantic possibilities that threaten to upend her quiet suburban existence.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
As usual for Tom Perrotta, very entertaining!
- By Denise on 12-20-17
-
Manhattan Beach
- A Novel
- By: Jennifer Egan
- Narrated by: Norbert Leo Butz, Heather Lind, Vincent Piazza
- Length: 15 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 3,886
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,561
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 3,556
Anna Kerrigan, nearly 12 years old, accompanies her father to the house of a man who, she gleans, is crucial to the survival of her father and her family. Anna observes the uniformed servants, the lavishing of toys on the children, and some secret pact between her father and Dexter Styles. Years later her father has disappeared, and the country is at war. Anna works at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, where women are allowed to hold jobs that had always belonged to men.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A Narrative of a Girl Diver
- By WillowGirl313 on 10-30-17
-
Sing, Unburied, Sing
- A Novel
- By: Jesmyn Ward
- Narrated by: Kelvin Harrison Jr., Chris Chalk, Rutina Wesley
- Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,162
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,916
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,903
In Jesmyn Ward's first novel since her National Book Award-winning Salvage the Bones, this singular American writer brings the archetypal road novel into rural 21st-century America. An intimate portrait of a family and an epic tale of hope and struggle, Sing, Unburied, Sing journeys through Mississippi's past and present, examining the ugly truths at the heart of the American story and the power - and limitations - of family bonds.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
3.8 Stars
- By j phillips on 01-09-18
-
Little Fires Everywhere
- By: Celeste Ng
- Narrated by: Jennifer Lim
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 26,811
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 24,229
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 24,187
In Shaker Heights, a placid, progressive suburb of Cleveland, everything is planned - from the layout of the winding roads to the colors of the houses to the successful lives its residents will go on to lead. And no one embodies this spirit more than Elena Richardson, whose guiding principle is playing by the rules. Enter Mia Warren - an enigmatic artist and single mother - who arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenage daughter, Pearl, and rents a house from the Richardsons.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Boring and Drawn Out!!!
- By M. Ryder on 10-05-17
-
Everything Here Is Beautiful
- By: Mira T. Lee
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell, full cast
- Length: 13 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 240
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 223
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 221
Two sisters - Miranda, the older, responsible one, always her younger sister's protector; Lucia, the headstrong, unpredictable one, whose impulses are huge and, often, life changing. When their mother dies and Lucia starts hearing voices, it is Miranda who must find a way to reach her sister. But Lucia impetuously plows ahead, marrying a bighearted, older man only to leave him, suddenly, to have a baby with a young Latino immigrant.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Review
- By Sherri H Skalski on 01-30-18
-
My Year of Rest and Relaxation
- By: Ottessa Moshfegh
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,110
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,038
-
Story3.5 out of 5 stars 1,040
Our narrator should be happy, shouldn't she? She's young, thin, pretty, a recent Columbia graduate; she works an easy job at a hip art gallery and lives in an apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan paid for, like the rest of her needs, by her inheritance. But there is a dark and vacuous hole in her heart, and it isn't just the loss of her parents, or the way her Wall Street boyfriend treats her, or her sadomasochistic relationship with her best friend, Reva. It's the year 2000 in a city aglitter with wealth and possibility; what could be so terribly wrong?
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
I love it...
- By Claudia Gallegos on 07-12-18
-
Mrs. Fletcher
- By: Tom Perrotta
- Narrated by: Finn Wittrock, Carrie Coon
- Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,142
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 1,042
-
Story3.5 out of 5 stars 1,036
Eve Fletcher is trying to figure out what comes next. A 46-year-old divorcée whose beloved only child has just left for college, Eve is struggling to adjust to her empty nest when one night her phone lights up with a text message. Sent from an anonymous number, the mysterious sender tells Eve, "U R my MILF!" Over the months that follow, that message comes to obsess Eve. Before long, Eve's online fixations begin to spill over into real life, revealing new romantic possibilities that threaten to upend her quiet suburban existence.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
As usual for Tom Perrotta, very entertaining!
- By Denise on 12-20-17
-
Manhattan Beach
- A Novel
- By: Jennifer Egan
- Narrated by: Norbert Leo Butz, Heather Lind, Vincent Piazza
- Length: 15 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 3,886
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,561
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 3,556
Anna Kerrigan, nearly 12 years old, accompanies her father to the house of a man who, she gleans, is crucial to the survival of her father and her family. Anna observes the uniformed servants, the lavishing of toys on the children, and some secret pact between her father and Dexter Styles. Years later her father has disappeared, and the country is at war. Anna works at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, where women are allowed to hold jobs that had always belonged to men.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A Narrative of a Girl Diver
- By WillowGirl313 on 10-30-17
-
Sing, Unburied, Sing
- A Novel
- By: Jesmyn Ward
- Narrated by: Kelvin Harrison Jr., Chris Chalk, Rutina Wesley
- Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,162
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,916
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,903
In Jesmyn Ward's first novel since her National Book Award-winning Salvage the Bones, this singular American writer brings the archetypal road novel into rural 21st-century America. An intimate portrait of a family and an epic tale of hope and struggle, Sing, Unburied, Sing journeys through Mississippi's past and present, examining the ugly truths at the heart of the American story and the power - and limitations - of family bonds.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
3.8 Stars
- By j phillips on 01-09-18
-
Little Fires Everywhere
- By: Celeste Ng
- Narrated by: Jennifer Lim
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 26,811
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 24,229
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 24,187
In Shaker Heights, a placid, progressive suburb of Cleveland, everything is planned - from the layout of the winding roads to the colors of the houses to the successful lives its residents will go on to lead. And no one embodies this spirit more than Elena Richardson, whose guiding principle is playing by the rules. Enter Mia Warren - an enigmatic artist and single mother - who arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenage daughter, Pearl, and rents a house from the Richardsons.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Boring and Drawn Out!!!
- By M. Ryder on 10-05-17
-
Everything Here Is Beautiful
- By: Mira T. Lee
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell, full cast
- Length: 13 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 240
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 223
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 221
Two sisters - Miranda, the older, responsible one, always her younger sister's protector; Lucia, the headstrong, unpredictable one, whose impulses are huge and, often, life changing. When their mother dies and Lucia starts hearing voices, it is Miranda who must find a way to reach her sister. But Lucia impetuously plows ahead, marrying a bighearted, older man only to leave him, suddenly, to have a baby with a young Latino immigrant.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Review
- By Sherri H Skalski on 01-30-18
-
My Year of Rest and Relaxation
- By: Ottessa Moshfegh
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,110
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,038
-
Story3.5 out of 5 stars 1,040
Our narrator should be happy, shouldn't she? She's young, thin, pretty, a recent Columbia graduate; she works an easy job at a hip art gallery and lives in an apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan paid for, like the rest of her needs, by her inheritance. But there is a dark and vacuous hole in her heart, and it isn't just the loss of her parents, or the way her Wall Street boyfriend treats her, or her sadomasochistic relationship with her best friend, Reva. It's the year 2000 in a city aglitter with wealth and possibility; what could be so terribly wrong?
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
I love it...
- By Claudia Gallegos on 07-12-18
-
Convenience Store Woman
- By: Sayaka Murata, Ginny Tapley Takemori - translator
- Narrated by: Nancy Wu
- Length: 3 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 204
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 190
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 191
Tokyo resident Keiko Furukara has never fit in - neither in her family, nor in school - but when at the age of 18 she begins working at the Hiiromachi branch of national convenience store chain Smile Mart, she realizes instantly that she has found her purpose in life. Delighted to be able to exist in a place where the rules of social interaction are crystal clear (many are laid out line-by-line in the store's manual), Keiko does her best to copy the dress, mannerisms, and mode of speech of her colleagues, playing the part of a "normal" person excellently, more or less.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
So good
- By Louise on 08-07-18
-
The Female Persuasion
- A Novel
- By: Meg Wolitzer
- Narrated by: Rebecca Lowman
- Length: 14 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,157
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,074
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 1,070
Greer Kadetsky is a shy college freshman when she meets the woman she hopes will change her life. Faith Frank, dazzlingly persuasive and elegant at sixty-three, has been a central pillar of the women's movement for decades, a figure who inspires others to influence the world. Upon hearing Faith speak for the first time, Greer--madly in love with her boyfriend, Cory, but still full of longing for an ambition that she can't quite place--feels her inner world light up. And then, astonishingly, Faith invites Greer to make something out of that sense of purpose, leading Greer down the most exciting path of her life as it winds toward and away from her meant-to-be love story with Cory and the future she'd always imagined.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Preachy
- By D. Miller on 05-03-18
-
Stay with Me
- A Novel
- By: Ayobami Adebayo
- Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh
- Length: 8 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 950
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 877
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 875
Yejide and Akin have been married since they met and fell in love at university. Though many expected Akin to take several wives, he and Yejide have always agreed: Polygamy is not for them. But four years into their marriage - after consulting fertility doctors and healers, trying strange teas and unlikely cures - Yejide is still not pregnant. She assumes she still has time - until her family arrives on her doorstep with a young woman they introduce as Akin's second wife.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Unbelievably Powerful!!!
- By M. Ryder on 08-28-17
-
The Mars Room
- A Novel
- By: Rachel Kushner
- Narrated by: Rachel Kushner
- Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 626
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 574
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 572
Featuring original music by Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon! It's 2003 and Romy Hall is at the start of two consecutive life sentences at Stanville Women's Correctional Facility, deep in California's Central Valley. Outside is the world from which she has been severed: the San Francisco of her youth and her young son, Jackson. Inside is a new reality: thousands of women hustling for the essentials needed to survive; the bluffing and pageantry and acts of violence by guards and prisoners alike; and the absurdities of institutional living, which Kushner evokes with great humor and precision.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Amazing novel !
- By Amazon Customer on 06-08-18
-
An American Marriage (Oprah’s Book Club)
- A Novel
- By: Tayari Jones
- Narrated by: Sean Crisden, Eisa Davis
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 12,056
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 10,974
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 10,939
Newlyweds Celestial and Roy are the embodiment of both the American Dream and the New South. He is a young executive, and she is an artist on the brink of an exciting career. But as they settle into the routine of their life together, they are ripped apart by circumstances neither could have imagined. Roy is arrested and sentenced to 12 years for a crime Celestial knows he didn't commit. Though fiercely independent, Celestial finds herself bereft and unmoored, taking comfort in Andre, her childhood friend, and best man at their wedding.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Loved the Story, but...
- By Lisa N. Haynes on 03-01-18
-
The Destroyers
- A Novel
- By: Christopher Bollen
- Narrated by: Graham Halstead
- Length: 18 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 59
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 52
-
Story3.5 out of 5 stars 53
Arriving on the Greek island of Patmos broke and humiliated, Ian Bledsoe is fleeing the emotional and financial fallout from his father's death. His childhood friend Charlie - rich, exuberant, and basking in the success of his new venture on the island - could be his last hope. At first Patmos appears to be a dream - long sun-soaked days on Charlie's yacht and the reappearance of a girlfriend from Ian's past - and Charlie readily offers Ian the lifeline he so desperately needs.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Very Good
- By Joyce on 09-04-17
-
The Ensemble
- A Novel
- By: Aja Gabel
- Narrated by: Rebecca Lowman
- Length: 11 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 92
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 86
-
Story3.5 out of 5 stars 86
Brit is the second violinist, a beautiful and quiet orphan; the viola is Henry, a prodigy who's always had it easy; the cellist is Daniel, the oldest, the angry skeptic who sleeps around; and on first violin is Jana, their flinty, resilient leader. Together, they are the Van Ness String Quartet. In The Ensemble, each character takes the spotlight and picks up the melody, from the group's youthful rocky start through to middle age, through both devastating failures and wild success.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A wonderful journey for musicians
- By Helene Grotans on 07-16-18
-
Home Fire
- A Novel
- By: Kamila Shamsie
- Narrated by: Tania Rodrigues
- Length: 7 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 518
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 479
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 478
Isma is free. After years of watching out for her younger siblings in the wake of their mother's death, she's accepted an invitation from a mentor in America that allows her to resume a dream long deferred. But she can't stop worrying about Aneeka, her beautiful, headstrong sister back in London, or their brother, Parvaiz, who's disappeared in pursuit of his own dream, to prove himself to the dark legacy of the jihadist father he never knew. When he resurfaces half a globe away, Isma's worst fears are confirmed.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
one of most important books of this time
- By N. D. Warren on 11-24-17
-
My Absolute Darling
- A Novel
- By: Gabriel Tallent
- Narrated by: Alex McKenna
- Length: 15 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,317
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,221
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 1,216
Turtle Alveston is a survivor. At 14, she roams the woods along the Northern California coast. The creeks, tide pools, and rocky islands are her haunts and her hiding grounds, and she is known to wander for miles. But while her physical world is expansive, her personal one is small and treacherous. Turtle has grown up isolated since the death of her mother, in the thrall of her tortured and charismatic father, Martin.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Weird and completely underwhelming
- By Chris on 10-10-17
-
The Ninth Hour
- A Novel
- By: Alice McDermott
- Narrated by: Euan Morton
- Length: 8 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 711
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 646
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 653
On a dim winter afternoon, a young Irish immigrant opens the gas taps in his Brooklyn tenement. He is determined to prove - to the subway bosses who have recently fired him, to his badgering, pregnant wife - "that the hours of his life belong to himself alone". In the aftermath of the fire that follows, Sister St. Savior, an aging nun, appears unbidden to direct the way forward for his widow and his unborn child.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
My new fav for 2017! Must listen and read!
- By Taryn on 10-11-17
-
New People
- By: Danzy Senna
- Narrated by: Kristen Ariza
- Length: 6 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 73
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 67
-
Story3.5 out of 5 stars 69
As the 20th century draws to a close, Maria is at the start of a life she never thought possible. She and Khalil, her college sweetheart, are planning their wedding. They are the perfect couple, "King and Queen of the Racially Nebulous Prom". Their skin is the same shade of beige. They live together in a black bohemian enclave in Brooklyn, where Khalil is riding the wave of the first dot-com boom and Maria is plugging away at her dissertation on the Jonestown massacre.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Different!!
- By MsMarsha on 11-17-17
-
My Sister, the Serial Killer
- A Novel
- By: Oyinkan Braithwaite
- Narrated by: Adepero Oduye
- Length: 4 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 639
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 598
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 595
Korede is bitter. How could she not be? Her sister, Ayoola, is many things: the favorite child, the beautiful one, possibly sociopathic. And now Ayoola's third boyfriend in a row is dead. Korede's practicality is the sisters' saving grace. She knows the best solutions for cleaning blood, the trunk of her car is big enough for a body, and she keeps Ayoola from posting pictures of her dinner to Instagram when she should be mourning her "missing" boyfriend.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A unique and enjoyable listen!
- By Dee on 11-24-18
Publisher's Summary
Welcome to LA? Nineties Hollywood gets an Italian makeover in this poignant and ruefully funny coming-of-age novel featuring a teenage girl who's on shaky ground - in more ways than one.
Mere weeks after the 1992 riots that laid waste to Los Angeles, Eugenia, a typical Italian teenager, is rudely yanked from her privileged Roman milieu by her hippie-ish filmmaker parents and transplanted to the strange suburban world of the San Fernando Valley. With only the Virgin Mary to call on for guidance as her parents struggle to make it big, Hollywood fashion, she must navigate her huge new public high school, complete with Crips and Bloods and Persian gang members, and a car-based environment of 99-cent stores and obscure fast-food franchises and all-night raves. She forges friendships with Henry, who runs his mother's movie memorabilia store, and the bewitching Deva, who introduces her to the alternate cultural universe that is Topanga Canyon. And then the 1994 earthquake rocks the foundations not only of Eugenia's home but of the future she'd been imagining for herself.
Critic Reviews
More from the same
What members say
Average Customer Ratings
Overall
-
3.5 out of 5 stars
-
5 Stars4
-
4 Stars6
-
3 Stars2
-
2 Stars2
-
1 Stars2
Performance
-
4.5 out of 5 stars
-
5 Stars7
-
4 Stars3
-
3 Stars3
-
2 Stars0
-
1 Stars0
Story
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
5 Stars5
-
4 Stars5
-
3 Stars1
-
2 Stars2
-
1 Stars0
-
Overall2 out of 5 stars
-
Performance3 out of 5 stars
-
Story2 out of 5 stars
- Nicole Del Sesto
- 01-29-18
Nobody walks in LA
This book was on a number of "best of" lists for 2017.
It caught my attention because I was a young adult in So Cal during the period this book took place. It started pretty strong - a family moves from Italy to the US to "make it" in Hollywood. Mom, Dad, Brother, Sister, Grandma. The book is told from POV of sister, a high school aged girl. There were some really fun reminders about time and place (and some not some fun reminders ... Rodney King, the Northridge earthquake, the OJ car chase.)
I finished this a couple weeks ago and I can't remember the girls name, but she is trying to find herself, and she makes some really odd decisions. The book just kind of fell apart. I think it may have been autobiographical, not really sure but it just wasn't very good. I was glad when it ended.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful