This Must Be the Place

By: Maggie O'Farrell

Narrated by: Graham Rowat, Saskia Maarleveld

Length: 14 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's Summary

The dazzling new novel from best-selling, award-winning author Maggie O'Farrell, This Must Be the Place crosses time zones and continents to reveal an extraordinary portrait of a marriage.

Meet Daniel Sullivan, a man with a complicated life. A New Yorker living in the wilds of Ireland, he has children he never sees in California; a father he loathes in Brooklyn; and a wife, Claudette, who is a reclusive ex-film star given to shooting at anyone who ventures up their driveway. He is also about to find out something about a woman he lost touch with 20 years ago, and this discovery will send him off course, far away from wife and home. Will his love for Claudette be enough to bring him back?

This Must Be the Place crosses continents and time zones, giving voice to a diverse and complex cast of characters. At its heart it is an extraordinary portrait of a marriage, the forces that hold it together, and the pressures that drive it apart. Maggie O'Farrell's seventh novel is a dazzling, intimate epic about who we leave behind and who we become as we search for our place in the world.

©2016 Maggie O'Farrell (P)2016 Recorded Books

A good story spoiled

What made the experience of listening to This Must Be the Place the most enjoyable?

Maggie Farrell's skilful building of a story and its changes of time and place.

What was one of the most memorable moments of This Must Be the Place?

Bitter-sweet moments when the protagonists were stopped in their tracks by a memory.

What didn’t you like about Graham Rowat and Saskia Maarleveld ’s performance?

I find it intensely irritating when narrators can't pronounce quite simple foreign words properly. SK is clearly neither British nor American and I think one of either of those nationalities would have been better. 'Maman' and so many other instances of mispoken words.This really spoiled my enjoyment of a good story, my attention often being taken by irritating narration.

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

It made me sad for all the chararcters who seemed so lost most of the time.

Any additional comments?

I wish that Maggie Farrell would lose her maddening habit of making long lists of words, sometimes describing the same thing. Perhaps this is her signature?

Annoying Writing Technique

This was a confusing book that jumped all over the place making it irritating and too much work to listen to. I'm reading more and more books lately using this same technique of alternating chapters by time period and POV, making me long for the days when a straightforward story with an even timeline was sufficient and expected. When the book is Audible, the problem is compounded. I don't want to have to work at enjoying a book, I want the book to reach out and embrace me. In addition, the story itself became tedious and dragged on far too long. I couldn't wait for it end.

LOVED this storyline and SM's narration

Admittedly it took me a minute to get pulled in by this story, because I was put off by GR's narration. He sounded like Eeyore... whiny and affected. His voice was so mismatched with Daniel's character but would have been perfect as the Todd character.
SM's reading of Daniel was spot on... gravelly voice and brooding tone... and she nailed the other characters' tones as well.
Maggie O'Farrell's writing is completely addictive, as always... her character development makes me love these people with all their frailties and strengths. I'm worried about what I'll do when I've finished her last book! I love the way she describes anything and everything. The house in Ireland sound magical. I did take exception and winced at her portrayal of Ari's school counselor, as I am a school counselor. Unfortunately, she's not wrong. That type of ego-driven, migsuided, judgey savior type is well represented in my field.
Anyway, I'm still a devoted fan despite the mistaken choice of narrator and her dim view of school counselors (we're not all that stupid). Thank you for sharing your talents with the world Ms. O'Farrell. Looking forward to the next one!

the sound is so bad I couldn't

I stopped for a refund immediately. I am so sad since this would have been my 4th book by this author.

Wonderful book

I truly enjoyed this - and loved the female narrator. Something about the male narrator's reading voice very much annoyed me, though, which is why I can only award three stars for performance.

Liked it?

I tried to Not like this book. But, in the end, I loved it. Persevere !

Solid book

Solid book. Good story, good reader. The story is a little hard to follow time-wise, especially with all the POV and character changes, but I suspect that's an audiobook thing rather than a problem with the book itself. Give it time and it makes sense. I would definitely recommend.
Trigger warning: Eating disorder.

Some narration problems but Maggie O’Farrell is worth it

Wandering story, and I almost stopped listening because of too fast-paced SM narration (wch I hot used to, she’s great) and wholly miscast GR voice for Daniel (inflection and cavalier tone drove me crazy). SM did a far better job speaking as Daniel and it would have been a better listening experience with just her as narrator. .

i have no idea what just happened

i listened to the whole thing hoping there was a payoff for enduring. not really. its good writing piece by piece but not sure whats up with turning the whole thing into a time jump puzzle....doesn't help...
the weird structure annoys rather than enhances.

Most confusing and disappointing book

Very confusing story, way too many characters. What is the point of this story ? I still don’t know …
I want my credit back :-/