You Should Have Known

By: Jean Hanff Korelitz

Narrated by: Christina Delaine

Length: 16 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

Listen to the "rollickingly good literary thriller" and New York Times best seller that's the inspiration for the HBO limited series The Undoing, premiering October 25 and starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant (Vanity Fair).

Grace Reinhart Sachs is living the only life she ever wanted for herself. Devoted to her husband, a pediatric oncologist at a major cancer hospital, their young son Henry, and the patients she sees in her therapy practice, her days are full of familiar things: she lives in the very New York apartment in which she was raised, and sends Henry to the school she herself once attended.

Dismayed by the ways in which women delude themselves, Grace is also the author of a book You Should Have Known, in which she cautions women to really hear what men are trying to tell them. But weeks before the book is published a chasm opens in her own life: a violent death, a missing husband, and, in the place of a man Grace thought she knew, only an ongoing chain of terrible revelations.

Left behind in the wake of a spreading and very public disaster, and horrified by the ways in which she has failed to heed her own advice, Grace must dismantle one life and create another for her child and herself.

©2014 Jean Hanff Korelitz (P)2014 Hachette Audio

it progressed so slow

Would you listen to You Should Have Known again? Why?

No. I think I would listen to Admission again, skipping the pregnancy part. However not this book again.

What did you like best about this story?

the plot is interesting, but it progresses so slow that the suspense is damaged. The readers have already guessed a lot of things and are eager to go to the next step, but ...

What about Christina Delaine’s performance did you like?

wonderful

Who was the most memorable character of You Should Have Known and why?

Grace

Any additional comments?

Oh, I searched the internet but can't find the plot summary. I just want to get it finished. The plot is so slow that I am practically driven crazy. If I can find a plot summary, I can skip the rest of the book. Right now I am at 40%, but it takes super-human patience to continue the listening.

Watch The Undoing instead

I watched the fabulous HBO 6 episode series first and then listened on Audible to this book which inspired the series. The series is five stars. The book is 3 stars. The premise is great—but the book didn’t deliver what the series did.

Rich, atmospheric, character driven

I enjoyed the book and the narration was excellent. This is not, however, a thriller (as one review described) and the mystery aspect was not the main focus. This was an atmospheric, emotional journey surrounding a mystery. I might call it the “Big Little Lies” of the upper east side.

Korelitz carefully weaves details into her main theme so that the reader gets to see the clues for themself. The one part that annoyed me was the burgeoning future romance near the end. It felt like pandering in on otherwise emotionally honest book.

Although slow paced and a bit overly slow in a couple spots, I enjoyed it enough to listen straight through.

Awesomely Different

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Yes, I loved how the book kept throwing in new twists. I do not usually read/listen to books of this nature, but this book has left me looking for more.

This was amazing!

Fantastic plot line, great narration. Really enjoyed this book, except for the fact that it had to end.

A great listen that I sped through

What made the experience of listening to You Should Have Known the most enjoyable?

I didn't know anything about the book aside from the basic premise and it was great to experience it without future knowledge. I did find the main character so annoying at times, but I think we were supposed to think she was overly uptight and set in her ways.

What three words best describe Christina Delaine’s voice?

She is a bit breathy for me but I got used to it and it worked!

loved this book

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Slow to grab my interest, but I'm very glad I stayed with it. Once I got into the story, I couldn't put it down (so to speak). Good narrator. Characters very interesting and believable. Twists and turns that were surprising, then made sense.

What was one of the most memorable moments of You Should Have Known?

When Grace met her husband's family.

Which character – as performed by Christina Delaine – was your favorite?

Grace

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

There were so many. one was when Grace and Henry were talking about what had happened.

Any additional comments?

If you get through the dryness of the first half, you will be rewarded!

The real story here isn't in the adultery itself.

The real story here isn't in the adultery itself. It is in the tentacles of where it reaches.

Not the Undoing

I had no idea the TV series is so much different than this original story and, frankly, I prefer the TV version even though the book is also quite good. It makes you ask questions and think on topics that arise out of the story but can exist without it, so the actual plot feels like a background to the real story happening in Grace’s mind. To the narrator: please practice your Scottish accent a bit more or do not attempt it at all as it sounds like a mockery.

Great book

I loved this book, it was way better than the series. I was hesitant to buy it at first but I am glad I did.