Jillian

A Novel

By: Halle Butler

Narrated by: Halle Butler

The "sublimely awkward and hilarious" (Chicago Tribune), National Book Award "5 Under 35"-garnering first novel from the acclaimed author of The New Me--now in a new edition

Twenty-four-year-old Megan may have her whole life ahead of her, but it already feels like a dead end, thanks to her dreadful job as a gastroenterologist's receptionist and her heart-clogging resentment of the success and happiness of everyone around her. But no one stokes Megan's bitterness quite like her coworker, Jillian, a grotesquely optimistic, thirty-five-year-old single mother whose chirpy positivity obscures her mounting struggles.

Megan and Jillian's lives become increasingly precarious as their faulty coping mechanisms--denial, self-help books, alcohol, religion, prescription painkillers, obsessive criticism, alienated boyfriends, and, in Jillian's case, the misguided purchase of a dog--send them spiraling toward their downfalls. Wickedly authentic and brutally funny, Jillian is a subversive portrait of two women trapped in cycles of self-delusion and self-destruction, each more like the other than they would care to admit.

Great writing and character

Her narration for this book wasn't the best BUT
Halle Butler is a great author and dives into unusual territory. "Jillian" is my favorite of the three of her books, and the character Jillian is, in my opinion, far and away her most interesting creation. Jillian is a personality I have come across quite a few times in life, but one I have rarely seen depicted in fiction, and never so well as the author has done it. I lamented that this book was so short, as I wanted a long novel about Jillian, including her back story, more about her son and Crispy, and what happens next. The other characters didn't interest me. Megan was useful only in how she was the perfect foil for revealing Jillian's character. I felt sorry for Megan, and wanted her to come back when she had more to share. I felt I only saw her surface, and a sad surface it was. But mostly I was disappointed that she took up so much of the book. Hoping to see Jillian 2.0 in a future novel!

Narrator

I really enjoyed the story but the narrator wasn’t my cup of tea....I quit after part 1...I couldn’t go on

It is laughably boring

If you are ok with mundane than this book is for you. You’ll often find yourself asking “why am I still listening to this?” And you’ll be thoroughly disappointed at the awful ending. But you’ll always remember how bland it was!

OK, not as great as The New Me

(Tepid 3.5)

I liked The New Me more. This one was fine but felt a little all over the place, edging on boring at times. I never knew what Megan wanted, and I barely kept track of characters like Randy, Erica, etc. Jillian was a well-drawn character, however. She was the highlight that made me keep reading (listening, rather).

I always like first person perspective more, and this is in third person, so maybe some of my opinion comes just from that. It felt at times like it was a very distant third person, as though I were watching chess pieces move across a board. I had a hard time finding the living, breathing people at the heart of the story. I do like how short Halle Butler’s books are. I can listen to one full story in one half-shift at work, which is cool. And I adore her deadpan narration on the audiobooks. It’s always perfect for the tone of the work in my opinion, and I find it refreshing when an author reads their own writing. The final scene and image was satisfying enough, though it did leave me wondering “what was the point?”

Despite my qualms with this one, I will certainly buy Butler’s next book when it’s available.

Nobody Writes (or Performs) Like Halle Butler

Let me get this out of the way right now – I'm neither a Millennial nor female, but there's something about Butler's writing that speaks to a universal loneliness in 21st century America. Like "The New Me," "Jillian" is a character study rather than a traditional narrative – actually two character studies. The author brilliantly captures the absurdities of the workplace once again. This book is at times laugh out loud funny and deeply penetrating, often at the same time. Her understanding of people's motivations remains sharp and, as the predecessor to "The New Me," this novel contains glimmers of approaches and ideas she put to greater use in the subsequent book. One of the most striking is the occasional "cosmic" observation that she slips in out of nowhere; one that puts all the micro-annoyances of life into perspective. Finally, I'm grateful that Butler performs her audio books – her emphasis and intonations bring the dialogue to life.