The First Bad Man

A Novel

By: Miranda July

Narrated by: Miranda July

The New York Times Bestseller

The “brilliant, hilarious, irreverent, piercing” (O, The Oprah Magazine) debut novel from Miranda July, acclaimed filmmaker, artist, and author of All Fours, a finalist for the 2024 National Book Award for Fiction.

Cheryl Glickman believes in romances that span centuries and a soul that migrates between babies. She works at a women’s self-defense nonprofit and lives alone. When her bosses ask if their twenty-year-old daughter, Clee, can move into her house for a while, Cheryl’s eccentrically ordered world explodes. And yet it is Clee—the selfish, cruel blond bombshell—who bullies Cheryl into reality and, unexpectedly, leads her to the love of a lifetime.

Tender, gripping, slyly hilarious, infused with raging sexual fantasies and fierce maternal love, Miranda July’s first novel confirms her as a spectacularly original, iconic, and important voice today, and a writer for all time.

The book we've been fighting for

Where does The First Bad Man rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Brilliant first novel. Are there really so few that stream the consciousness of lonely people?

What was one of the most memorable moments of The First Bad Man?

whatever moments inspired my meditations on impaired narrators and the readers' superior insight; on how lost souls are driven by biology, since they have no other compass; on how playing games opens one up, and then its not a game.
And the crtical recognition that exactly what we do in bed, the specific acts, with others and with ourselves, emerge from and are continuations of who we are, our wishes, fears and fantasies, and so very important in understanding these things, every bit as important as our speech and our acts, and our non-sexual thoughts and dreams..

Have you listened to any of Miranda July’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

no

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

yes, yes

Any additional comments?

This is, of course, a dirty book, a very dirty book. It could not be otherwise.
Fortunately we are in the hands of a generous author, and all that dirt, and the hot sex, and the other kind, are all in the service of an honest and warm showing of life, and how it works out, rewarding some very satisfying consolations to those who open to it.

Um, like, what did I just listen to?!

To sum up this book- it's a mix of Fight Club and someone's awfully super personal diary. And I liked it.
I never buy a book without combing the reviews first. And I saw that this book was raunchy, and I'm pretty ok with raunchy. But, I have to say, this book made me more uncomfortable than American Psycho... Maybe I have issues, but I'm not here to talk about that. This book was funny- like made me laugh out loud funny. Embarrassing, if anyone saw me, but I couldn't help it. I loved the awkward, dry humor that ran through this whole book. And I liked the story in its self- everything that happened was weird, uncomfortable, funny and made me happy for the lead character. I really do recommend this read.

Original and touching

Complex characters with many inspected neuroses fill this wonderfully bizarre story. If you are a fan of Miranda July, you will love this one. However, this book was incorrectly filed under 'horror'. If you're looking for a horror story, you'll be extremely disappointed... unless you also appreciate the regular life horrors involved in being a human.

Not what I expected, but an interesting story.

Really weird story, but loved the progression and ending.

Great performance by the author. Would recommend.

This book was not the story I expected but it was still good

First off I think the book was very entertaining. The book was also very shocking and parts. I think it had some interesting concepts that I haven't read about before.