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The Bell Jar
- Narrated by: Maggie Gyllenhaal
- Length: 7 hrs and 24 mins
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Meet Dolores Price. She's 13, wise-mouthed but wounded, having bid her childhood goodbye. Beached like a whale in front of her bedroom TV, she spends the next few years nourishing herself with the Mallomars, potato chips, and Pepsi her anxious mother supplies. When she finally rolls into young womanhood at 257 pounds, Dolores is no stronger and life is no kinder. But this time she's determined to rise to the occasion and give herself one more chance before really going belly-up.
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Really disappointing narrator!
- By Jessica Williams on 01-21-12
By: Wally Lamb
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Wonder Boys
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- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 11 hrs and 29 mins
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A wildly successful first novel made Grady Tripp a young star, and seven years later he still hasn't grown up. He's now a writing professor in Pittsburgh, plummeting through middle age, stuck with an unfinishable manuscript, an estranged wife, a pregnant girlfriend, and a talented but deeply disturbed student named James Leer.
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A strong, early Chabon (sounds like grading wine)
- By Darwin8u on 03-09-14
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The Magician's Assistant
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When a gay Los Angeles magician named Parsifal dies suddenly, he leaves behind his heartbroken assistant, Sabine, and a secret past that leads her to Nebraska and a father she never knew he had.
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Patchett Has It
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Breakfast at Tiffany's
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Golden Globe-winning actor Michael C. Hall (Six Feet Under) performs Truman Capote's masterstroke about a young writer's charmed fascination with his unorthodox neighbor, the "American geisha" Holly Golightly. Holly - a World War II-era society girl in her late teens - survives via socialization, attending parties and restaurants with men from the wealthy upper class who also provide her with money and expensive gifts. Over the course of the novella, the seemingly shallow Holly slowly opens up to the curious protagonist.
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"Better to look at the sky than live there"
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By: Truman Capote
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Revenge
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An aspiring writer moves into a new apartment and discovers that her landlady has murdered her husband. Elsewhere, an accomplished surgeon is approached by a cabaret singer, whose beautiful appearance belies the grotesque condition of her heart. And while the surgeon's jealous lover vows to kill him, a violent envy also stirs in the soul of a lonely craftsman. Desire meets with impulse and erupts, attracting the attention of the surgeon's neighbor - who is drawn to a decaying residence that is now home to instruments of human torture.
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Maybe, more Gray then Dark?
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The Walking People
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Greta Cahill never believed she would leave her village in the west of Ireland until she found herself on a ship bound for New York, along with her sister Johanna and a boy named Michael Ward. Labeled a "softheaded goose" by her family, Greta discovers that in America she can fall in love, raise her own family, and earn a living.
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Irish immigratn story
- By Chrissie on 09-10-13
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The Wayward Bus
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In his first novel to follow the publication of his enormous success, The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck's vision comes wonderfully to life in this imaginative and unsentimental chronicle of a bus traveling California's back roads, transporting the lost and the lonely, the good and the greedy, the stupid and the scheming, the beautiful and the vicious away from their shattered dreams and, possibly, toward the promise of the future. This edition features an introduction by Gary Scharnhorst.
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Steinbeck always touches the heart, makes you feel
- By Kelly on 05-08-17
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A Death in Kitchawank, and Other Stories
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Few authors write with such sheer love of story and language as T. C. Boyle, and that is nowhere more evident than in his inventive, wickedly funny, and always entertaining short stories. Here are 14 new tales previously unpublished in book form. By turns mythic and realistic, farcical and tragic, ironic and moving, Boyle's stories have mapped a wide range of human emotions. The stories here reflect his maturing themes.
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Mixed Bag
- By AuntGert on 09-22-20
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Tar Baby
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Jadine Childs is a Black fashion model with a white patron, a white boyfriend, and a coat made out of ninety perfect sealskins. Son is a Black fugitive who embodies everything she loathes and desires. As Morrison follows their affair, which plays out from the Caribbean to Manhattan and the deep South, she charts all the nuances of obligation and betrayal between Blacks and whites, masters and servants, and men and women.
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So good that I'm writing my first Audible review!
- By BL on 12-10-11
By: Toni Morrison
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What listeners say about The Bell Jar
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- anonymous1372
- 08-24-17
Incredible performance of a haunting story
This Audible performance must be one of the best ones out there. The story itself is dark, and her warped way of seeing the world through the "bell jar" is scarily relatable at times. The language and the descriptions she uses are beautiful, sometimes beautifully painful. And the performer, Maggie Gyllenhaal, is a true artist of the genre. She brings out things in this book that I would've never caught on a first read. She makes all the dark, sarcastic, sad, sublime and harrowing aspects of this book come to life. As somebody who has dealt with powerful and debilitating thoughts and perceptions, listening to this book was a profound experience for me.
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29 people found this helpful
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- Ian
- 02-15-16
Stunning
I haven't been to exactly these places in my head but I have been close enough , often enough, that some parts of this astounding work were almost too uncomfortable to listen to.
I expected the sort of florid and meandering poetry of too many of the explorations of "feelings". This is full of the tight prose and focused language of "mind". Even if all you are interested in is the English language you owe yourself this listen.
And if your interested in how the English language should be read out loud, Maggie Gyllenhaal may be one of its best exponents. She reads with rare clarity and inflection. If she doesn't love this book she certainly manages to act out enjoyment, turning the narration from a mechanical to an artistic activity.
It is beautiful, frightening and technically brilliant. You should listen to it now.
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12 people found this helpful
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- Christopher
- 02-16-16
Great performance by Gyllenhaal
Have you listened to any of Maggie Gyllenhaal’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
I've never listened to another performance, but I do know the actress. I bought this book because of her narration, which was fantastic.
Any additional comments?
The story is humorous as well as disturbing. This wasn't a kind of book I'd normally buy, but because of the narrator I was compelled to take a listen. I consider this book well worth my time and credit.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Deborah Talbot
- 01-12-18
Not as good as I remember
I wanted to reread classics, this depressed me though. maybe I waited too long, sad
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- Katie
- 02-10-16
Outstanding
Maggie Gyllenhaal seems perfect for narrating this story and the story itself is outstanding. I loved the variety of characters Esther encounters and her observations and feelings of inequality regarding virginity, marriage, and childrearing. The book is more about looking through the lens of someone suffering from a major depressive episode than feminism though. Definitely one of my favorites.
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- Joni Van Bockel
- 02-23-16
Maggie Gyllenhaal
Would you listen to The Bell Jar again? Why?
I could listen to Maggie's voice over and over again. Her voice is steady and melancholic.
What does Maggie Gyllenhaal bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
Maggie made the character come to life she was calm and steady as the main character slowly drifted into insanity.
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
I didn't quite cry but definitely felt dark and melancholy.
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- Daniel Ugenti
- 01-21-18
slow start
it takes a while to get into, but once she has her breakdown itnecomes much more intriguing.
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- Cheryl
- 08-06-18
A Bit Depressing
My teenage daughter was assigned this book for English class. I am surprised this would be given to high school students. The main character spends the majority of this book in a deep depression. The book is well written and the narration is believable, so these feelings began to invade my feelings and thoughts. I would not recommend this book for teenagers, but for adults who are not learning to cope with hormones, peer pressure, and personal responsibility.
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- Rhia
- 01-05-18
What to say
There are so many things to say about this book, I do not know where to begin...The Times, The early influences, The need for more clarity in the life of Sylvia (prior to reading the book), & the questions that remain. It is written in a very expressive & visual manner. The reader is consistent & steady. I have filled in many details and interpretations from my understand of psychology and the time period. I feel the book would be best as a trilogy. One describing her life, from an observers point of view, begging to end. The Bell Jar as a second, from her perspective. Finally a psychological review. Oh, get rid of the music.
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Story
- Valarie Yruretagoyena
- 06-23-18
Classic read.
Interesting look into the world of mental illness. Interesting how things haven't changed much today.
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