The Miranda Obsession

By: Jen Silverman

Narrated by: Rachel Brosnahan, Josh Groban, John Benjamin Hickey, Morgan Spector, Harry Lloyd, Milo Ventimiglia, full cast

Length: 2 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

Emmy Award-winning actress Rachel Brosnahan brings to life a thrilling tale of intimacy and self-invention inspired by one of Hollywood’s most alluring stories of the 1980s. Josh Groban, John Benjamin Hickey, Harry Lloyd, Morgan Spector, and Milo Ventimiglia also star, playing some of the most powerful and famous men of the decade, who fall under Miranda’s enigmatic and captivating spell.

Imagine a 1980s world of sumptuous hotel rooms, restaurants, New York City penthouses, and the powerful men who move easily between these pinnacles of luxury. They are music producers, rock stars, writers, and restaurateurs. They are household names like Billy Joel, Art Garfunkel, Eric Clapton, and Sting. And yet, each man has an entire aspect to his life that he doesn’t talk about publicly—his depression, his rocky marriage, his feelings of shame and failure, his private loss of faith. And now: The phone rings. Imagine the woman who has each of these men at her beck and call. Late at night, on the other end of the line, she projects a confidence and glamour that immediately disarms them. They don’t know her, but she intimately understands the feelings they’ve never articulated to anybody else, and she muses—low and soft, never making them feel uncomfortable—on what it means that they feel this way, and why. When these men talk to Miranda, they never feel alone. And when she talks to them, she feels alive. Before long, they’re giving her insider tidbits—on new mergers, movies, albums, restaurants—and she’s collecting this information like the currency it is. Then she vanishes, sometimes for weeks at a time, while they wait on edge for her to call again.

Her name is Miranda Grosvenor, and the telephone persona that she has invented—a desirable, connected, compassionate, power player—is the person she lives to be. But who is Miranda, really? As the relationships between Miranda and the famous men she calls escalate, it becomes clear that Miranda may not be who she says she is and that her game is no longer a game at all.

Set in the glitzy world of 1980s Hollywood The Miranda Obsession stars Brosnahan as Miranda, along with an A-list cast. By turns enticing and voyeuristic, gripping and empathetic, this complex and nuanced character-driven drama examines the lengths to which we go to achieve intimacy and connection with each other, and the lengths some of us will go to feel something real.

©2022 Vice Media Group LLC, Wingate Media, and Scrap Paper Pictures (P)2022 Vice Media Group LLC, Wingate Media, and Scrap Paper Pictures

Immediately riveting!

This was so good! I came into Audible looking for a completely different kind of book and saw the image and ad for this and decided to explore what it was about. I happened to accidentally start the title playing in the cloud player and before I knew it, literally within a couple of minutes, I was sucked in. Such a great format, the way the story is presented, especially with such a stellar cast of actors! I finished listening in about 4.5 hours—considering the title was released today it’s clear that I was unable to “put it down.” Wonderful job to all who worked to create this! I highly recommend to anyone who enjoys literally any type of story!

OBSESSED with the miranda obsession!

WOW. I was super intrigued by the story so I figured I'd give it a try, and I was hooked from the second I started listening. I literally listened to it in one sitting and my jaw kept dropping at the twists and turns. This is the besssst performance podcast I'd ever heard--because its all about audio! The story fit the medium so well, and the whole time I felt like the sneaky fly on the wall listening in on their calls. This was such a well executed way to tell the story, and the performances were seriously phenomenal. I felt like everything about it was well-crafted and considered—all the way down to the dial tone being used in the theme song! Definitely a must-listen.

No story but excellent execution…

The idea of phone catfishing before the internet (to those who weren’t around be fore the internet) may seem glamorous but this is just a crazy person harassing people and we’re supposed to feel sorry for her because of her low self esteem or some gender based power imbalance? She knew who she was calling and pretended to be someone other than who she was and then was hurt when it turned out her BS wasn’t real. I dunno. I actually knew someone who did this and you have to be a fractured individual in more than one facet of your life to devote this much time and energy to messing with peoples’ heads. Great work by the voice actors but just can’t like this one completely.

Engrossing and captivating

If the story doesn’t reel you in, the performance certainly will. When Buck Henry receives a call from the mysterious Miranda, it feels too good to be true.. but it must be true. She knows everyone and has loads of insider information. She’s so charming and he feels excited every time he hears her voice. Is Miranda who she says she is? Why is she calling?

obsessed!

it's all that it promises and more. I absolutely loved it... I'm totally obsessed now!

Fantastic

This was so interesting and fun. The performance was great too, they hooked me from the very beginning. and ... it's based on a true story, just wow. Give this a listen.

Excellent short story

Way better than expected. Miranda’s voice alone is worth the credit. I’ve never heard or seen that actress before, but she nailed this part. What an excellent and interesting ‘true’ story. Wow

Wow! Stop what you are doing… You have to listen to this!

Wow! This story was amazing. Rachel and cast were all phenomenal. I was never a big fan of podcasts - But this has converted me. The acting - the music - the story - the ending - it was all mind blowing. Kudos to everyone involved in the making of this truly unique production.
If you are looking to be entertained - If you are looking for something different - then download this. I take that back - Who cares what you are looking for… Just download this - I promise you will not be disappointed!!!

wonderfully entertaining

Thank you guys for your work, I enjoyed every second of it. Please keep her alive.

Riveting!

Wow! Especially for those of us who came of age in the 80s, this is a delightful treat. Fun and compelling in format and content, the perfect frothy listen that I was looking for today. I also loved the author’s novel, “we play ourselves.”