Wherever You Go, There They Are

Stories About My Family You Might Relate To

By: Annabelle Gurwitch

Narrated by: Annabelle Gurwitch

A hysterically funny and slyly insightful new collection of essays from New York Times best-selling author Annabelle Gurwitch, about her own family of scam artists and hucksters as well as the sisterhoods, temporary tribes, and show-biz klatches who have become surrogates along the way.

When Annabelle Gurwitch was a child, surrounded by a cast of epically dysfunctional relatives, she secretly prayed that it was all a terrible mistake. Maybe she was a long-lost daughter of Joni Mitchell or a reincarnation of the Russian princess Anastasia. A family of bootleggers, gamblers, and philanderers, the Gurwitches have always been a bit vague on the standard ideal of a loving and supportive family. Their definition includes people you can count on to borrow money from, hold a grudge against, or blackmail. One day, unfortunately, Gurwitch woke up to realize that she'd made similar, if not the same, mistakes as everyone else before her - just in a new zip code. Wherever she went, there they were.

With her wry wit and hard-learned wisdom, Gurwitch explores the inescapable yet rewarding realities of life with her relatives and her Southern Jewish roots as well as her flirtation with surrogate families including theater folk, pet people, the secular humanist brotherhood, a tribe of vegan cosplaying plushies, the "Arbonne sisterhood", and the ladies who brunch at Tel Aviv Gardens Retirement Home in Miami, Florida. She's learned that for better or for worse (you can guess which), it's worth celebrating the traditions, rituals, and recipes that come with a shared mythology and legacy, even if her own inheritance amounts to a small plot of land split between five relatives on an ill-fated sliver of sand known as Massacre Island.

Beautifully written, and filled with surreal yet poignant family moments and social commentary, Gurwitch delivers a provocative treatise on the importance and insanity of family. Wherever You Go, There They Are is a must-listen for anyone who's even occasionally been frustrated by the people they share carbohydrate-laden meals with every year.

©2017 Annabelle Gurwitch (P)2017 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"A smart, edgy writer.... As a memoirist, Gurwitch succeeds by evoking emotions that cut to the core of our humanity, and giving us laughs along the way." (Mort Zachter, Los Angeles Review of Books)

"A vivacious confessional.... The memoir’s madcap joy is the entire Gurwitch clan of scenery chewers.... With her moonshine-smuggling forebears and her brothel matron great-grandmother, Gurwitch joins the shell-shocked ranks of dysfunctional-family chroniclers Augusten Burroughs and Sean Wilsey." (Natalie Beach, O Magazine)

"Sagacious wit and soulful insights with a dash of Nora Ephron." (Cynthia Romanowski, Coast Magazine)

Dated style and feeling

Left the book when the author describes what LGBT means (as if we are daft and she is incredibly smart) haha. Not here for dated books that poke fun at ways in which people identify. Go back to 2009?

I struggled to listen to this until I couldn't l

She has a great voice.. she is animated and funny, sometimes even thought provoking. at other times she talked and talked and talked and I wondered what she was talking about and what is the point? I continued listening, listening, listening and I had to ask myself "how is this story enriching my life?" it wasn't. I had to turn it off. sorry

Helped Me Sleep on a Transatlantic Flight

I struggle to sleep on airplanes, but this helped me drop right off! Dated, uninteresting, and unfunny.