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Evening (Abridged) Audiobook
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Publisher Description
With two novels and one short story collection published to overwhelming critical acclaim ("Monkeys takes your breath away," said Anne Tyler; "heartbreaking, exhilarating," raved the New York Times Book Review), Susan Minot has emerged as one of the most gifted writers in America, praised for her ability to strike at powerful emotional truths in language that is sensual and commanding, mesmerizing in its vitality and intelligence. Now, with Evening, she gives us her most ambitious novel, a work of surpassing beauty. During a summer weekend on the coast of Maine, at the wedding of her best friend, Ann Grant fell in love. She was twenty-five. Forty years later--after three marriages and five children--Ann Lord finds herself in the dim claustrophobia of illness, careening between lucidity and delirium and only vaguely conscious of the friends and family parading by her bedside, when the memory of that weekend returns to her with the clarity and intensity of a fever-dream. Evening unfolds in the rushlight of that memory, as Ann relives those three vivid days on the New England coast, with motorboats buzzing and bands playing in the night, and the devastating tragedy that followed a spectacular wedding. Here, in the surge of hope and possibility that coursed through her at twenty-five--in a singular time of complete surrender--Ann discovers the highest point of her life. Superbly written and miraculously uplifting, Evening is a stirring exploration of time and memory, of love's transcendence and of its failure to transcend--a rich testament to the depths of grief and passion, and a stunning achievement.
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"If I had to give you my favorite read of all time it would be Susan Minot's book-EVENING. Why? What can I tell you? I read it on a Carribean cruise 12 years ago when and it just affected me so deeply. The story of Ann Grant at different parts of her life. How it was told purely in flashback. How the beginning of the novel still feels like a bit of a mystery to me, how this Ann never quite recovered from that one weekend in her life, yet she lived this enormous life. I think at the time I read this book, I could identify deeply with this type of feeling, and I didn't want anything like that to ever happen to me. Because of this book, it propelled my thinking into more of a 'recovery state' and worked on myself. Books, especially novels sometimes teaches us things our friends miss or we fail to realize without internalizing other characters and their problems. I have read this book 3 times and I ask those I love to read it. Yet, I can't ever seem to get a following with it. The movie that was made did not capture the depth this book had. I normally can enjoy a movie on it's own merit (English Patient translated amazingly into film), but the movie was a sliver of the book weight in gold. Susan Minot is a such a gifte writer. I will always readn anything she writes. m"
— Machel (5 out of 5 stars)
Quotes
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Her best work yet, assured, supple, exhilarating in its nerve and cool momentum
— Joan Didion -
A stunning novel...a powerful story that cuts back and forth in time to give us both the defining moment in a woman's life and an understanding of how that moment has reverberated through the remainder of her days...Her evocation of her heroine's passion for Harris Arden is so convincing, her depiction of the world she inhabits is so fiercely observed...The difference between [Monkeys and Evening] attests to Susan Minot's growing ambition and assurance as an artist
— Michiko Kakutani, New York Times -
An absorbing drama...Minot writes with quiet perceptiveness and grace, pulling thereader into Ann's deathbed reverie
— Elle -
A brilliant lyric performance
— John Casey -
In spare and lovely language, Susan Minot has set forth a real life, in all its particularity and splendor and pain. This is the task of the novelist, and in Evening Minot has succeededadmirably
— Roxana Robinson, New York Times Book Review -
It astounds in its craftsmanship and imprints itself indelibly on the heart...A haunting work of art that moves at the pace of a suspense thriller
— Sheila Bosworth, New Orleans Times-Picayune -
Evening is a beautifully realized work...more mature and confident than anything she has written...An exquisite novel
— Gail Caldwell, Boston Globe -
A wonderful, truthful, heartbreaking book. . .. Evening vindicates the wildest assertions any of us have made about Susan Minot's talent
— Tom McGuane -
Evening is a supremely sensual, sensitive and dramatic novel...So rich in color and motion, music and atmosphere
— Donna Seaman, Booklist -
I was swept up in it...It moved me and made me cry
— D. T. Max, New York Observer
Awards
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A 1998 New York Times Notable Book for Fiction
Evening Listener Reviews
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" This could be a good book - I never finished it because the author doesn't use quotation marks. I couldn't get through it because it was so annoying. "
— Kasey, 1/28/2014 -
" Beautiful imagery, loved all the references to Boston and New England but often slow and sometimes train of thought thinking grew hard to follow. Going to rent the movie now to compare. "
— Mary, 1/21/2014 -
" I hated this book. It was too hard to follow. While I support writers breaking the rules of punctuation if it helps to draw the reader into the writer's mind, all Susan Minot did for me when she broke the rules was trip me up in my reading. Stumble. Stumble. Stumble. The book didn't flow for this reason. I don't know how I made it from beginning to end without giving up, but for some reason I did and finished the book. Of all the books I've ever read, this stands out as the most painful to finish. "
— WillowAtSunset, 12/26/2013 -
" Liked the prose and the looking-back-on-a-life emotion... "
— Jim, 12/24/2013 -
" fantastic book and I'll probably end up like Ann Lord. It's always a sign a book is getting under my skin when I find myself writing down passages and thinking, "I wish I'd written that." "
— Vaughan, 12/11/2013 -
" This was a fast read. A good weekend book. It is a love story where a elderly woman who is on her death bed is reliving her life. It is much better then the movie. "
— Nicole, 11/30/2013 -
" some lovely writing, but it fell emotionally flat "
— Bridget, 11/22/2013 -
" Evening is a beautiful and elegant book taking you on a journey through the life of a woman who is now on her death bed! The book jumps between past and present weaving a tale of finding true love and living a life without it! The book is a quick read, but left me wanting more! "
— Janette, 11/17/2012 -
" Roberta Rubin at the wonderful Book Stall in Winnetka, Illinois, recommended this in her monthly newsletter. As a woman is dying, she remembers her life and loves. Yet, the story is not depressing. The writng is lyrical. I loved this novel. "
— Deb, 11/4/2012 -
" Susan Minot writes beautifully but I found this book overwhelmingly depressing. "
— Lee, 10/13/2012 -
" This book is basically wonderful. It was confusing at first with the switching back and forth between past and present, but still great. The perspective of the dying woman was interesting as well, in addition to what her children were going through. "
— Sarah, 4/26/2012 -
" A story about revisiting your life while on your deathbed. It makes you think, live life to it's fullest with no regrets. "
— Cindy, 2/21/2012 -
" Excellent writing. Too depressing for me. "
— Johannah, 12/1/2011 -
" Stunningly affecting. Sublime use of a close 3rd person POV. "
— Cris, 8/11/2011 -
" I enjoyed how the style of the writing changed based on where you were in Ann's life. I almost felt like I could "see" what Ann was feeling. A great read! I plan on watching the movie now to compare! "
— Kelly, 6/24/2011 -
" Excellent writing. Too depressing for me. "
— Johannah, 5/20/2011 -
" Though the writing is skilled, I am not a fan of the constant flash backs. It is confusing to read and I am struggling to get through it. "
— Cheryl, 4/6/2011 -
" I liked all the references to places I know & love in Maine. "
— Kristi, 3/31/2011 -
" A great book, but difficult to read. Minot truly gets death (as crazy as that sounds) and the book was just lovely. "
— Radhika, 12/19/2010
About Susan Minot
Susan Minot is an award-winning novelist and short story writer whose books include Evening, which was adapted into the feature film of the same name starring Meryl Streep. She attended Brown University and received her MFA degree in creative writing from Columbia University.