Nina: Adolescence: A Novel Audiobook

Quotes

• “There’s…a sly sensuality to Hassinger’s prose, and her attention to Nina’s body can be as loving as it can be ominous…a truly penetrating book…The novel surges forward like a quiet thriller, with Nina at the center, nakedly vulnerable to the forces of grief, neglect, and abuse.”

  — Salon

• “Hassinger’s lovely first novel is elegant, sad, often funny, often unsettling. She writes with such precision and understanding, with mercy but unsparingly, about adolescence, its wonder, horrors, passions—sexuality, family ties, and friendship—that, like all excellent portraits, it is not only about the subject of the portraits themselves, but also about the viewers.”

  — Elizabeth McCracken, author of An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination

• “Eerily seductive…Hassinger perfectly captures the guilt and thirst for affection that compels Nina to pose nude and, eventually, to attend an art exhibit featuring her own adolescent body. Barron’s vocal talents shine her, as well. Though she narrates the story in soft, muted tones, her voice takes on all the uncertainty and rebelliousness of youth…Barron’s skilled, sensitive telling nicely compliments [Hassinger’s] expressive prose, making this an exceptional audio adaptation.”

  — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

• “Hassinger makes Nina’s loss of innocence and plunge into self-destruction chillingly believable. Her graceful, observant prose beautifully captures Nina’s inner world—her guilt, yearning, anger, desire, and joy—while ruthlessly skewering the narcissism of ambitious adults. An unsettling and acutely sensitive debut.”

  — Booklist