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Twisted Tree: A Novel Audiobook
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(3.00) - 18 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
Hayley Jo Zimmerman is gone. Taken. And the people of the small town of Twisted Tree must come to terms with this terrible event—their loss, their place in it, and the secrets they all carry. In this brilliantly written novel, one girl’s story unfolds through the stories of those who knew her. Among them, a supermarket clerk recalls an encounter with a disturbingly thin Hayley Jo. An ex-priest remembers baptizing Hayley Jo and seeing her with her best friend, Laura, whose mother the priest once loved. And Laura berates herself for all the running they did, how it fed her friend’s addiction, and how there were so many secrets she didn’t see. Hayley Jo’s absence recasts the lives of others and connects them, her death rooting itself into the community in astonishingly violent and tender ways. Kent Meyers, one of the best contemporary writers on the American West, takes us into the complexity of community and offers a tribute to the powerful effect one person’s life can have on everyone she knew.
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"Mesmerizing...anorexic girl is murdered and each chapter relates a story about one of the townspeople who knew her. "
— Dawn (5 out of 5 stars)
Quotes
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“Twisted Tree makes me think of Winesburg and the fine line between plain folks and grotesques—how one day, through the quirks of circumstance, we find ourselves on the other side of that line and wonder how long we’ve been there.”
— Stewart O’Nan -
“[The] characters [are] much visited by sorrows and regrets and the demands of harsh work, but Meyers tells their stories affectingly, warmly, with a keen eye for finely observed detail.”
— Washington Post -
“Opening this beautifully lyrical novel with one of the tensest, most harrowing first chapters in recent memory, Meyers grabs the reader and never lets go…Once you enter Twisted Tree, you’ll be spellbound.”
— People -
“Beautiful and unsettling...The novel is brimming with arresting descriptions, and the western setting is employed to surprising effect…Meyers’s small masterpiece deserves comparison to the work of Raymond Carver, Joy Williams, and Peter Matthiessen.”
— Publisher’s Weekly (starred review) -
“Meyers has great respect for the diversity of his characters’ rich internal lives and experiences…Recommended for readers of good literary fiction set in the American West.”
— Library Journal
Twisted Tree Listener Reviews
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" This was an amazing book. Stories within stories and they all fell together beautifully. Highly recommended! "
— Nancy, 12/19/2010 -
" Dark, disturbing well written words flow out of this book. The author never gave us a break to breathe. Reading this book is like being trapped in a car that has been submerged in an icy lake. "
— Lorna, 11/15/2010 -
" This book was beautifully written, but I almost had to stop reading because there were a couple of stories in which rattlesnakes played a large role and it really gave me the shudders. The chapters are short stories in themselves, all revolving around a town and an event. "
— Lynda, 10/19/2010 -
" Great writing. Not very uplifting topics. "
— Shelly, 4/13/2010 -
" This book was more like a bunch of short stories that were connected by a thin thread. It was hard to keep all of the people straight because everything happened over about 20 or 30 years, but without a straight timeline. "
— Claire, 4/13/2010 -
" Short stories making up a novel. All characters touched big/small by murdered girl. "
— Monica, 3/29/2010 -
" It's misleading to call this loosely connected short story collection a novel. The stories are dull & uninspiring though nicely written. "
— Jenn, 3/10/2010 -
" story told from multiple viewpoints but all revolving around a serial murderer who targets anorexic young girls - sort of stream of consciousness "
— Beth, 1/21/2010
About Kent Meyers
Kent Meyers is the author of The Work of Wolves, Light in the Crossing, The River Warren, and The Witness of Combines. A finalist for the PEN/West Award, he is a recipient of an ALA Alex Award, two Minnesota Book Awards, and a Mountains and Plains Booksellers Association Award. He lives in Spearfish, South Dakota, where he teaches at Black Hills State University.
About various narrators
Tavia Gilbert is an acclaimed narrator of more than four hundred full-cast and multivoice audiobooks for virtually every publisher in the industry. Named the 2018 Voice of Choice by Booklist magazine, she is also winner of the prestigious Audie Award for best narration. She has earned numerous Earphones Awards, a Voice Arts Award, and a Listen-Up Award. Audible.com has named her a Genre-Defining Narrator: Master of Memoir. In addition to voice acting, she is an accomplished producer, singer, and theater actor. She is also a producer, singer, photographer, and a writer, as well as the cofounder of a feminist publishing company, Animal Mineral.