Willing: A Novel Audiobook

" Some really good, honest stuff about relationships and the mania of break-ups. Reminded me in spots of Saul Bellow. Spencer has a real talent for descriptive one liners. There are dozens of beautiful phrases throughout. Hard to believe with all that said, this is a book about a writer going on a sex tour. It's really not that salacious. It's more about people and observed behavior. And the obsessions of the flesh. So many strings were left hanging at the end, it's hard for me to give this a higher grade. And the mother showing up was not a welcome diversion. It was sort of like tossing in a plot element from Three's Company. But there's so much to like here otherwise, it didn't bother me much. "

" An exciting start with some beautiful passages describing lovemaking and sex as well as descriptions of places but a poorly held together narrative and a preposterous ending made this a disappointing read. "

" Fun fun! It's a book about high-end sex tourism. And Scott Spencer dedicated it to his mother. Just that should pique your interest. "

" The writing is great: fluent, tons of sharp metaphors rolling off the page, and tremendously insightful. The story can't fail to engage curiosity, given that it explores sexual mores through the experiences of a hard-up writer who is gifted the chance to participate in an up-market sex tour. But the constant self reflection that floods the book begins to feel a bit self indulgent and I found myself wondering at times if this was more a study of neurosis than an investigation of male libido. The twists and turns of the story start to strain credulity too, as one unexpected event after another impacts the 'tour' group - and the ending was a real stretch, almost feeling like Spencer had decided he had to get the damn thing finished and off to the publisher. Good, highly readable, but not great. "

" Unlike the book reviewers of Scott Spencer's latest work, I enjoyed most of this novel, but found the end to be a bit unconvincing. "

" I am going to read everthing this man has written. "

" For the love of god, people, USE QUOTATION MARKS! They are a functional tool of the English language, they are not optional! "

" It's okay. Drags on a bit. "

" The plot -- Avery Jankowsky is a down on his luck writer, when suddenly his uncle sends him on an international sex tour, and Avery thinks his luck is changing for the better -- had real possibilities, but as is so often case, the author managed to wreck it. A disappointment. "

" yuk - an author goes on a sex tour. Don't get me wrong if it was a good sex book I'd eat it up like candy but it was stupid. "

" Easy, great read...leaves you with a lot of questions, maybe a good thing. We had it as a bookclub book...it lead to great discussion... Very interesting topic...would recommend picking it up for sure... "

" This book is about a loser of a New York City journalist who goes on a "sex tour" of Iceland, Norway and Latvia. Despite the supposedly titillating premise, the book is not very interesting. I did finish it to see what happens. His Jewish mother shows up and chastises him for doing the tour. "

" Starts out fast of drops off quickly toward the end. So much so that you almost don't care what happens. Of the recently published one-word-title novels I've read, I'd recommend Fieldwork over Willing. "

" This reads as if it was written by someone who has never had commerce with a prostitute before (or was trying to convince others of that). I am not convinced the author was writing about what he knows. "

" Guy goes on a "sex tour" of various countries. He plans on writing a story about it, so isn't as into actually having sex with all the prostitutes, but almost ends up succumbing to the insanity. "

" No likable characters, I don't understand why it is so popular. "

" Horrible book. Painful to read. "