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Wit's End: A Novel Audiobook
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(2.02) - 686 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
"[A] delightful and eccentric new tale"(The Boston Globe) from the author of the runaway bestseller The Jane Austen Book Club In Karen Joy Fowler's newest novel, the bestselling author of The Jane Austen Book Club once again delivers top-notch storytelling, creating characters both oddball and endearing in a voice that is utterly and memorably her own. Wit's End is a clever, playful novel about finally allowing oneself to grow up-with a dash of mystery thrown in. At loose ends and weary from her recent losses-the deaths of an inventive if at times irritating father and her beloved brother-Rima Lansill comes to Wit's End, the home of her legendary godmother, bestselling mystery writer Addison Early, to regroup...and in search of answers. For starters, why did Addison name one of her characters-a murderer-after Rima's father? But Addison is secretive and feisty, so consumed with protecting her famous fictional detective, Maxwell Lane, from the vagaries of the Internet that-rumor has it- she has writer's block. As one woman searches for truth, the other struggles to control the reality of her fiction. Rima soon becomes enmeshed in Addison's household of eccentrics: a formerly alcoholic cook and her irksome son, two quirky dog-walkers, a mysterious stalker, the tiny characters that populate Addison's dollhouse crime-scene replicas, and even Maxwell Lane himself. But, wrapped up in a mystery that may or may not be of her own creation, Rima discovers to her surprise that the ultimate solution to this puzzle is the new family she has found at the house called Wit's End. Playfully exploring the blurred boundaries between reality and virtual reality, fiction and fact, Karen Joy Fowler subverts the whodunit and gives us a thoroughly modern meta-mystery with wit, warmth, and heart.
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"I liked The Jane Austen Book Club, so I went ahead and picked up this second offering by the same author. A young woman goes to California after the death of her brother, the last of her family, and stays with her estranged godmother, a famous mystery writer who builds miniatures of the murders in her books. Strange but good. Deserves a second reading."
— Sarah (4 out of 5 stars)
Quotes
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“What strikes one first is the voice: robust, sly, witty, elegant, unexpected and never boring. Here is a novelist who absolutely comprehends the pleasures of imagination and transformation.”
— New York Times Book Review -
“She has a voice like no other, lyrical, shrewd and addictive, with a quiet deadpan humor that underlies almost every sentence.”
— Newsday -
“Insightful and engaging.”
— School Library Journal
Wit's End Listener Reviews
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" So far I'm halfway through and still waiting for something to happen-i'm not sure if I'll finish this one. "
— Debbie, 2/8/2014 -
" It was set in Santa Cruz, just across the bay from my home, but there was no real sense of place. "
— Dee, 2/8/2014 -
" BOOK 36 OF 2009 - I think I like Karen Joy Fowler because she writes the way I think. It is sort of round-about storytelling, but it works so perfectly. You can see the story weaving together as the book progresses, but its not just a linear "story starts, story has middle, story has ending" progression. I really liked this book! "
— Lara, 2/5/2014 -
" Blah! There was no story for this story. "
— Rebecca, 1/27/2014 -
" Maybe I wasn't in the right mood for this book, but I found myself scanning ahead and not really completely absorbed in the story. The dream scenes were a bit strange and the obsession with Maxwell Lake a bit ridiculous. Saying that, I thought there are some good bones to this story, and it is nicely written, it just didn't grab me. "
— Shelley, 1/19/2014 -
" Terrific, terrific, terrific. Fowler does it again. Great stuff. Probably my second favorite of hers, after The Sweetheart Season. Made me quite nostalgic for Santa Cruz (the setting of the story), which I haven't been back to since c. 1992. "
— Beth, 1/14/2014 -
" Even the fact that the setting was Santa Cruz couldn't make up for the fact that this book just doesn't work. "
— Brooke, 1/13/2014 -
" Easy & entertaining read "
— Jean, 1/2/2014 -
" Wit's End was fascinating, amusing, and delightful. The characters and the setting were interesting and engrossing. I did think the ending was a tiny bit of a let down, but it's because I didn't really want the story to end. I just wanted it to continue. "
— Tressa, 12/2/2013 -
" This was a choppy and kind of hard to follow book. But was so quirky and appealed to my morbid sense of humor so I kept reading and it came together by the end. "
— Carolyn, 11/28/2013 -
" Good book. I really got a kick out of the way this woman writes. She has a great voice. The story was pretty good, but I kind of wished for more somehow. I think I'll try to read something else of her's because I loved the style so much. I need a better story from her. "
— Megan, 11/20/2013 -
" Loved it . . . very clever plot devices and excellent interior monologues. "
— Christina, 3/29/2013 -
" 3.5 - I don't know how to rate this book. I found it readable, but very odd. Admittedly, I felt somewhat the same way about the Jane Austen Book Club, her other title. This one is weirder, though. "
— Karen, 5/27/2012 -
" It's not that bad. It's a detective story without a murder. "
— Nick, 4/22/2012 -
" I just couldn't follow the plot lines. I read whole chapters several times over - and couldn't figure it out. "
— Laura, 2/13/2012 -
" Forced myself to finish this book, but it just wasn't enjoyable. The characters were interesting, but the plot doesn't go anywhere. "
— James, 9/21/2011 -
" was expecting light entertaining fluff, and all i am getting so far is meh. "
— Anner, 8/22/2011 -
" Could not get into this book. Characters not engaging, and the prose was frankly confusing. "
— Tobin, 7/31/2011 -
" Absolutely full of great, funny, perceptive lines, but not so much of a great story. "
— Anna, 5/11/2011 -
" This book was hard to follow and really didn't capture my interest. At times, it seemed choppy and all the interwoven characters -- "real" and "fictional" -- could have been more interesting than they were. "
— Carrie, 5/6/2011 -
" Really wish I could use half-stars on this site; I'd probably give this book a 3.5. Enjoyed it a lot more than the author's "The Jane Austen Book Club." "
— Kate, 3/24/2011 -
" Forced myself to finish this book, but it just wasn't enjoyable. The characters were interesting, but the plot doesn't go anywhere. "
— James, 1/23/2011 -
" Confusing ... many plot lines and yet they do not meet in a cohesive/complimentary way. At least for me... think I will need to re-read when I am not stressed by family holiday. "
— Karmen, 12/28/2010 -
" Hmm...I read this. I focused. I still don't understand a thing about this book or any of its characters. <br/> <br/> "
— Judith, 11/23/2010 -
" So far, I liked her first book (or at least the first book of hers that I read) the best. This one had humor and some really good lines in it, and was well-written, but I was somewhat frustrated by it. There didn't seem to be much of a plot or even forward motion to the story. "
— Kristina, 11/5/2010 -
" I READ ABOUT 1/2 OF THIS BOOK AND DECIDED THAT IT WAS NOT GETTING ANY BETTER. I CAN'T BELIEVE SOMEONE PUBLISHED IT. "
— Andrea, 9/15/2010 -
" Didn't much care for the story, the writing ... it was a chore to read "
— Marti, 9/12/2010 -
" This book was just too confusing. I finally gave up half way thru. "
— Diane, 6/10/2010
About Karen Joy Fowler
Karen Joy Fowler is the author of The Jane Austen Book Club, which was on bestseller lists nationwide and spent thirteen weeks on the New York Times list. Along with her first two novels, it was a New York Times Notable Book. Sister Noon, her third novel, was a finalist for the prestigious PEN/Faulkner Award.
About Bernadette Dunne
Bernadette Dunne is the winner of numerous AudioFile Earphones Awards and has twice been nominated for the prestigious Audie Award. She studied at the Royal National Theatre in London and the Studio Theater in Washington, DC, and has appeared at the Kennedy Center and off Broadway.