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Title details for Before You Know Kindness by Chris Bohjalian - Available

Before You Know Kindness

by Chris Bohjalian
Susan Denaker
Audiobook
3 of 4 copies available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
3 of 4 copies available
For ten summers, the Seton family—all three generations—met at their country home in New England to spend a week together playing tennis, badminton, and golf, and savoring gin and tonics on the wraparound porch to celebrate the end of the season. In the eleventh summer, everything changed. A hunting rifle with a single cartridge left in the chamber wound up in exactly the wrong hands at exactly the wrong time, and led to a nightmarish accident that put to the test the values that unite the family—and the convictions that just may pull it apart.
Before You Know Kindness is a family saga that is timely in its examination of some of the most important issues of our era, and timeless in its exploration of the strange and unexpected places where we find love.
As he did with his earlier masterpiece, Midwives, Chris Bohjalian has written a novel that is rich with unforgettable characters—and absolutely riveting in its page-turning intensity.
“Few writers can manipulate a plot with Bohjalian’s grace and power.”—The New York Times Book Review
“Chris Bohjalian’s many fans will be glad to know he’s back on the high wire, expertly balancing topical issues with the more timeless concerns of the human heart. His well-drawn, sympathetic characters deepen and intensify the novel’s gripping plot rather than simply serving it. Before You Know Kindness is smart, first-rate storytelling.”—Richard Russo, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Empire Falls

“Once again, Chris Bohjalian dares to tackle the complexities—and complacencies—of modern society at its most vulnerable spot, where the personal clashes with the political, where the private is forced to go public. And once again, he forges a drama that will keep his readers on the edge of their seats...perhaps their conscience as well.”—Julia Glass, winner of the National Book Award for Three Junes
“Chris Bohjalian’s magnificent new novel, Before You Know Kindness, is the best work of fiction I’ve read about an American family since Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club. It is one of the funniest, best-written, most compassionate, most engaging, and flat-out most enjoyable novels I’ve ever read.”—Howard Frank Mosher, winner of the New England Book Award for A Stranger in the Kingdom

“Elegant, refined...a triumph.” —Booklist (starred review)
Also available as a Random House AudioBook, a Large Print edition, and an eBook.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    July 8, 2004

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781415944677
      • File size: 490187 KB
      • Duration: 17:01:13

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Bohjalian's novel takes on a great deal in its pages: Family turmoil, infidelity, child-rearing, the legal system, drug use, and the body's ability to heal are a few of the challenges faced by the Setons. However, no issue is as complex or as explosive as that of animal rights. When animal-rights activist Spencer is accidentally injured by his brother-in-law's hunting rifle, the listener is exposed to a litany of modern trials and witnesses how a family copes with these problems. Susan Denaker is a skilled, capable reader, and the story is largely compelling. Some sections are slow to develop or quick to lecture, but overall the story is diverting. L.B.F. (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine
    • Library Journal

      Starred review from June 15, 2005
      Bohjalian's strengths are clearly evident here as he takes on the opposing viewpoints of deer hunting and vegetarianism/animal rights and entwines them inside the lives of an extended family. Using a New Hampshire summer vacation as his setting for a horrible accident that opens the book in graphic detail, he circles back, around, and forward to the months of anguish, debate, soul-searching, and recovery that follow. The political and moral views of each family member are pulled into a conflict that is made profoundly real and personal. The story may unwind more slowly than usual for the author, but Susan Denaker's reading is outstanding as she captures the clinical realities and the preteenage angst and confusion perfectly. Bohjalian's one oversight may be condensing the amount of therapy and recuperation for other dramatic priorities. Highly recommended. -Joyce Kessel, Villa Maria Coll., Buffalo, NY

      Copyright 2005 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      An accidental blast from a hunting rifle forces a vegan animal rights activist, his closet-carnivore wife, his deer hunter brother-in-law, and his preteen daughter to shed their dysfunction and rediscover kinship. Bohjalian's setup pokes plenty of fun at animal rights activists and vegetarians, and when he finally gets to the premise--our kindness to animals begins with the human animal--some readers may feel a bit manipulated (while others may feel warm and fuzzy). Blair Brown reads this family tale with the right combination of energy and empathy. R.W.S. (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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