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Someone

Audiobook

A fully realized portrait of one woman's life in all its complexity, by the National Book Award–winning author
An ordinary life—its sharp pains and unexpected joys, its bursts of clarity and moments of confusion—lived by an ordinary woman: this is the subject of Someone, Alice McDermott's extraordinary return, seven years after the publication of After This. Scattered recollections—of childhood, adolescence, motherhood, old age—come together in this transformative narrative, stitched into a vibrant whole by McDermott's deft, lyrical voice.
Our first glimpse of Marie is as a child: a girl in glasses waiting on a Brooklyn stoop for her beloved father to come home from work. A seemingly innocuous encounter with a young woman named Pegeen sets the bittersweet tone of this remarkable novel. Pegeen describes herself as an "amadan," a fool; indeed, soon after her chat with Marie, Pegeen tumbles down her own basement stairs. The magic of McDermott's novel lies in how it reveals us all as fools for this or that, in one way or another.
Marie's first heartbreak and her eventual marriage; her brother's brief stint as a Catholic priest, subsequent loss of faith, and eventual breakdown; the Second World War; her parents' deaths; the births and lives of Marie's children; the changing world of her Irish-American enclave in Brooklyn—McDermott sketches all of it with sympathy and insight. This is a novel that speaks of life as it is daily lived; a crowning achievement by one of the finest American writers at work today.
A Publishers Weekly Best Fiction Book of the Year
A Kirkus Reviews Best Fiction Book of 2013
A New York Times Notable Book of 2013
A Washington Post Notable Fiction Book of 2013
An NPR Best Book of 2013
Includes a bonus interview with Alice McDermott and her editor Jonathan Galassi
Program features original music composed specifically for the novel:
Beginnings (W. Armstrong/traditional)

  • You Don't Want to Go Into New York City (W. Armstrong)
  • It Is All Solved by Walking (W. Armstrong)


  • Expand title description text
    Publisher: Macmillan Audio Edition: Unabridged
    Awards:

    OverDrive Listen audiobook

    • ISBN: 9781427213112
    • File size: 223896 KB
    • Release date: September 28, 2013
    • Duration: 07:46:26

    MP3 audiobook

    • ISBN: 9781427213112
    • File size: 223925 KB
    • Release date: September 28, 2013
    • Duration: 07:46:24
    • Number of parts: 7

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    Formats

    OverDrive Listen audiobook
    MP3 audiobook

    subjects

    Fiction Literature

    Languages

    English

    Levels

    Lexile® Measure:1010
    Text Difficulty:6-8

    A fully realized portrait of one woman's life in all its complexity, by the National Book Award–winning author
    An ordinary life—its sharp pains and unexpected joys, its bursts of clarity and moments of confusion—lived by an ordinary woman: this is the subject of Someone, Alice McDermott's extraordinary return, seven years after the publication of After This. Scattered recollections—of childhood, adolescence, motherhood, old age—come together in this transformative narrative, stitched into a vibrant whole by McDermott's deft, lyrical voice.
    Our first glimpse of Marie is as a child: a girl in glasses waiting on a Brooklyn stoop for her beloved father to come home from work. A seemingly innocuous encounter with a young woman named Pegeen sets the bittersweet tone of this remarkable novel. Pegeen describes herself as an "amadan," a fool; indeed, soon after her chat with Marie, Pegeen tumbles down her own basement stairs. The magic of McDermott's novel lies in how it reveals us all as fools for this or that, in one way or another.
    Marie's first heartbreak and her eventual marriage; her brother's brief stint as a Catholic priest, subsequent loss of faith, and eventual breakdown; the Second World War; her parents' deaths; the births and lives of Marie's children; the changing world of her Irish-American enclave in Brooklyn—McDermott sketches all of it with sympathy and insight. This is a novel that speaks of life as it is daily lived; a crowning achievement by one of the finest American writers at work today.
    A Publishers Weekly Best Fiction Book of the Year
    A Kirkus Reviews Best Fiction Book of 2013
    A New York Times Notable Book of 2013
    A Washington Post Notable Fiction Book of 2013
    An NPR Best Book of 2013
    Includes a bonus interview with Alice McDermott and her editor Jonathan Galassi
    Program features original music composed specifically for the novel:
    Beginnings (W. Armstrong/traditional)

  • You Don't Want to Go Into New York City (W. Armstrong)
  • It Is All Solved by Walking (W. Armstrong)


  • Expand title description text
    • Details

      Publisher:
      Macmillan Audio
      Edition:
      Unabridged

      Awards:

      OverDrive Listen audiobook
      ISBN: 9781427213112
      File size: 223896 KB
      Release date: September 28, 2013
      Duration: 07:46:26

      MP3 audiobook
      ISBN: 9781427213112
      File size: 223925 KB
      Release date: September 28, 2013
      Duration: 07:46:24
      Number of parts: 7

    • Creators
    • Formats
      OverDrive Listen audiobook
      MP3 audiobook
    • Languages
      English
    • Levels
      Lexile® Measure: 1010
      Text Difficulty: 6-8
    • Reviews
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