The Answers by Catherine Lacey audiobook

The Answers

By Catherine Lacey
Read by Megan Tusing

Blackstone Publishing 9780374100261
• 9.70 Hours • Unabridged
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In Catherine Lacey’s ambitious second novel we are introduced to Mary, a young woman living in New York City struggling with a body that has betrayed her. All but paralyzed with pain, Mary seeks relief from a New Age-y treatment called Pneuma Adaptive Kinesthesia, PAKing for short. And, remarkably, it works. But PAKing is expensive and Mary is broke. So she scours Craigslist for fast-cash jobs and finds the “Girlfriend Experiment,” the brainchild of an eccentric and narcissistic actor determined to find the perfect relationship—even if it means paying women to fill different roles. Mary is hired as the “emotional girlfriend”—certainly better than the “anger girlfriend” or the “maternal girlfriend”—and is pulled into an ego-driven and messy attempt at human connection. Told in Lacey’s signature spiraling prose, The Answers is full of singular yet universal insights. It is a gorgeous hybrid of the plot- and idea-driven novel that will leave you reeling.

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Summary

Summary

A New York Times Critics’ Top Books of 2017 selection

Longlisted for the Brooklyn Public Library Literary Prize for Fiction

A New York Times Pick of Best New Books in Paperback

Esquire Magazine Best Book of the Year So Far

A Chicago Review of Books Pick of Best of the Year So Far

A New York Times bestseller in paperbacks

A Huffington Post Best Book of 2017

An NPR Best Book of 2017

One of Kirkus Reviews’ Best Books of 2017

A New York Public Library Staff Pick

A Literary Hub Pick of 2017's Notable Books

An Elle Magazine Pick of the 25 Most Anticipated Books by Women for 2017

A BuzzFeed Books Pick for Most Anticipated Books

In Catherine Lacey’s ambitious second novel we are introduced to Mary, a young woman living in New York City struggling with a body that has betrayed her. All but paralyzed with pain, Mary seeks relief from a New Age-y treatment called Pneuma Adaptive Kinesthesia, PAKing for short. And, remarkably, it works.

But PAKing is expensive and Mary is broke. So she scours Craigslist for fast-cash jobs and finds the “Girlfriend Experiment,” the brainchild of an eccentric and narcissistic actor determined to find the perfect relationship—even if it means paying women to fill different roles. Mary is hired as the “emotional girlfriend”—certainly better than the “anger girlfriend” or the “maternal girlfriend”—and is pulled into an ego-driven and messy attempt at human connection.

Told in Lacey’s signature spiraling prose, The Answers is full of singular yet universal insights. It is a gorgeous hybrid of the plot- and idea-driven novel that will leave you reeling.

Editorial Reviews

Editorial Reviews

“A sparkling satire of our era of big data.” — Wall Street Journal
“ A darkly funny, tartly feminist look at the tender state of our bodies and souls in the Information Age…[and] the absurdity of a culture that persists in thinking that enlightenment is a matter of the right purchase, hashtag, or Google search.” —Vogue
“Startling and stunning and compulsively strange…a haunting investigation into the nature of love…As unexpected as it is rich.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Surreal, thought-provoking, and intriguingly untidy.” —Booklist
“Lacey gives her story a fresh, millennial spin in this quirky look at contemporary society.” —Library Journal
“Funny and eerie and idea-dense—a flavor combination that turns out to be addictive.” —New York Times
“The best narrators disappear as you listen. The voice blends so smoothly with the story as the actor skillfully creates characters, manages emotions, and paces drama that the listeners no longer notice they are being red to. Megan Tusing accomplished just this in Catherine Lacey’s second novel The Answers.” —Chicago Tribune (audio review)
“A surprisingly compelling puzzle of a plot involving the Girlfriend Experiment and the way it manipulates its subjects.” —Los Angeles Times
"[A] rumination on what we miss and miss out on when our connections to other human beings are synthetic.” —New Republic
“Lacey writes loneliness and solitude with a profound depth.” —AVClub.com
“Lacey’s eerily brilliant second novel serves as both a disquieting, high-concept cautionary tale and a dark satire about fame, love, abuse, and alienation. If that doesn’t speak to 2017, we don’t know what does.” —Literary Hub
“Digs into the choppy turf beneath a woman’s relationship to her body, her identity, and her search for balance between independence and meaningful relationships…Lacey doesn’t give us answers, but she sure gives us a wild story with a memorable protagonist.” —Shelf Awareness
“A remarkable novel…Lacey displays an exceptional ability to articulate the elusiveness of knowing others, as well as the desire to find meaning and trust within.” —Publishers Weekly (starred and boxed review)

Reviews

Reviews

by Odin 10/9/2018
Narration
Overall Performance
Story

Sexual preferences become complicated with couples interacting.

This book represents a twist on the somewhat common practice of couples role playing for sexual gratification. In an effort to pay for expensive medicine for a rare affliction, Mary, an ambitious lady living in New York, finds herself reacting to the expense by becoming part of a unique role playing group where the women involved play out a role to satisfy various needs of an actor with eccentric notions of what makes up the perfect relationship. Such a story in the talented hands of Katherine Lacey and read with intriguing voices by Megan Tusing, becomes a must listen to book for anyone curious to find out which of the “girlfriends” representing the Emotional type, the angry type, the maternal type et al fulfilling Kurt’s quest for the perfect relationship.

Author

Author Bio: Catherine Lacey

Author Bio: Catherine Lacey

Catherine Lacey is the author of the novels Nobody Is Ever Missing, The Answers, and Pew and the short story collection Certain American States. She has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Whiting Award, the New York Public Library’s Young Lions Fiction Award, and a New York Foundation for the Arts fellowship. She has been a finalist for the Dylan Thomas Prize and the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award and was named one of Granta’s Best of Young American Novelists. Her essays and short fiction have appeared in the New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, the New York Times, The Believer, and elsewhere

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Details

Details

Available Formats : Digital Download, CD, MP3 CD
Category: Fiction
Runtime: 9.70
Audience: Adult
Language: English

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