The Inseparables, Stuart Nadler
The Inseparables, Stuart Nadler
List: $27.99 | Sale: $19.59
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The Inseparables
A Novel

Author: Stuart Nadler

Narrator: Caitlin Kelly

Unabridged: 11 hr 24 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/19/2016

Synopsis

One of Kirkus' Best Books of 2016: Crisis is looming for three generations of the Olyphant family.

In less than a year, Henrietta has lost her husband and nearly all of her money, and is about to lose her hard-won anonymity. After a lifetime spent trying to outrun the humiliation her own book caused her, Henrietta has reluctantly agreed to a reissue of The Inseparables, the salaciously filthy and critically despised bestseller she wrote decades earlier.

At the same time, her daughter, Oona, has moved back home to the house that Henrietta needs to sell. Oona is in the middle of a divorce from her husband, Spencer, a corporate-law refugee, stay-at-home dad, and unapologetic stoner. And Oona's teenage daughter, Lydia, away at boarding school, is facing an onslaught of scrutiny and shame when a nude photo of her goes viral.

The trouble only gets worse: Henrietta makes an upsetting discovery about her late husband; Oona embarks on a disastrous affair; and Lydia must deal with an ex-boyfriend who is determined to wreak havoc. Over the course of a few tumultuous days, the Olyphant women must come to terms with their past and try to reimagine their future.

Incisive, moving, and wickedly funny, The Inseparables examines what happens when our most carefully constructed ideas about our lives unravel, and we begin to reinvent ourselves -- and our family -- anew.

About Stuart Nadler

Stuart Nadler is a recipient of the 5 Under 35 Award from the National Book Foundation. A graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where he was awarded a Truman Capote Fellowship and a Teaching-Writing Fellowship, he was also the Carol Houck Smith Fiction Fellow at the University of Wisconsin. He is the author of the story collection The Book of Life.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Jennifer on August 18, 2016

Sex and shame have gone hand in hand for much too long. This is the theme to Stuart Nadler's The Inseparables. He has fabulously written three generations of women whose lives have all arrived at this sadly familiar intersection. Although some parts were hard to read (trigger warnings: (view spoiler)[camera phone (hide spoiler)]......more

Goodreads review by Shawn on September 09, 2016

The premise of this novel is brilliant: three generations of strong women, all reckoning with sexuality and human connection at their particular stage of life. Henrietta, 70, recently widowed, a pioneering women's studies prof before marriage, the author of a smutty novel in the early days of said m......more

Goodreads review by Carole on August 16, 2016

A man who can write women, huh? I'm not convinced by Stuart Nadler. The women were not like any women I know. I would guess that Nadler is overrated with his Iowa Workshop background. The descriptions of Massachusetts cold weather are nice. Some of the characters are suspect cliches -- the man in th......more

Goodreads review by Lauren on July 27, 2016

Loved this book. Not sure I would compare it to The Interestings. The three generations of the women who held the story together. Even the side characters were a pleasant surprise.......more

Goodreads review by Cheryl on November 01, 2020

Oona is an overworked orthopedic surgeon who has just left her ex-lawyer now stoner husband, Spencer, and is living with her mother, Henrietta,who had penned a sexScapade book back when.. and forever regrets it. Henrietta has just lost her husband which is another reason why Lydia is living with her......more

Quotes

PRAISE FOR THE INSEPARABLES:

"In this beguiling novel, three generations of articulate, self-aware women fall to pieces...With a fine understanding of women and a delicate wit, Nadler shepherds all three [women] through grief and humiliation and out the other side."
—Kim Hubbard, People

"There is much to enjoy about this book. I laughed out loud at scenes...but the most memorable moments examine the intricacies of familial love--the bonds between mothers and daughters, men and women, boys and girls...[Nadler's writing is] carefully rendered, unpretentious and always with the reader's satisfaction on the front burner."—Ann Leary, The New York Times Book Review

"THE INSEPARABLES is funny and sad and so wise about so many things--sex in the modern age, feminism, food, ambition, animals, marriage, mothers and daughters. Fathers and daughters too, for that matter. Weeks after finishing this gorgeous novel, I'm still thinking about the wonderful Olyphant women in all their complexity."—J. Courtney Sullivan, New York Times bestselling author of Maine and The Engagements

"It's a testament to Stuart Nadler's powers of empathy that I identified with all three generations of women in this witty and wise tale of female trouble and family mayhem."—Lucinda Rosenfeld, author of I'm So Happy for You and The Pretty One

"THE INSEPARABLES accomplishes the rare feat of being both timely--this is an incisive commentary on our culture in the digital age--and completely timeless. Stuart Nadler is sharply attuned to the ironies of life and his novel is insightful, funny, and deeply moving. THE INSEPARABLES is a profound story, not just about the Olyphant women, but about America. This is proof that Nadler is one of the great novelists of our generation."—Elliott Holt, author of You Are One of Them

"THE INSEPARABLES reminded me of vintage Michael Chabon in all the right ways: keenly observed, raucously funny, and poignantly painful. The masterful prose sparkles and shines. But what makes THE INSEPARABLES so damn good are the perfectly realized characters, all popping off the page in 3-D. A great, great book."
—Nickolas Butler, internationally bestselling author of Shotgun Lovesongs and Beneath the Bonfire

"THE INSEPARABLES is a mature, sophisticated, self-assured, deeply entertaining piece of fiction. As I read it I couldn't stop saying to myself: now this is exactly how a book should work."—Jami Attenberg, New York Times bestselling author of The Middlesteins and Saint Mazie

"At turns funny, thoughtful, and heart wrenching, THE INSEPARABLES is a deeply satisfying sage of mothers and daughters, sure to be a hit with book clubs. Stuart Nadler writes with clear-eyed confidence, keen insight, and great empathy for his characters."
—Jonathan Evison, author of The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving and West of Here

"Stuart Nadler is an incredible writer--insanely smart and funny, confident and compassionate--and THE INSEPARABLES is a deeply moving and morally complex novel that pulls off the high-wire act of being both a brilliant examination of the psychological relationship between art and privacy, and a flat-out page-turner. Nadler writes with all the wit of Bellow and the psychological depth of Ozick. An extraordinary new novel by a writer with endless talent."
—Molly Antopol, author of The UnAmericans

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