Fresh Complaint, Jeffrey Eugenides
Fresh Complaint, Jeffrey Eugenides
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

Fresh Complaint
Stories

Author: Jeffrey Eugenides

Narrator: Jeffrey Eugenides, Ari Fliakos, Cynthia Nixon

Unabridged: 8 hr 3 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/03/2017


Synopsis

"The theme of complaint extends beyond the title story, but for listeners the key takeaway is the word 'fresh.' Jeffrey Eugenides's fresh writing...showcases his originality and — since he also narrates it — his ability to navigate multiple accents and personalities." — AudioFile Magazine

The first collection of short fiction from Pulitzer Prize-winner Jeffrey Eugenides, author of The Virgin Suicides, Middlesex, and The Marriage Plot.

Jeffrey Eugenides’s bestselling novels have shown him to be an astute observer of the crises of adolescence, self-discovery, family love, and what it means to be American in our times.

The stories in Fresh Complaint explore equally rich­­––­­and intriguing––territory. Ranging from the bitingly reproductive antics of “Baster” to the dreamy, moving account of a young traveler’s search for enlightenment in “Air Mail” (selected by Annie Proulx for Best American Short Stories), this collection presents characters in the midst of personal and national emergencies. We meet a failed poet who, envious of other people’s wealth during the real-estate bubble, becomes an embezzler; a clavichordist whose dreams of art founder under the obligations of marriage and fatherhood; and, in “Fresh Complaint,” a high school student whose wish to escape the strictures of her immigrant family lead her to a drastic decision that upends the life of a middle-aged British physicist.

Narratively compelling, beautifully worded, and packed with a density of ideas despite their fluid grace, these stories chart the development and maturation of a major American author.

More praise for Fresh Complaint:

"It's not a surprise that Cynthia Nixon would be a good audiobook reader. It's surprising that she isn't hired to read every audiobook...Fliakos is endlessly entertaining while never letting theatrics outshine the characters on the page. This collection, Eugenides' first, includes 10 stories spanning three decades of the author's work. Hearing them read in a variety of voices emphasizes the changes in style and point of view that Eugenides has played with throughout his career." — Booklist

"Line by line, paragraph by paragraph, Eugenides writes like a man who is enjoying himself. The feeling is contagious." — Dwight Garner for The New York Times

"As I've noted before, I'd listen to Fliakos read the phone book. You don't get him or Nixon to sign on for short stories unless you have something choice in the way of material. And Eugenides certainly delivers that." — NJ.com

About Jeffrey Eugenides

Jeffrey Eugenides was born in Detroit and attended Brown and Stanford Universities. His first novel, The Virgin Suicides, was published by FSG to great acclaim in 1993, and he has received numerous awards for his work. In 2003, he received the Pulitzer Prize for his novel Middlesex (FSG, 2002), which was also a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and France’s Prix Médicis. The Marriage Plot (FSG, 2011) was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and won both the Prix Fitzgerald and the Madame Figaro Literary Prize. His collection of short stories, Fresh Complaint, is from FSG (2017). Eugenides is a professor of creative writing in the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton.

About Ari Fliakos

Ari Fliakos is an actor with experience in television, radio, film, theater, and voiceovers. His narration of Seth Patrick’s Reviver won an Audie for paranormal fiction. He has narrated Black Site and Tier One Wild by Dalton Fury, as well as Gangster Squad, The Inquisitor, and Shotgun Lovesongs. On screen, he is best-known for his roles in Law & Order, Pills, and Company K.

About Cynthia Nixon

Cynthia Nixon—an Emmy, Tony, and Grammy Award-winning actress—is best known for her role as Miranda Hobbes in the hit HBO Sex and the City series and the films Sex and the City: The Movie and Sex and the City 2. She has read several Earphones Award-winning audiobooks. Her narrations include Emily Giffin's Heart of the Matter and Baby Proof, as well as Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth and Candace Bushnell's Lipstick Jungle.   Her other work includes her film debut in Little Darlings, an Emmy Award-winning guest role in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and her Emmy- and Golden Globe-nominated role as Eleanor Roosevelt in HBO’s 2005 mini-series Warm Springs. Nixon has appeared in the Broadway productions of The Last Night of Ballyhoo, Hurlyburly, Angels in America, and The Heidi Chronicles, among many others. She is a founding member of Drama Dept., a New York theater company.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Andrew on September 19, 2023

I’d really enjoyed the author’s novel Middlesex (where I discovered a dictionary’s worth of words I previously had no knowledge of) so the opportunity to read a bunch of short stories from the hand of this gifted scribbler was something I wasn’t going to pass up. All of these stories have been prev......more

Goodreads review by Erin on October 12, 2017

So disappointing. I found the last story to be just insulting. I expected better.......more

Goodreads review by Claire on March 09, 2021

It's rare that I read a collection of short stories and give it 5 stars. There's nearly always a dud story or two (or more) which bring the rating down. But Fresh Complaint is that rare exception: I loved every story. Okay there were some I loved more than others, but all of them created a unique wo......more

Goodreads review by Beth on October 09, 2017

These were undeniably well-written, but had an undercurrent of misogyny that I didn't like--it's the same feeling I get when reading Updike (see especially: Early Music, Baster, and Fresh Complaint). I also would have preferred if the stories were in date order.......more


Quotes

Editor's Pick - AudioFile

"It’s not a surprise that actress Cynthia Nixon would be a good audiobook reader. It’s surprising that she isn’t hired to read every audiobook. She completely owns the 2 stories she reads...[Ari] Fliakos is endlessly entertaining while never letting theatrics outshine the characters on the page." -Booklist

"
The theme of complaint extends beyond the title story, but for listeners the key takeaway is the word "fresh." Jeffrey Eugenides's fresh writing merges the mundane with the meaningful. "Airmail," with a plot that fuses amoebic dysentery with spiritual enlightenment, showcases his originality and--since he also narrates it--his ability to navigate multiple accents and personalities. ...Cynthia Nixon..performances of ["The Baster"] and her other story, "Complainers," are stellar" - AudioFile

"
I'd listen to Fliakos read the phone book. You don't get him or Nixon to sign on for short stories unless you have something choice in the way of material. And Eugenides certainly delivers that." - NJ.com


Awards

  • Kirkus Reviews Best Books of the Year
  • New York Times Book Review Notable Books of the Year
  • The Guardian (UK) Best Books of the Year
  • NPR Best Book of the Year