Red Hook Road, Ayelet Waldman
Red Hook Road, Ayelet Waldman
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Red Hook Road

Author: Ayelet Waldman

Narrator: Kimberly Farr

Unabridged: 14 hr 21 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/13/2010

Categories: Fiction, Sagas, Family Life, Women

Synopsis

As lyrical as a sonata, Ayelet Waldman’s follow-up novel to Love and Other Impossible Pursuits explores the aftermath of a family tragedy.

Set on the coast of Maine over the course of four summers, Red Hook Road tells the story of two families, the Tetherlys and the Copakens, and of the ways in which their lives are unraveled and stitched together by misfortune, by good intentions and failure, and by love and calamity.

A marriage collapses under the strain of a daughter’s death; two bereaved siblings find comfort in one another; and an adopted young girl breathes new life into her family with her prodigious talent for the violin. As she writes with obvious affection for these unforgettable characters, Ayelet Waldman skillfully interweaves life’s finer pleasures—music and literature—with the more mundane joys of living. Within these resonant pages, a vase filled with wildflowers or a cold beer on a hot summer day serve as constant reminders that it’s often the little things that make life so precious.

About The Author

AYELET WALDMAN is the author of Daughter’s Keeper, Love and Other Impossible Pursuits, and the New York Times bestseller Bad Mother. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, New York, Elle, Vogue, and other publications, and on Salon.com. She and her husband, the novelist Michael Chabon, live in Berkeley, California, with their four children.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Kelly on May 04, 2014

A sentimental, weepy soap opera of a read about two families dealing with the tragic loss of two children that occurred in one of the more awful ways you can think of. The sort of novel where people heal in literary ways rather than actual ones, and metaphors give us the moral at the end. There were......more

Goodreads review by Jill on June 29, 2010

It's never easy to write about tragic and premature death. Many writers have tried, and have lost their footing, stumbling on the thin obstacles of sentimentality and bathos. The result is a feeling of manipulation on the part of the reader. I'm pleased to state that Ayelet Waldman navigates this to......more

Goodreads review by christa on October 16, 2010

I come to you with, curiously, no complaints about Ayelet Waldman's "Red Hook Road." I believe the fiery ginger has written her best novel to date, possibly the best novel she can write, and it is pretty damn good. This is what literary limbo looks like. It's a place where you read a book, enjoy said......more

Goodreads review by Jessica on October 15, 2010

I like Ayelet Waldman. But I think I have to recognize that I don't like her the way I like someone like Thomas Hardy, for example. I like Hardy's books but I'm not sure he and I would have much to talk about. Whereas I would be really happy to have lunch with Waldman. I like her attitude, I like he......more

Goodreads review by Mindy on December 12, 2010

This was a good read. I loved this paragraph at almost the end of the book: "That was true, Iris would sometimes think, about marriage: it was only a boat, too. A wooden boat, difficult to build, even more difficult to maintain, whose beauty derived at least in part from its unlikelihood. Long ago th......more

Quotes

PRAISE FOR RED HOOK ROAD

"A thoroughly gripping and elegantly written story about love, grief, friendship, and the unexpected ways in which disaster brings families together.  The novel is chockfull of revelations and insights on how people both unravel and manage to find grace under strain."
—Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner


"This beautiful novel shows us how families cope with the most painful kinds of loss and reminds us that even as grief fractures, it can pave the way for unexpected grace."
—Ann Packer, author of The Dive from Clausen’s Pier


"Every day, families are shoved into new realities. Red Hook Road is a masterful imagining of the way a single tragic event impacts the psyches and behaviors and dynamics of two families. Waldman's writing is elegant and riveting."
—Kelly Corrigan, author of The Middle Place "You won't be able to tear yourself away from Waldman's powerful evocation of grief."
—Real Simple


"This engagingly complex examination of two close families is a leap ahead for the essayist and author."
—O, The Oprah Magazine   "[A] lyrical tale of love and loss... Waldman's startling premise--a newly married couple dies in an automobile accident en route to their reception--sets the scene for this searing, soul-searching examination of human emotions and reactions."
—Booklist 


"Readers who enjoy family sagas will find this book a pleasure."
—Library Journal


"A literary puzzle with rich intellectual and emotional rewards... Red Hook Road proves life and art are worth it."
—Bookslut 
 

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