Beautyland, MarieHelene Bertino
Beautyland, MarieHelene Bertino
List: $34.99 | Sale: $24.50
Club: $17.49

Beautyland

Author: Marie-Helene Bertino

Narrator: Andi Arndt

Unabridged: 8 hr 56 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/16/2024

Synopsis

At the moment when Voyager 1 is launched into space carrying its famous golden record, a baby of unusual perception is born to a single mother in Philadelphia. Adina Giorno is tiny and jaundiced, but reaches for warmth and light. As a child, she recognizes that she's different: she possesses knowledge of a faraway planet. The arrival of a fax machine enables her to contact her extraterrestrial relatives, beings who have sent her to report on the oddities of earthlings. For years, as she moves through the world and makes a life for herself among humans, she dispatches transmissions on the terrors and surprising joys of their existence. But at a precarious moment, a beloved friend urges Adina to share her messages with the world. Is there a chance she's not alone? A blazing novel of startling originality about the fragility and resilience of life in our universe, Marie-Helene Bertino’s Beautyland is a remarkable evocation of feeling in exile at home and introduces a gentle, unforgettable alien for our times.

About Marie-Helene Bertino

Marie-Helene Bertino is the author of Parakeet, 2 A.M. at The Cat’s Pajamas, and the story collection Safe as Houses. She was the 2017 Frank O’Connor International Short Story Fellow. Her work has received the O. Henry Prize, the Pushcart Prize, the Iowa Short Fiction Award, the Mississippi Review Story Prize, and fellowships from MacDowell, Sewanee, and New York City’s Center for Fiction and has been featured on NPR’s Selected Shorts. She teaches creative writing at NYU and Yale.

About Andi Arndt

Andi Arndt is a professional actor who specializes in narration with an emphasis on audiobooks and e-Learning. She taught acting and voice for the James Madison University School of Theatre and Dance for over a decade, and she has worked full time for WMRA hosting classical music and NPR news programming. When not behind the mic, she can be found at live music venues or planning her next travel adventure.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Ali Do Is Read on January 22, 2024

6 out of 5 stars. this shit has me fucked all the way up. sobbing. bye.......more

Goodreads review by Sydney Books on February 28, 2025

Tender, captivating, and beautifully written. I had no idea what to expect when I picked this up and have to say it was a very pleasant surprise. Made me see humanity in a brand new way.......more

Goodreads review by Geonn on January 07, 2024

It looks like I'm going to be an outlier on this one... it was a very well-written book, it was entertaining and held my interest throughout. I liked the characters, I enjoyed the plot, it was all fine. But my main takeaway was that it was just... generic. A coming of age story about a girl who leav......more

Goodreads review by The Speculative Shelf on February 01, 2024

Bertino skillfully dissects the alien nature of growing up and the complexities of human existence with dry wit, deadpan observational comedy, and incisive insights into life’s little absurdities. This is a rare book where the concept and execution are both pitch perfect. Even if you dropped the fact......more

Goodreads review by Yahaira on December 10, 2023

"Endings are hard." This hit me in just the right way. We see Adina's life, an alien sent to study humans, through vignettes and the observations she faxes back to her home planet. To some of you, that's going to be an immediate yes. To the rest I say: trust Bertino. This is such a quiet and beautifu......more

Quotes

"Andi Arndt narrates a peculiar and poignant coming-of-age story. As Adina navigates growing up, experiencing the highs and lows of childhood and adolescence, Arndt smoothly narrates local and world events and how they do (or don’t) affect Adina. When Adina becomes an adult, her experiences become more mundane—jobs, friends, love, loss—but all are still minutely and dispassionately cataloged by Arndt." - Audiofile Magazine

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