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The Anniversary

Audiobook
36 of 36 copies available
36 of 36 copies available
For fans of Lisa Halliday and Susan Choi, The Anniversary is a simmering page-turner about an ascendant writer, the unresolved death of her husband, and what it takes to emerge on her own
Novelist J.B. Blackwood is on a cruise with her husband, Patrick, to celebrate their wedding anniversary. Her former professor, film director, and cult figure, Patrick is much older than J.B. When they met, he seemed somehow ageless, as all gods appear in the eyes of those who worship them. But now his success is starting to wane, and J.B. is on the cusp of winning a major literary prize. Her art has been forever overseen by him, now it may overshadow his.
For days they sail in the sun, nothing but dark water all around them. Then a storm hits, and Patrick falls from the ship. J.B. is left alone, as the search for what happened to Patrick—and the truth about their marriage—begins.
Propulsive and fiercely intelligent, The Anniversary is exquisitely written with a swift and addictive plot. It's a novel that asks: how legible, in the mind of the writer, is the line between reality and plot? How do we refuse the people we desire? And what is the cost, to ourselves, to others and to our art, if we don't?
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    • Books+Publishing

      February 7, 2023
      The Anniversary is a book that’s hard to describe: the writing is quiet, meandering, full of thoughts on art and the act of creative expression. And yet, it is also compelling and dark, a psychological thriller that makes you want to peel back the layers. The narrator is a writer at the peak of her career, having just won a huge literary prize. On a cruise to celebrate her wedding anniversary, her husband, a lauded filmmaker and her former professor, is washed overboard in a storm. With this she comes undone, unsure of where to go and what to do, or if she can even make art without his influence. The narrator’s voice is interior: she muses on the world around her, compulsively consuming her environment to turn into art. But this means she sometimes has trouble telling what is real, which the author plays with. Scenes are visited and revisited, adding missing details and layers of meaning that cast old arguments in new light. This is a novel about relationships between men and women, parents and children, about how power is exercised in ways large and small. Balancing philosophical tangents, concrete detail and frequent jumps forwards and backwards in time with the driving momentum at the heart of the book is a complicated task, but one that the author almost always manages. Stephanie Bishop is the author of four novels including much-awarded The Other Side of the World, and The Anniversary lives up to the hype. For fans of Rachel Cusk or Siri Hustvedt.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

Languages

  • English

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