Stranger, Father, Beloved
Written by Taylor Larsen
Narrated by Joy Osmanski, Rebekkah Ross and Corey Brill
3/5
()
About this audiobook
“Taylor Larsen creates a powerful and moving story about the fracturing of a family and its descent into chaos. A brilliant debut of self-delusion, and a perfectly flawed male character spiraling downward.” —Huffington Post
An “emotionally intelligent family drama” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review), in the tradition of Tom Perrotta’s Little Children, about a wealthy man who reaches a crossroads after a lifetime of repression, sending his family into a slow spiral towards a breakdown.
When Michael James sees his wife Nancy chatting with a stranger at a party, his intuition tells him that he’s watching her with the man she should have married. He quickly begins a campaign to replace himself within his own family with this other man—who, to him, is worthier, better, and kinder—all so his faithful wife Nancy, his beautiful teenage daughter Ryan, and his young son Max can live the lives they deserve.
While Michael pursues this man’s friendship, Ryan goes through a period of sexual awakening and rebellion and distances herself from her family, and the quiet, weak Nancy becomes increasingly befuddled and frustrated by the behaviors of her husband and daughter. As tension and uncertainty build in their home, the James family slowly unravels.
With the quiet intensity of the film American Beauty and the emotional sensitivity of Lorrie Moore, Taylor Larsen creates a powerful and moving story about the fracturing of a family and its descent into chaos.
Taylor Larsen
Taylor Larsen is a graduate of Columbia University's MFA program in fiction writing. Taylor taught fiction writing at Columbia University as part of the Columbia Artist/Teachers faculty and at The Sackett Street Writers Workshop, as well as literature courses for Pace University. Stranger, Father, Beloved is her first novel. Originally from Alexandria, Virginia, she currently resides in Brooklyn, New York with her husband.
Related to Stranger, Father, Beloved
Related audiobooks
The Daylight Marriage Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5How to Be Safe: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tell Me Who We Were: Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Community Klepto: A Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHis Favorites Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Don't Try To Find Me: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Possessed Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Post-Birthday World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Friendship Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Casebook: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tell Me No Lies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The End of Getting Lost: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Big Brother: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Feast Your Eyes: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5No Touching Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sunshine When She's Gone: A Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Confessions of a Concubine Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAbroad Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5How to Tell Toledo from the Night Sky: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of Falling Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMirror Lake Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Everyone's Pretty Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Girl in the Dark: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5May We Be Forgiven Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Life as a Rat: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Breathe: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The New Republic: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Man Who Shot Out My Eye Is Dead: Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Escape Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5So Much for That Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Literary Fiction For You
The Bell Jar Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Remarkably Bright Creatures: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Demon Copperhead: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes: A Hunger Games Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Parable of the Sower Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tom Lake: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stardust Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Song of Achilles: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Man Called Ove: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Poisonwood Bible Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Yellowface: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Alchemist Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Measure: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Leave the World Behind: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Road Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Picture of Dorian Gray: Classic Tales Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cloud Cuckoo Land: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Name of the Wind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Their Eyes Were Watching God Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Overstory Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dutch House: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of The Oxford Translators' Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The House in the Cerulean Sea Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hang the Moon: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Flowers for Algernon Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5All the Sinners Bleed: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Stranger, Father, Beloved
16 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5I do not understand why this book has nothing but good(ish) reviews. Reading this book was painful for me; not in a good that-really-affected me sort of way, but in a torturous can-this-just-be-over-already kind of way. Its not badly written, but the whole plot was uninteresting and tedious and made me feel depressed.
Thank you to Simon & Schuster for providing me with an advance copy via Goodreads. - Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5This one just didn't do it for me. The characters were thin, colored mostly by their own vanities and regrets. Michael was particularly irritating in his obsession with his road not taken, becoming an academic. I felt like he didn't take any responsibility for his decisions and just spent his time evaluating the physical appearance of women and feeling sorry for himself. The depiction of his mental illness was sort of interesting but it just didn't hold the story together for me.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Taylor Larsen's debut novel STRANGER, FATHER, BELOVED is an odd story of one man's descent into mental illness, and the chaos that results in his marriage and family. Michael James and his family seemingly have it all, but everything is not as it seems to outsiders in their quiet, wealthy community. There are deep wells of unhappiness and anxiety at the heart of this family's life. Larsen tells her story from the shifting viewpoints of all four of the family members (Michael, his wife, their teenage daughter, and their adolescent son). This is a nice touch, which allows us to see the family from different perspectives. There is some fine writing on display, although the dialogue (such as it is) can be stilted at times.But ultimately this was a letdown for me. I didn't find the narrative compelling. Maybe it was the cover image . . . or the publisher's description . . . but I thought I'd be reading something dark and unsettling -- a book that would push me toward some very uncomfortable places. But that mood never really seemed present. The story wasn't very disconcerting, and I didn't feel the tension I think Larsen wanted us to feel. Mostly I found that I wasn't overly interested in these characters, and I didn't much care how things would end.I'm puzzled by the references in the publisher's promotional material to Tom Perrotta and Lorrie Moore, two writers I appreciate. I didn't feel any of the emotional heft, complexity, nuance, warmth, and wit I associate with Perrotta and Moore. Really, nothing about Larsen's novel reminded me of their work.I liked some things Larsen did here, and I look forward to seeing what she writes next, but I didn't find this novel to be a success. It's a flat, awkward book.(Thanks to Gallery Books / Simon & Schuster for an advance e-galley. Receiving a free copy did not affect the content of my review.)