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Title details for Chorus by Rebecca Kauffman - Available

Chorus

by Rebecca Kauffman
Elisabeth Rodgers
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
The seven Shaw siblings have long been haunted by two early and profoundly consequential events. Told in turns from the early twentieth century through the 1950s, the story builds as each sibling relays their own versions of the memories that surround both their mother's mysterious death and the circumstances of one sister's scandalous teenage pregnancy. As they move into adulthood, the siblings assume new roles: caretaker to their aging father, addict, enabler, academic, decorated veteran, widow, and mothers and fathers to the next generation.
Entangled in a family knot, the Shaw siblings face divorce, drama, and death while haunted by a mother who was never truly there. Through this lens, they all seek not only to understand how her death shaped their family, but also to illuminate the insoluble nature of the many familial experiences we all encounter—the concept of home, the tenacity that is a family's love, and the unexpected ways through which healing can occur.
Chorus is a hopeful story of family, of loss and recovery, of complicated relationships forged between brothers and sisters as they move through life together, and of the unlikely forces that first drive them away and then ultimately back home.
"With unusual empathy, Rebecca Kauffman elegantly charts the nuanced connections and fractures between family members, crafting her story from fleeting moments, shivers of understanding, always illuminating the sweetness and sorrow that exist in even the smallest detail."—David Connerley Nahm, author of Ancient Oceans of Central Kentucky

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    March 1, 2022

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781705028490
      • File size: 187664 KB
      • Duration: 06:30:57

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from December 20, 2021
      Kauffman’s luminous latest (after House on Fripp Island) showcases her knack for delving into the hearts of her characters. The Shaw family is altered forever after the mother, who took to her bed sometime after the birth of her seventh child, dies in 1933, the result of “mistaking sleeping pills for nervousness pills. So they said. Or the other way around,” according to her two oldest children. In a seamless and sprawling narrative covering the early 20th century through the 1950s, Kauffman poignantly portrays all the Shaw family members, among them Wendy, the oldest, who falls into a caretaker role for her father after the rest of her siblings grow up and leave home; Jack, an alcoholic; Lane, pregnant at 15; and Bette, the youngest, whose husband dies in a freak accident when she is newly pregnant with their second child. Throughout, the author probes the ways the siblings are shaped by their mother’s death, a possible suicide. The siblings’ alliances, particularly that of Jack and Lane, are revealed via vibrant prose, as are family secrets such as the truth about Lane’s pregnancy. It adds up to a superbly executed saga.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Narrator Elisabeth Rodgers gives an extraordinary performance of this perceptive family saga. Set mainly in rural Virginia during the first half of the twentieth century, this exceptional audiobook is composed of linked vignettes that beautifully reveal one family's poignant history. The point of view shifts among the seven adult Shaw children-- Wendy, Sam, Jack, Maeve, Lane, Henry and Bette--and their kindhearted father, Jim. Rodgers provides unique and memorable portrayals of each family member, including several children. While the repercussions of two traumatic events are imprinted in this family's history, it is Rodgers's subtly dramatic pacing and exquisite depictions of everyday struggles, joys, and tribulations that make this audiobook sing. Rodgers's exceptional narration enhances Kauffman's penetrating writing to create a must-listen. M.J. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
    • Library Journal

      August 1, 2022

      Kauffman's (The House on Fripp Island) exquisite fourth novel traces the lives of the seven adult Shaw children, all of whom were irrevocably changed by the tragic death of their mother, Marie. With gentleness and subtlety, narrator Elisabeth Rodgers explores the family members' lives in a series of layered, non-sequential stories, moving from 1903 to 1959. Although Rodgers' voice is measured and calm, she allows glimpses into the family's shared trauma, from youngest daughter Bette, whose anger simmers when she is pigeonholed as a hysterically fragile housewife, to Jack, overwhelmed by alcoholism and rage when his 15-year-old sister Lane becomes pregnant. Throughout the novel, the children dance around the taboo subject of their mother's death, each wondering if she really did mistake sleeping pills for "nervousness pills," or if her "darkness" led her to suicide. The children's individual stories are perfection in themselves, but taken together, they reveal the power of a collective voice that is greater than the sum of its parts. VERDICT This achingly beautiful audiobook is an essential purchase. Share with fans of Anne Tyler, Christina Baker Kline, and Elizabeth Strout, and anyone interested in reflective, character-driven family sagas.--Sarah Hashimoto

      Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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