Type of bind: Audio Cassette
EAN num: 9781415913116
ISBN number: 1415913110
Label: Books On Tape
Manufacturer: Books On Tape
Quantity: 1
Printing Date: 2004-12
Publishing house: Books On Tape
Sale Popularity Level: 6194617
Studio: Books On Tape
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Product Description:
For ten summers, the Seton family—all three generations—met at their country home in New England to spend a week together playing tennis, badminton, and golf, and savoring gin and tonics on the wraparound porch to celebrate the end of the season. In the eleventh summer, everything changed. A hunting rifle with a single cartridge left in the chamber wound up in exactly the wrong hands at exactly the wrong time, and led to a nightmarish accident that put to the test the values that unite the family—and the convictions that just may pull it apart.
Before You Know Kindness is a family saga that is timely in its examination of some of the most important issues of our era, and timeless in its exploration of the strange and unexpected places where we find love.
As he did with his earlier masterpiece, Midwives, Chris Bohjalian has written a novel that is rich with unforgettable characters—and absolutely riveting in its page-turning intensity.
“Few writers can manipulate a plot with Bohjalian’s grace and power.”—The New York Times Book Review
“Chris Bohjalian’s many fans will be glad to know he’s back on the high wire, expertly balancing topical issues with the more timeless concerns of the human heart. His well-drawn, sympathetic characters deepen and intensify the novel’s gripping plot rather than simply serving it. Before You Know Kindness is smart, first-rate storytelling.”—Richard Russo, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Empire Falls
“Once again, Chris Bohjalian dares to tackle the complexities—and complacencies—of modern society at its most vulnerable spot, where the personal clashes with the political, where the private is forced to go public. And once again, he forges a drama that will keep his readers on the edge of their seats...perhaps their conscience as well.”—Julia Glass, winner of the National Book Award for Three Junes
“Chris Bohjalian’s magnificent new novel, Before You Know Kindness, is the best work of fiction I’ve read about an American family since Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club. It is one of the funniest, best-written, most compassionate, most engaging, and flat-out most enjoyable novels I’ve ever read.”—Howard Frank Mosher, winner of the New England Book Award for A Stranger in the Kingdom
“Elegant, refined...a triumph.” —Booklist (starred review)
Also available as a Random House AudioBook, a Large Print edition, and an eBook.
Amazon.com Review:
If you imagine most writer's bathrooms (and this is probably a mistake) you'd picture damp towels in a clump on the floor, hair in the soap, a few mildewed paperbacks stacked on the counter. But it's impossible to picture Chris Bohjalian's bathroom as anything but an Architectural Digest centerfold: polished counters, not a stray thread on the plush towels, the modulated colors sparked to life by fresh flowers from a neighbor's garden.
Bohjalian's eighth novel, Before You Know Kindness, is a beautifully observed, delicately balanced portrait of a family that could only come from the hands of a tireless craftsman who keeps reaching into his story to straighten the tulips or tuck in a shirttail. It begins with two EMTs leaning over animal rights' activist Spencer McCullough's gushing shotgun wound and winds back through the ordinary days leading up to the extraordinary accident, and then forward again as Spencer and his family come to terms with what has happened. As ambitious as other Bohjalian novels, Before You Know Kindness spirals out to encompass the larger issues of Spencer's political loyalties and the heartless, passionate world of political spin. Some readers may find Bohjalian's style too smooth. Others will relish the completeness of his vision and his obvious tenderness for even the most difficult of his characters. --Regina Marler
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Rated by buyers 
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This book, on the surface, is simple, straightforward and plot-driven. But the real power comes from its understatement. It is a beautifully-written and conceived story that reveals the complexity of human nature and yields a powerful statement about what is important in life. I am a psychotherapist and I have recommended this book to a few of my patients. It shows rather than tells. My favorite Bohjalian book.
Rated by buyers 
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It seemed as thought the author kept repeating himself over and over and the book was boring and predictable. Things started to pick up in the last 1/3 of the book and I became more interested. Not as good as Midwives.
Rated by buyers 
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I was asked to read this book for my job. I started out with high expectations because it was suggested by the community to read. As i go to reading it, i was disgusted on how slow and tiresome it was. I proceded to read it untill i got to chapter 7, and when i found that no plot has even erupted yet. The entire chapter was about a deer. How can a book be seven chapters in, and about 100 pages in, and still have expostition material. this book was terrible and would never suggest to anyone.
Rated by buyers -
I tried to like this book, I tried to read this book...all I ended up doing was yawning & falling asleep. Since I am having trouble sleeping, maybe this is a good book for insomniacs or those going through a major breakup like me. All I can say is I tried!
Rated by buyers -
I have enjoyed Chris Bohjalian's other novels. He usually picks an offbeat topic and sets up a lively family situation surrounding it. However, this novel seems endless, and the main focus gets drowned in wordy descriptions. His dialogue seems stilted and old-fashioned. For all the character development he describes in painstaking detail, you never really get to like any one of them. The book was at least 100 pages too long, and very repetitive. Not his best effort I'm afraid. I will continue to read his other novels, though, as his other novels are more engaging, especially those in very first person.
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