Ratings24
Average rating3.4
From the author of THE PUSH, a pageturner about four suburban families whose lives are changed when the unthinkable happens--and what is lost when good people make unconscionable choices The Loverlys sit by the hospital bed of their young son who is in a coma after falling from his bedroom window in the middle of the night; his mother, Whitney, will not speak to anyone. Back home, their friends and neighbors are left in shock, each confronting their own role in the events that led up to what happened that terrible night: the warm, altruistic Parks who are the Loverlys' best friends; the young, ambitious Goldsmiths who are struggling to start a family of their own; and the quiet, elderly Portuguese couple who care for their adult son with a developmental disability, and who pass the long days on the front porch, watching their neighbors go about their busy lives. The story spins out over the course of one week, in the alternating voices of the women in each family as they are forced to face the secrets within the walls of their own homes, and the uncomfortable truths that connect them all to one another. Set against the heartwrenching drama of what will happen to Xavier, who hangs between death and life, or a life changed forever, THE WHISPERS is a novel about what happens when we put our needs ahead of our children's. Exploring the quiet sacrifices of motherhood, the intuitions that we silence, the complexities of our closest friendships, and the danger of envy, this is a novel about the reverberations of life's most difficult decisions.
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read for the tarot readathon 2023: the tower
i really lovees this story and even though it is a slower drama, i really resonate with the themes and the writing. ashley audrain truly knows how to keep me engaged. i do think there were too many perspectives and if there were less this would have been a full 5 star.
Was so so so excited for this after The Push being one of my all-time favorites. This one was just as masterful in getting inside a mother's head. The women in this book were all dealing with a tragedy of some sort, and some of it was very heavy to read, particularly with infertility. I loved Rebecca and Blair's POVs, Whitney's I found boring but necessary, Mara's felt boring and unnecessary. Her chapters I did not enjoy in the slightest. I also had an issue with the story hopping around. I love different timelines but this one was confusing, jumping around even within chapters. This was very slow, but the last 75 pages pack a punch, and the last line of this book is so chilling, once again.
Strong content warning for miscarriage. If that is a triggering subject for you, I would suggest skipping this book.
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Sadly, this one did not live up to The Push, but I still look forward to reading more from Audrain in the future.