Scan barcode
A review by themermaddie
Thank You for Listening by Julia Whelan
5.0
julia whelan i want to kiss your brain on the mouth
i don't even know how to review this, except that i'm often so grateful for books like this that transcend genre for me. not in a genre-crossing way, but in a way that reminds me what books and storytelling and literature are for, and this book does that for me tenfold. it feels like such a privilege to get to experience this cast of characters, these characters who are so real and painfully human, who are the best and the worst of all the complicated things a person can be. this is a story, but it's also just life. it's messy and difficult and hard but somehow whelan makes even these truths romantic and hopeful, and that there are so many ways to love.
julia whelan has been my favourite audiobook narrator for years now, and to be honest i'd been putting off reading her books for ages now because i was worried that her writing might not live up to her narration for me, and it turns out i was worried for nothing. with so many titles under her belt, i shouldn't have worried about whelan's ability to tell a good story. the book format is so smart, i loved the epistolary aspect, the june french interludes, the chapter titles; julia you clever girl! THIS is how you use tropes to subvert convention. her writing is beautiful, her characters all tick exactly the way they should, but perhaps most importantly, the way she reads all of them is such an enormous treat. it's a given that julia whelan's accents and voices are phenomenal, but like her protagonist sewanee says, it's the way that you give yourself into a performance that makes an audiobook really shine, and whelan truly truly gives 1000% every goddamn time. and what a treat it is to feel so close to a voice as beautiful as hers. i really enjoyed her afterword on autobiography, too. extremely self-aware but also enlightening, i loved peeking behind the curtain and hearing the backstory of TYFL. it made for an interesting parasocial threesome between myself, whelan's writing, and her career.
i'm aware that this review is mostly about whelan and not about the contents of the book, but they seem so deeply one and the same to me that it's hard not to talk about her. in her afterword, whelan says that this isn't an autobiography in that sewanee is not her, but it also is in the sense that all books are autobiographies, in that they are written by authors about the things they know. i am grateful and glad for this, because i don't think anyone else could have told sewanee and nick's story the way it needed to be told. i love romance novels for many reasons – fun, spicy, distracting, heartwarming – but this book encapsulates the sum of all of them. if you've read enough of my reviews you'll know that my favourite romance novels also heavily feature grief of some kind, but i think i've been underestimating how much i love hope, too. this book gives me something to believe in, as it were (thank you sewanee).
yeah i don't really know what else to say except that i love this book, it is a comfort that lives deep inside me and should absolutely be listened to, if you are able. or if you've never listened to an audiobook before, this would be an excellent place to start.
i don't even know how to review this, except that i'm often so grateful for books like this that transcend genre for me. not in a genre-crossing way, but in a way that reminds me what books and storytelling and literature are for, and this book does that for me tenfold. it feels like such a privilege to get to experience this cast of characters, these characters who are so real and painfully human, who are the best and the worst of all the complicated things a person can be. this is a story, but it's also just life. it's messy and difficult and hard but somehow whelan makes even these truths romantic and hopeful, and that there are so many ways to love.
julia whelan has been my favourite audiobook narrator for years now, and to be honest i'd been putting off reading her books for ages now because i was worried that her writing might not live up to her narration for me, and it turns out i was worried for nothing. with so many titles under her belt, i shouldn't have worried about whelan's ability to tell a good story. the book format is so smart, i loved the epistolary aspect, the june french interludes, the chapter titles; julia you clever girl! THIS is how you use tropes to subvert convention. her writing is beautiful, her characters all tick exactly the way they should, but perhaps most importantly, the way she reads all of them is such an enormous treat. it's a given that julia whelan's accents and voices are phenomenal, but like her protagonist sewanee says, it's the way that you give yourself into a performance that makes an audiobook really shine, and whelan truly truly gives 1000% every goddamn time. and what a treat it is to feel so close to a voice as beautiful as hers. i really enjoyed her afterword on autobiography, too. extremely self-aware but also enlightening, i loved peeking behind the curtain and hearing the backstory of TYFL. it made for an interesting parasocial threesome between myself, whelan's writing, and her career.
i'm aware that this review is mostly about whelan and not about the contents of the book, but they seem so deeply one and the same to me that it's hard not to talk about her. in her afterword, whelan says that this isn't an autobiography in that sewanee is not her, but it also is in the sense that all books are autobiographies, in that they are written by authors about the things they know. i am grateful and glad for this, because i don't think anyone else could have told sewanee and nick's story the way it needed to be told. i love romance novels for many reasons – fun, spicy, distracting, heartwarming – but this book encapsulates the sum of all of them. if you've read enough of my reviews you'll know that my favourite romance novels also heavily feature grief of some kind, but i think i've been underestimating how much i love hope, too. this book gives me something to believe in, as it were (thank you sewanee).
yeah i don't really know what else to say except that i love this book, it is a comfort that lives deep inside me and should absolutely be listened to, if you are able. or if you've never listened to an audiobook before, this would be an excellent place to start.