Fans of The Power will love this addictive novel' Stylist A masterful speculative novel exploring the fine lines between faith, conspiracy, and mania in contemporary America. While lying in bed next to her husband one night, Claire Devon hears a low hum that he cannot. And, it seems, no one else can either. This innocuous noise begins causing Claire headaches, nosebleeds, insomnia, gradually upsetting the balance of her life, though no obvious source or medical cause ...
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Fans of The Power will love this addictive novel' Stylist A masterful speculative novel exploring the fine lines between faith, conspiracy, and mania in contemporary America. While lying in bed next to her husband one night, Claire Devon hears a low hum that he cannot. And, it seems, no one else can either. This innocuous noise begins causing Claire headaches, nosebleeds, insomnia, gradually upsetting the balance of her life, though no obvious source or medical cause can be found. When she discovers that a student of hers can also hear the hum, the two strike up an unlikely and intimate friendship. Finding themselves increasingly isolated from their families and colleagues, they fall in with a disparate group of neighbours who also perceive the sound. What starts as a neighbourhood self-help group gradually transforms into something far more extreme and with far-reaching, devastating consequences. The Listeners is an exhilarating and erotic novel exploring the seduction of the wild and unknowable, the human search for the transcendent, the rise of conspiracy culture in the West, and the desire for community and connection in our increasingly polarised times.
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Add this copy of The Listeners: a Novel to cart. $3.70, very good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Atlanta rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Brownstown, MI, UNITED STATES, published by HarperAvenue.
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As someone who suffers from frequent migraines, the idea of a woman who is plagued by a constant hum no-one else can hear really resonated with me (no pun intended!). The concept of the story is a great one, when only a select number of people can hear the noise it opens up the door to conspiracy theories and cult leanings and it was fascinating to see the characters descend into madness when their friends and family are unable to empathise with them.
That said, I had a few issues with the book, the first being the characters. I donÃ?Æ'Ã?'Ã?â? 'Ã?Æ'ââ?¬Å¡Ã?â??Ã?¢Ã?Æ'Ã?'Ã?â??Ã?¢Ã?Æ'Ã?¢Ã?¢ââ?¬Å¡Ã?¬Ã?â?¦Ã?¡Ã?Æ'ââ?¬Å¡Ã?â??Ã?¬Ã?Æ'Ã?'Ã?â??Ã?¢Ã?Æ'Ã?¢Ã?¢ââ?¬Å¡Ã?¬Ã?â?¦Ã?¾Ã?Æ'ââ?¬Å¡Ã?â??Ã?¢t think I actually liked any of the characters. Although we obviously feel sorry for Claire as her life falls apart around her, some of the decisions she makes are truly idiotic (particularly in regards to Kyle) and I found myself yelling at my Kindle in frustration with her at times! Her family are also problematic, I'd like to think that if I heard a noise that no-one else could hear but had physical symptoms such as nosebleeds, headaches and insomnia that my family would take me seriously and try to help. Noises that are above a certain frequency that only younger people can hear is a real phenomenon as is Tinnitus so I didn't really understand why Claire's family were so keen to not believe her. Her daughter in particular is really cold and unlikeable and doesn't redeem herself at all throughout the book. The Hummers group is filled with characters, but I didn't feel like we got to know any of them well enough, I actually found it hard to distinguish between them at times.
Another issue that I had with the book was its writing style, the book is written in Claire's perspective throughout but the dialogue is quite rambling and written very 'in the moment'. There's also no punctuation to denote speech (no speech marks) and so it's actually quite hard to tell what is observation from the narrator and what is dialogue. There's a very rambling, over-long chapter in the middle where the Hummers first meet and this is what makes it so hard to get to know the characters as all the dialogue seems quite similar.
The story is quite interesting, although there seemed to be some major plot-holes. Why did no-one just speak out that they could hear the noise publicly rather than starting a secret group about it? As all of their symptoms seemed to happen around the same time I'm sure they would have been taken seriously as a group. I also didn't understand the 'cult' like element with Howard the group leader. We never really saw much evidence that he was taking advantage of them throughout so the end reveal again felt very unrealistic.
Overall, The Listeners is a good premise but its unlikeable characters, clunky dialogue and lack of realism let it down. Thank you to NetGalley & Fourth Estate for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
