A Widow's Story

A Memoir

By: Joyce Carol Oates

Narrated by: Ellen Parker

Unlike anything Joyce Carol Oates has written before, A Widow’s Story is the universally acclaimed author’s poignant, intimate memoir about the unexpected death of Raymond Smith, her husband of forty-six years, and its wrenching, surprising aftermath. A recent recipient of National Book Critics Circle Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award, Oates, whose novels (Blonde, The Gravedigger’s Daughter, Little Bird of Heaven, etc.) rank among the very finest in contemporary American fiction, offers an achingly personal story of love and loss. A Widow’s Story is a literary memoir on a par with The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion and Calvin Trillin’s About Alice.

Not worth a credit

Being a recent widow I wanted to see if there were pearls of wisdom. What I got was a who's who of her friends and her jet set lifestyle. It felt very pretentious and tended to be just her whining about insomnia. Really disappointing

Wonderful Narration

Where does A Widow's Story rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Possibly the best for narration -- at least in the top 3. Overall, the book itself, however, was a great disappointment. I don't think I'd have finished it had the narration not been so so good.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

Disappointment

Which scene was your favorite?

If you're looking for inspiration look elsewhere

But if you want to follow a realistic journey into and almost through a heartbreaking tragedy then read on., for it is a reassuring story in one sense only, that survival is possible.

Realistic!

I lost my own husband almost 9 months ago and I found this book to be the most reflective of my own experience that I ever read. The pain was intense, the confusion and inability to function were true and the insights were spot on. Since my husband and I had lived in Montana for the first three years of our marriage ever so far away from our home in Massachusetts, I greatly appreciated her observation of the intense bond that happens between two people when they live so far away from home and what an impact that makes on the rest of their lives.

Mixed feelings . . .

While I enjoyed the storytelling (Ellen Parker did a magnificent job narrating) I was a bit unsettled listening to this story. The similarity of Oates story to Didion's memoir about the loss of her husband of 40 years seems more than coincidental to me. Oates is so critical of everyone around her that I had trouble caring about her terrible loss. Ms. Oates 'name drops' so often it's almost painful.

Oates is an incredible story teller, her use of language is like poetry. Listen to this book for her classic storytelling style more than the content. The content left me cold.