The Opposite of Loneliness

Essays and Stories

By: Marina Keegan

Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller

Marina Keegan's star was on the rise when she graduated magna cum laude from Yale in May 2012. She had a play that was to be produced at the New York International Fringe Festival and a job waiting for her at the New Yorker. Tragically, five days after graduation, Marina died in a car crash.

As her family, friends, and classmates, deep in grief, joined to create a memorial service for Marina, her unforgettable last essay for the Yale Daily News, "The Opposite of Loneliness", went viral, receiving more than 1.4 million hits. She had struck a chord.

Even though she was just 22 when she died, Marina left behind a rich, expansive trove of prose that, like her title essay, captures the hope, uncertainty, and possibility of her generation. The Opposite of Loneliness is an assem­blage of Marina's essays and stories that, like The Last Lecture, articulates the universal struggle that all of us face as we figure out what we aspire to be and how we can harness our talents to make an impact on the world.

©2014 Tracy and Kevin Keegan (P)2014 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Keegan brings self-awareness to the collective insecurity of her peers even as she captures it with a precision that only comes from someone who feels it too. How unfortunate that she will never know the value readers will find in her work." ( Publishers Weekly)

An amasing young girl

This young lady had an amasing talent! Her positiveness and zest for life oozed from each page and her intimely death is a tragedy to the writing community!

Not all the stories were good

Some of the short stories were good, but I found myself wanting to fast forward through some of the not so good ones.

Most of the non-fiction was pretty good, it had me wishing most of the book was just non-fiction.

**SPOILER ALERT**
The story of her gluten allergies and the care her mom had for her truly broke my heart for her mother. Mainly because I can't imagine the pain of losing a child, no matter their age... and seeing how much she tried to do to ensure her daughter was happy and healthy and then have her die at such a young age is extremely sad. I thought of her mother when they mention she passed away at the beginning, but after hearing that story, it made it a lot more relatable to her mom.

freakn awesome. a good variety of stories

loved it. a variety of stories that kept me pondering life and people. the title caught my attention. glad I picked it up for a listen.

Loved it!!

I loved this book! The short stories were written beautifully. Such a tragedy for someone so gifted to be taken so soon.

Young voices can guide us to understand this complicated time.

After a similar loss, this helpful story about a young woman who finds her writing voice got me thinking about the way we need to talk more. Thank you.