The Regrets

By: Amy Bonnaffons

Narrated by: Christie Moreau, Gary Tiedemann, Jay Ben Markson

Reality and dream collide in Amy Bonnaffons's "dazzling," wildly inventive "miracle of a love story" about an affair between the living and the dead (NPR)
For weeks, Rachel has been noticing the same golden-haired young man sitting at her Brooklyn bus stop, staring off with a melancholy air. When, one day, she finally musters the courage to introduce herself, the chemistry between them is undeniable: Thomas is wise, witty, handsome, mysterious, clearly a kindred spirit. There's just one tiny problem: He's dead.
Stuck in a surreal limbo governed by bureaucracy, Thomas is unable to "cross over" to the afterlife until he completes a 90-day stint on earth, during which time he is forbidden to get involved with a member of the living -- lest he incur "regrets." When Thomas and Rachel break this rule, they unleash a cascade of bizarre, troubling consequences.
Set in the hallucinatory borderland between life and death, The Regrets is a gloriously strange and breathtakingly sexy exploration of love, the cataclysmic power of fantasies, and the painful, exhilarating work of waking up to reality, told with uncommon grace and humor by a visionary artist at the height of her imaginative power.

Critic reviews

"Dazzling...wildly inventive and daring...the writing itself is flawless...The Regrets is a miracle of a love story, a brilliant novel that asks perceptive questions about the line between love and (literal) possession, about what we're willing to do for love."—NPR.org

"Boldly sensitive, sexy, witty, and sad- good lord, thank you, Amy Bonnaffons, for writing a book like a tonic for those of us who are painfully wide open to the world and 'fatally vulnerable to magic.' Readers will find themselves haunted by The Regrets long after putting it down."—CJ HAUSER, author of FAMILY OF ORIGIN

"The Regrets captures the bardo of love, a world where living flesh and ghostly projection are indistinguishable, as they often are in the yearnings, desires, and infatuations of our own waking lives."—MELISSA BRODER, author of THE PISCES

"A surreal love story about the courtship between a living woman and a dead man...It is a plot that could be-that should be-unbearably twee, oppressively quirky, in love with its own melancholy. Instead, Bonnaffons' first full-length novel is a rare pleasure: a philosophical rom-com too weird, too bodily, too precise, too fun to get bogged down in trembling sentiment. Deep and deeply funny."—KIRKUS (Starred Review)

"If orgasm is, as the French would have it, a 'little death,' no novelist I know illuminates the tingling play between sex and mortality better than Amy Bonnaffons. At once love story, ghost story, and low-key philosophical investigation into the nature of existence, The Regrets is a supernatural tale about the super natural vagaries of love: the transcendence of attraction, the haunting of possession, and the potency of daydream."—RACHEL LYON, authorof SELF-PORTRAIT WITH BOY

"Bonnaffons's wonderful debut novel is a tale of ghostly love and passion...The tension of an ephemeral romance and impending loss will keep readers turning the pages, and the luminous prose is vibrant with penetrating observations, whether about moments that are a 'crucial node in the universe's vast plan' or about dying-with or without regrets. This sexy, witty novel about life, death, and love's power will enchant readers."—PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (Starred Review)

"In Amy Bonnaffons's remarkable debut novel, The Regrets, love is spectral-both literally and figuratively. This is a book about ghosts and angels and dreams, but its emotional register is grounded and unmistakably human. The Regrets examines the way wisdom can interfere with fulfillment and self-protection with the joy of living. It is somehow both sly and earnest, humorous and haunting. Bonnaffons reads like Haruki Murakami for the millennial generation; she is weird, tender, and full of magic."—LUCY TAN, author of WHAT WE WERE PROMISED

Disappointing

I liked the premise of the story but couldn't wait to finish. Having 3 narrators was good.

Great Premise, Non-Thrilling Falling Action

I think it’s a great setup. The first three chapters, focusing on Thomas and Rachel, told a great story. As the story in and of itself is weird all around, that added to the charm of the story and the characters they surround themselves with. However, I think Mark’s inclusion, while needed, was underwhelming. His character kind of came out of nowhere and felt a bit awkward from time to time as his storyline gave us some useless information. It did not help how he felt static the entirety of his chapters when his own roommate had more growth than him. Rachel’s conclusion made sense and the last five minutes were monumental but the lead up to it could have been played up a little more. Overall, I would give this a 7/10, it was a good read and would recommend it.

Really different

sardonic, gratuitous-erotica, dark-fantasy, noir

Thomas is a deeply disturbed young man who had a transformative experience with a slipshod death angel when he was a grade schooler. He can't really connect with others and is basically without direction. Very interesting.
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Little, Brown and Company via NetGalley. I know the review looks a bit underdone, but it's the best I can do. However, I did pay for the audio on the basis of what I'd read.

Great story - inventive and clever

Loved the quirky story. Hated the narration of Rachel. I struggled to get through listening to her and probably couldn’t have if she’d narrated the whole book. She’s terrible! But the other two aren’t bad and the story made up for it.

Just....Eh

The concept of the story was interesting and unique, but the story itself was kind of flat. I was just bored through most of it.