Together, Closer

The Art and Science of Intimacy in Friendship, Love, and Family

By: Giovanni Frazzetto

Narrated by: Sean Pratt

The bonds we are capable of feeling toward other people - how we know and belong to one another - provide fascinating glimpses into the intricacies of human behavior.

Intimacy is that moment when our true identity is revealed to another, when traumas, fears, and ambitions are shared. Through the ordinary stories of eight relationships, Giovanni Frazzetto has woven an extraordinary narrative of togetherness. He shares the details of romantic partners trapped in a long cycle of attraction and rejection, a single woman who finds herself deep in a fictional relationship with a boyfriend she has invented out of frustration with her love life, and a couple absorbed in a years-long clandestine affair. But intimacy can also extend beyond romantic encounters: coping with the loss of a loved one, dealing with overbearing or emotionally distant parents, or celebrating the joys and comforts of our dearest friends. In Together, Closer, Frazzetto unravels the components of intimacy in all of these relationships, illuminating the mysteries, challenges, and pleasures of intimacy through a brilliant mix of storytelling and science.

©2017 Giovanni Frazzetto (P)2017 Gildan Media LLC

Rich stories, but scattered. Narrator needs work

I loved the contents of the stories.

They showed a rich diversity of relationships and some of the science behind each type — at the level of neurotransmitters.

However, the book felt quite disorganized in an audiobook medium. The stories did not seem to flow well from one to the next.

The names of the characters were also very hard to keep track of — I would need to repeat the first 5 minutes of each story to remember who was who.

Lastly, the narrator did a solid job but was quite bad at impersonating characters in the stories, like his Italian accent.

Overall, it was a good audiobook, and I would recommend it to others.