Marlena by Julie Buntin audiobook

Marlena

By Julie Buntin
Read by Emma Galvin

Blackstone Publishing 9781627797641

Unabridged

Format : Retail CD (In Stock)
  • 2 Formats: Retail CD
  • 2 Formats: MP3 CD
  • $34.95

    ISBN: 9781504777537

  • $29.95

    ISBN: 9781504777544

Category: Fiction/Literary
Audience: Adult
Language: English
Contact for Wholesale Pricing

Summary

Summary

An Oprah’s Book Club Selection

Winner of a Michigan Notable Book Award for 2018

A Washington Post Notable Book for 2017

Esquire Magazine Best Book of the Year So Far

An Elle Magazine Pick of 25 Most Anticipated Books by Women for 2017

A Huffington Post Best Book of 2017

A Vogue Best Book of 2017

An Entertainment Weekly Best Book of 2017's debut novels

Finalist for the John Leonard Prize

An NPR Best Book of 2017

One of Kirkus Reviews’ Best Books of 2017

A 2017 Publishers Weekly Best Books of the Year selection

A Barnes & Noble Discover Award Winner

An Amazon Best Book of the Month for April 2017

A Nylon Magazine Pick

An Indie Next List Selection

A 2017 Buzzfeed Best Books of the Year selection

A BookPage Book of the Day Selection

An electric debut novel about love, addiction, and loss; the story of two girls and the feral year that will cost one her life, and define the other’s for decades

Everything about fifteen-year-old Cat’s new town in rural Michigan is lonely and off-kilter, until she meets her neighbor, the manic, beautiful, pill-popping Marlena. Cat, inexperienced and desperate for connection, is quickly lured into Marlena’s orbit by little more than an arched eyebrow and a shake of white-blond hair.

As the two girls turn the untamed landscape of their desolate small town into a kind of playground, Cat catalogues a litany of firsts—first drink, first cigarette, first kiss—while Marlena’s habits harden and calcify. Within the year, Marlena is dead, drowned in six inches of icy water in the woods nearby.

Now, decades later, when a ghost from that pivotal year surfaces unexpectedly, Cat must try to forgive herself and move on, even as the memory of Marlena keeps her tangled in the past.

Alive with an urgent, unshakable tenderness, Julie Buntin’s Marlena is an unforgettable look at the people who shape us beyond reason and the ways it might be possible to pull oneself back from the brink.

Editorial Reviews

Editorial Reviews

“Narrator Emma Galvin brings a slightly gritty yet vulnerable-sounding voice to the main character in this audiobook…a haunting yet tender story of growing up.” —AudioFile
“A novel of deep and exquisite intelligence, humor, and riveting sensitivity.” —Lorrie Moore, New York Times bestselling author
“Poignant and unforgettable.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Devastating; as unforgettable as it is gorgeous.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Buntin’s prose is emotional and immediate, and the interior lives she draws of young women and obsessive best friends are Ferrante-esque.” —Booklist
“This gorgeous, assured debut captures the romance of young friendship, cutting deep with the finest touch.” —Julia Pierpont, author of Among the Ten Thousand Things
“[This] visceral, gripping novel combines humanity with a thrilling edge.” —Millions
“Captures that unique moment at the precipice of adulthood with emotional honesty and insight.” —Jonathan Safran Foer, New York Times bestselling author
"[A] dark, gorgeously written story.” —Entertainment Weekly
“In this icy and accomplished first novel, the intoxicating friendship between an inexperienced loner and her manic, wild-child neighbor continues to exert an irresistible pull on our narrator decades later.” —O, The Oprah Magazine
“Perfectly capture[s] the thrill of what it’s like to become best friends with the beautiful girl from the wrong crowd…[and is] one of the most sensitive portrayals of a Midwestern town struggling with poverty, drugs, and restlessness.” —Vogue
“The telling is so intimate that one can miss, at first, that Marlena is addicted to the pills she carries around…The book is ostensibly about friendship and the indelible mark the troubled Marlena left on Cat, but it is also a quiet, powerful look at addiction.” —New York Times
“The kind of coming-of-age friendship that goes beyond camaraderie, into a deeper bond that forges identity.” —New York Times Book Review
“A novel about youth―a time of splendor and squalor. Buntin make us see, hear, and feel both." —San Francisco Chronicle
“Reads nearly as compulsively as a thriller…Viscerally captures the sensations and heartaches of adolescence.” —Boston Globe

Reviews

Reviews

You're reviewing: Marlena

How do you rate this product? *

 
1 1 star
2 2 star
3 3 star
4 4 star
5 5 star
Quality
Price
Value

Be the first to review this product

Author

Author Bio: Julie Buntin

Author Bio: Julie Buntin

Julie Buntin is an author whose debut novel, Marlena, earned high acclaim and was named a Best Book of the Year by major media, including Vogue, the Washington Post, Esquire, Harper’s Bazaar, NPR, Nylon, Huffington Post, Kirkus Reviews, and Barnes&Noble.com, among others. The book was also a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Leonard Prize and was longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. Her work has appeared in the Atlantic; Cosmopolitan; O, The Oprah Magazine; Slate; Electric Literature; and One Teen Story, among other publications. She teaches fiction writing at Marymount Manhattan College and is the director of writing programs at Catapult.

Titles by Author

Details

Details

Available Formats : Retail CD, MP3 CD
Category: Fiction/Literary
Audience: Adult
Language: English

We love books, and we believe that you should be able to enjoy your favorite book whenever, wherever, or whatever you are doing. Audiobooks allow that freedom. Enjoy :)

©2025 Blackstone Wholesale . All rights reserved. Privacy Terms of Use Purchase Terms Cookie Policy ©2025 Blackstone Wholesale . All rights reserved.