Secrets of Eden writtten by Chris Bohjalian, read by Mark Bramhall, Susan Denaker, Rebecca Lowman, and Kathe Mazur- Unabridged Audio CD (9 discs)
- Publisher: Random House Audio; Unabridged edition (February 2, 2010)
- ISBN-13: 978-0307705037
She Is Too Fond of Books’ thoughts: I picked up the Secrets of Eden audiobook from our local library when I was getting ready to take a road trip with my 15-year-old daughter. You know how teens are – I figured she’d be plugged into her iPod and not interested in chatting on our drive up to Maine. I hadn’t previously read (or listened to) a Bohjalian novel, but had heard that this would be good company for the drive.
Well, it turns out that both the audiobook and my daughter were good company – she took out her earbuds to ask what I was listening to, and soon we were both caught up in the story.
The novel is narrated in four first-person accounts (I’ve highlighted them in the synopsis, above). They are Reverend Stephen Drew, pastor in the small town of Haverill, Vermont; Katie Hayward, 15-year-old daughter of apparent murder-suicide victims Alice and George Hayward; Heather Laurent, a best-selling author whose parents died in the same manner as the Haywards; and Catherine Benincasa, the deputy state’s attorney who leads the investigation. Each tells what they know – maybe. There are secrets, after all, so the reader gets each narrator’s perspective of the truth.
I really liked the novel and found it interesting that I didn’t like many of the main characters. George Hayward was a chronic drinker who was in the habit of beating Alice. Alice was heavily involved in her church (in fact, she was killed the evening of her adult baptism!), yet acted hypocritically; Heather Laurent made me uncomfortable with all her talk about angels (yes, I learned something about myself while listening to Secrets of Eden).
It’s a very good mystery, with a deliberate and steady build-up. Is the biggest secret revealed? I’m not saying …
I do like Bohjalian a lot; this one was pretty good. His latest book was good, but not my favorite, yet as always, he captivated me throughout.
I’ve read one of Bohjalian’s book (Skeletons at the Feast) and thought it was great, so I’ve been anxious to read this one. The reviews have been somewhat mixed, so I’m glad to see you and your daughter enjoyed it, since I value your opinion.
I would totally give this one a go. I really really enjoyed Night Strangers, so I’m ready to dig into his back list.
I have never read a book by Bohjalian, though I have heard great things about his writing. I find it so cool that your daughter got all hooked up in it too, and that you were able to share the listening experience. That recently happened with me too when we were driving to my dad’s for Thanksgiving and got the kids totally hooked on Ready Player One. They both got home and demanded that I give them a paper copy to finish reading! I love it when that kind of stuff happens
If it is good enough to entice your daughter out of her iPod, then I’m sure it would work for me too!
I haven’t read this one, but I’ve enjoyed other books by this author.
I just finished reading Midwives, another Bohjalian novel, but I haven’t read this one yet. It sounds intriguing. I love that your daughter ended up listening with you! We have ALWAYS enjoyed listening to audio books on our road trips, and I was really disappointed on our Thanksgiving trip that our teen sons didn’t want to listen to one with us. I guess they’re growing up…I’ll just have to find something really irresistible for our next trip!
Sue
Book By Book
I just loved the one Bohjalian novel I read / listened to and this has been on my list for a while. I hadn’t realized it was mystery — so much the better!
I will look for this, thanks!
[...] did I listen to it: A few months ago I reviewed Secrets of Eden, the first Chris Bohjalian book I had read (or listened to). Several comments on that blog post [...]