Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Thalia Book Club: The Life All Around Me by Ellen Foster with Author Kaye Gibbons
    Thalia Book Club: The Life All Around Me by Ellen Foster with Author Kaye Gibbons
    Thalia Book Club: The Life All Around Me by Ellen Foster with Author Kaye Gibbons
    Audiobook1 hour

    Thalia Book Club: The Life All Around Me by Ellen Foster with Author Kaye Gibbons

    Written by Kaye Gibbons

    Narrated by Elissa Schappell and Andrea Marcovicci

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Kaye Gibbons joins Elissa Schappell to discuss The Life All Around Me, the sequel to her novel Ellen Foster. Andrea Marcovicci reads an excerpt.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSymphony Space
    Release dateNov 9, 2005
    ISBN9781467663953
    Thalia Book Club: The Life All Around Me by Ellen Foster with Author Kaye Gibbons

    Related to Thalia Book Club

    Related audiobooks

    Literary Criticism For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Top 10 Books

      Jun 16, 2023

      Top 10 Books
      1 min read

    • Article

      Books

      Feb 20, 2023

      Rebecca Makkai’s latest novel, I Have Some Questions For You, is a literary mystery set against the backdrop of a New Hampshire boarding school. Our protagonist, Bodie Kane, is a successful podcaster who is invited back to her alma mater to help some

      3 min read

    • Article

      Elizabeth Strout

      May 6, 2017

      The Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Olive Kitteridge returns with a story collection, Anything Is Possible, about war, personal trauma and class divides

      2 min read

    • Article

      A Year in Reading: Marie Myung-Ok Lee

      Dec 22, 2019

      Apparently books about racism and immigration are seriously back in demand. This prompted me to take a dip back in the current pool to see what’s new. The post A Year in Reading: Marie Myung-Ok Lee appeared first on The Millions.

      3 min read

    • Article

      HOW I WRITE Louise Candlish

      Jun 4, 2020

      Renowned for her twisting plots and dark-toned domestic thrillers, Louise Candlish’s latest chilling read, The Other Passenger, has an emotional secret at its core. When I start writing, I always get the first 10,000 words down so I have a good la

      1 min read

    • Article

      In A Land ‘Shaped By Water,’ A Family Tale Of Persistence

      Jul 17, 2023

      “The Covenant of Water,” the latest novel from bestselling author Abraham Verghese, delivers a magnificent saga. Bursting with myriad characters, well-braided plotlines, politics, history, faith, and geography, the story centers on a young Christian

      3 min read

    • Article

      The Blue-collar Bard

      Jul 13, 2020

      The Blue-collar Bard
      13 min read

    • Article

      The Art of Fiction No. 244

      Sep 15, 2019

      The Art of Fiction No. 244
      30 min read

    • Article

      Howl Palace

      Sep 15, 2019

      Last week, I finally had to put Howl Palace up for sale. Years of poor financial planning had led to this decision, and I tried to take some comfort in my agent’s belief in a buyer who might show up with an all-cash offer. My agent is a highly organi

      25 min read

    • Article

      Southern Gothic: Ten Essentials Books

      Sep 15, 2021

      When it comes to Southern gothic, it’s not the heat that gets you, it’s the humidity. It’s a genre designed to make you uncomfortable. The post Southern Gothic: Ten Essentials Books appeared first on The Millions.

      5 min read

    • Article

      The Trans Retelling Of Jack Sheppard

      Jul 9, 2018

      In Confessions of the Fox, Jordy Rosenberg’s buzzy first novel, historian Dr. Voth discovers a suspicious manuscript that upends centuries-old assumptions about notorious jail breaker Jack Sheppard. The document reveals that 18th century street prowl

      1 min read

    • Article

      Romantic Entanglements Bring Humor And Heartache To Small Town

      Jun 21, 2021

      Katherine Heiny’s novel transplants readers to Boyne City, Michigan, through the keen eyes of the town’s new schoolteacher.

      3 min read

    • Article

      Sisterly Significance

      Feb 24, 2020

      Sisterly Significance
      8 min read

    • Article

      Pick Of The Crop: October’s 10 Best Books To Savor In Autumn

      Oct 20, 2021

      Spend the month reading new books by John le Carré, Jonathan Franzen, Amor Towles, and Mary Beard.

      2 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Thalia Book Club

    3.5/5

    109 ratings3 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      Book on CD read by the author.

      Nearly twenty years after the publication of Ellen Foster, Gibbons returns to her subject to catch us up on what’s happened in the life of this extraordinary character. Ellen is now fifteen and thriving. She’s exhausted the resources of her local school district, and is on an independent course of study. While she realizes it’s unusual, she has decided to apply for early admission to college, and may as well set her sights high. The novel opens with her letter to the President of Harvard University requesting special consideration of her accomplishments and suitability for matriculation.

      I love Ellen Foster. The original novel packed an emotional wallop that is still with me some 18 years after I first read it. I admit I was concerned about whether Gibbons would be able to replicate that emotional connection in this sequel. Well, I still love Ellen. She’s resilient, vulnerable, both naïve and wise beyond her years, intelligent, loving and brave.

      I also dearly love Kaye Gibbons. I’ve read just about everything she has written, some more than once. But I did not love this book; it didn’t quite meet expectations. Perhaps this is the fault of the audio experience. Gibbons reads her own novel and while I think her voice is a good one for Ellen, after a couple of tracks I grew really tired of her lack of inflection. There is no effort to differentiate the various characters and as a result the entire experience is lacking emotional depth. I did also look at the text version, but I’m not sure I would have rated this much higher if I had read it rather than listened. I suspect that Gibbons was purposely holding the reader at arm’s length because she believes that Ellen would do so. And perhaps she’s right. Whatever the cause, I was disappointed.
    • 2/5
      I found this book a bit disappointing. During the first half of the book, I had only a remote idea what in the world Ellen was going on about at least the time. The narrator was so herky-jerky and rambling that I wondered if I was missing something. There were some very funny bits of dialogue. The ending was too much of an improbable deus ex machina to fit, like that handkerchief and Oliver sort of thing. I didn'tlove it and I didn't hate it. An okay book to kill some time with,if I had time to kill.
    • 4/5
      Ellen Foster reminds me of Scout Finch. Smart, no-nonsense girl in a world not worthy of such a mind. I never read the first Ellen Foster book, but that never seemed a problem; in fact, maybe it was better, because this book, for me then, had depth for Ellen's past that was expected (but not assumed) knowledge. It enriched the book, I felt.

      It was difficult to listen to the narrative at first. I'm not sure if that's because it was the author reading it, and unlike an actor she didn't alter her voice enough when different people spoke, or the whole thing was meant to sound like a big run-on thought, but it certainly took concentration at the beginning to follow the story. Once I caught on, I admired the pithy conversations between Ellen and Laura.

      Some people may criticize what is ultimately a 'happily-ever after' kind of story, but it was an enjoyable, feel-good read without being schmultzy (and I hate schmultz).