Astonish Me: A novel

by Maggie Shipstead Narrated by Rebecca Lowman

Overview

From the author of the widely acclaimed debut novel*Seating Arrangements, winner of the Dylan Thomas Prize and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for First Fiction: a gorgeously written, fiercely compelling glimpse into the demanding world of professional ballet and its magnetic hold over two generations.

Astonish Me*is the irresistible story of Joan, a young American dancer who helps a Soviet ballet star, the great Arslan Rusakov, defect in 1975. A flash of fame and a passionate love affair follow, but Joan knows that, onstage and off, she is destined to remain in the background. She will never possess Arslan, and she will never be a prima ballerina. She will rise no higher than the corps, one dancer among many.
After her relationship with Arslan sours, Joan plots to make a new life for herself. She quits ballet, marries a good man, and settles in California with him and their son, Harry. But as the years pass, Joan comes to understand that ballet isn't finished with her yet, for there is no mistaking that Harry is a prodigy. Through Harry, Joan is pulled back into a world she thought she'd left behind-back into dangerous secrets, and back, inevitably, to Arslan.

Combining a sweeping, operatic plot with subtly observed characters, Maggie Shipstead gives us a novel of stunning intensity and deft psychological nuance. Gripping, dramatic, and brilliantly conjured, Astonish Me confirms Shipstead's range and ability and raises provocative questions about the nature of talent, the choices we must make in search of fulfillment, and how we square the yearning for comfort with the demands of art.

Editorial Reviews

APRIL 2014 - AudioFile

Even more than she did in her vastly entertaining debut, SEATING ARRANGEMENTS, Maggie Shipstead soars with this exhilarating audiobook. A world-famous Soviet dancer defects to the West. The American ballerina who helped him escape gives up the stage to marry and have a family. Themes of talent, ambition, passion, and secrets are set up and repeated with variations over 30 years. To perform this intricately constructed story, narrator Rebecca Lowman must seamlessly voice boy, then woman, then girl; Russian speakers; French speakers, old and young. She’s fluid and transparent in a gripping performance of a tale about performance, even subtly aging the voices of characters we meet as children and follow into adulthood. A sensational piece of acting and a flawless production. B.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

APRIL 2014 - AudioFile

Even more than she did in her vastly entertaining debut, SEATING ARRANGEMENTS, Maggie Shipstead soars with this exhilarating audiobook. A world-famous Soviet dancer defects to the West. The American ballerina who helped him escape gives up the stage to marry and have a family. Themes of talent, ambition, passion, and secrets are set up and repeated with variations over 30 years. To perform this intricately constructed story, narrator Rebecca Lowman must seamlessly voice boy, then woman, then girl; Russian speakers; French speakers, old and young. She’s fluid and transparent in a gripping performance of a tale about performance, even subtly aging the voices of characters we meet as children and follow into adulthood. A sensational piece of acting and a flawless production. B.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169294224
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	04/08/2014
Edition description:	Unabridged

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