Library Journal - Audio
★ 07/01/2022
Ursula Byrne has achieved professional success but hasn't been able to make a long-term relationship work. While lamenting the state of her love life, she's approached by a representative of The Arc, a service that promises to match people with their soulmates. Soon Ursula is matched with Rafael Banks and becomes convinced that he's the one. But it seems that The Arc has made a mistake in pairing them: their relationship might work—or it might explode in a life-shattering breakup. Skilled narrator Mary Elizabeth Kelly effectively handles the tension of Hoen's story and easily voices characters of all genders with several accents. She also captures the attitudes of the novel's characters: Ursula's disdain for the tech bros she encounters, Rafael's excitability, and the brisk, cold efficiency of The Arc's employees. VERDICT Hoen has achieved something special with her debut novel, which satirizes start-up culture's relentless quest for optimization and also engages listeners with a love story between two charming characters. Recommend to fans of Taylor Jenkins Reid and Madeleine Henry.—Nanette Donohue
From the Publisher
"A thoroughly modern love story with an old-fashioned heart."
––Vogue
"Sure to satisfy fans of Taylor Jenkins Reid and Sally Rooney."
––E! Online
"The satirical (yet also surprisingly deep) take on dating app culture we all need."
––Cosmopolitan
"First-time novelist Hoen draws on her experiences at glossy magazines and a women’s workwear start-up to perform her agile trend- skewering as she details their romance and the complications that threaten it at an indulgently hypnotic length, until the twist, or arc, arrives. With giddy hilarity and stabs to the heart, Hoen's heady cocktail of satire and celebration is a delectable addition to the dating-app and matchmaking rom-com list."
––Booklist
"Hoen raises some fascinating questions about love and relationships and ends on an optimistic note. The result is as thoughtful as it is thought-provoking."
––Publishers Weekly
"A delightful debut about love and dating and modern womanhood that asks as many questions about self-determination and free will as it answers."
––Shelf Awareness
"Funny and modern, The Arc is like a rom-com’s cooler big sister. It’s as much a satire as it is a romance, roasting our reliance on high-tech solutions for matters of the heart."
––Real Simple
"A little bit speculative, a little bit romance, and a little bit literary...thoughtful and entertaining."
––BuzzFeed Books
"Expect to fall in love with the characters while laughing out loud at the all too realistic, yet hilarious, jabs at startup culture. You’ll reach the end and want to start all over again. Lovers of Rebecca Serle, Sally Rooney, and Taylor Jenkins Reid, this one was written for you."
––Daily Hive
"As wildly entertaining as it is inventive, Hoen's satire is dazzling. But it's her faith in human connection that resonates long after the last page."
––Nicola Kraus, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Nanny Diaries
"Hoen has the rare combination of a satirist’s eye and a romantic’s soul. Populated though it may be with biz-whiz types, lifestyle apps, and start-up schemes, The Arc is, at its heart, about the inimitable qualities that make us human. Clear off space on your shelf of contemporary favorites for this timeless love story wrapped in a timely, funny portrait of modern society."
—Mary Laura Philpott, author of I Miss You When I Blink
"The Arc is an incisive, inventive, probing portrait of a modern relationship featuring remarkably well-drawn characters that readers will champion and adore. Hoen's clever, original debut is as hilarious as it is heartwarming."
—Carola Lovering, author of Too Good to Be True
"You don’t expect a razor-sharp satire to satisfy so deeply on an emotional level, but The Arc does that and more: Hoen brings humor, wit and brutal honesty to start-up culture, relationships and human frailty in this riveting debut."
––Alexandra Andrews, author of Who is Maud Dixon?
"Whether she's skewering mediocre start-up bros or the absurdities of twenty-first century 'self-care,' there's nothing about the way we live now that escapes Hoen's gaze. A hilarious and thoughtful exploration of love in a culture obsessed with optimization, The Arc is a dazzling debut."
—Grant Ginder, author of The People We Hate at the Wedding
"A zeitgeisty and hopeful page-turner that proves neither algorithms nor big data can keep the heart from wanting what it wants."
—Courtney Maum, author of Touch and Costalegre
APRIL 2022 - AudioFile
Narrator Mary Elizabeth Kelly’s range is superb in this thought-provoking rom-com about finding one’s soulmate. Thirty-five-year-old Brooklynite Ursula is tired of dating apps. As a representative at a creative branding agency who is willing to try all the new-age self-care methods, she’s open to the idea of relationship architecture, the expensive bespoke service The Arc offers. Ursula is matched with 42-year-old lawyer Rafael; right away their relationship is both easy and electric. But when the couple’s path takes an unexpected turn, they question whether love can truly be optimized. Kelly excels at vocalizing both broad character traits, such as the blunt tone and Eastern European accent of a massage therapist, and more subtle traits, such as the hesitant pace and flattened tone of Ursula as she senses the beginnings of her first disagreement with Rafael. A.L.C. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
