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Narrated by Paul Michael Garcia
Elizabeth KellyUnabridged — 11 hours, 41 minutes
Narrated by Paul Michael Garcia
Elizabeth KellyUnabridged — 11 hours, 41 minutes
The bestselling, award-winning author of The Last Summer of the Camperdowns returns with another rollicking, summertime family saga.
Maine's rugged, picturesque Monhegan Island is home to weathered lobster fishermen and curious tourists, a genial if sleepy group. But when Spark Monahan-rakish prodigal son-returns unannounced to the dilapidated family home, his arrival launches a summer the likes of which this quiet town has never seen.
During Spark's absence, his young son Hally has been cared for by what remains of the Monahan family: Spark's gentle brother Hugh and their shrewd, fork-tongued father Pastor Ragnar. Pastor Ragnar has led them with an iron will and a unique religious ideology, while Hugh has been busy mending the scars of a tumultuous family history. Spark's reentry into the family is rocky; even as adolescent Hally warms to his father's flair for mischief, he struggles to define himself against this new paternal figure. Testing the limits with one dangerous prank after another, Hally suddenly stuns the entire island when he claims to have had a spiritual vision.
Though Spark remains permanently dubious about the alleged apparition, Pastor Ragnar pounces on the chance to revive his flagging church. Hally is shoved into the spotlight, and in the frenzy that follows, each man in the family fights for independence, understanding, and ultimately forgiveness against the tide of a phenomenon reaching far beyond the slippery slopes of their remote island home.
Their unforgettable saga is told by the character best suited to sniff out the family's uneasy secrets: Spark's charismatic, fiercely loyal dog, Ned. Never at a loss for a quip on the stormy affairs of the Monahan family, Ned tells their larger-than-life story with humor and love from his uniquely privileged perspective.
An uproarious tale of an eccentric family of fathers and sons, The Miracle of Monhegan Island is another delightful summer blockbuster from Elizabeth Kelly.
For the most part…Ned is an excellent guide to the Monahan world: His reliance on scent as a descriptive tool is aptly sharp, as are his funny one-liners about other breeds…Cleverly, Kelly also uses the dog's-eye view to give us access to places and conversations only Ned could witness. Man's best friend turns out—no spoiler alert needed—to be a most reliable narrator.
★ 03/28/2016
Thirty-one-year-old Jessie “Spark” Monhegan returns to his dilapidated Maine home after leaving in a shroud of disgrace and secrecy. The house is still a residence to three other Monhegan males: Pastor Ragnor, Spark’s semideluded father; Hugh, his demoralized artist brother; and his Spark’s 13-year-old son, Hally, who is keen to discover the truth about his mother and Sparks’s apparent abandonment. Accompanying Spark on his journey is the dog-napped Ned—an intelligent, highly observant and intuitive three-year-old Shitzu—who also happens to be the charming and wise narrator. At once touching and humorous, Kelly’s (Apologize, Apologize!) story boasts a plethora of themes and an enticing plot, complete with suspenseful moments. The Monhegan men struggle to reconcile their past resentments, ongoing personality differences, and inner demons, amid small-town gossip. The transformation of fathers and sons is catalyzed by Hally’s vision of a woman in white—the encounter that Ragnor dubs the miracle on Monhegan Island and creates a fervent religious following. While Kelly’s multidimensional characters and descriptions—even the olfactory ones—are evocative and engaging, the winning element of this story is Ned’s voice, which provides an entertaining perspective on a dog’s life. (May)
"Ned is an excellent guide to the Monahan world…Cleverly, Kelly uses the dog’s-eye view to give us access to places and conversations only Ned could witness. Man’s best friend turns out—no spoiler alert needed—to be a most reliable narrator."
"Serious and thought-provoking, shot through with dark humor and dark observations on religion and faith. . . . The Miracle on Monhegan Island builds slowly from a story about a dysfunctional family to a novel about obsession, religious fervor and mental illness — and the sometimes very fine line between them. Even with a canine storyteller, this is one of the meatier books of the summer."
"Charming, witty, and well-paced novel…this novel is equally thrilling and therapeutic."
"Who needs a bird’s eye view when you can see the world through a dog’s eyes instead? All the better if that world happens to be gorgeous coastal Maine, as seen by the opinionated family pup in Elizabeth Kelly’s exquisite and occasionally uproarious Miracle on Monhegan Island. If you think your family is dysfunctional, you’ll love the madcap Monahans. Their story is so memorable, touching and dog-eat-dog (sorry), it can only be told by a true insider."
06/15/2016
In Kelly's most recent offering (after The Last Summer of the Camperdowns), Pastor Ragnar Monahan is raising his adolescent grandson, Hally, with the help of artist son Hugh on Maine's scenic (and car-free) Monhegan Island. In May 1986, Spark, Hally's father, unexpectedly returns home bearing a purebred shih tzu, who turns out to be our narrator, Ned. Spark discovers that little has changed since his departure four years prior. Charismatic Ragnar still rules his family and waning church congregation with a strong hand, and the Monahans' island house continues its slow descent into dilapidation. Spark's attempts to reconnect with his father and his son are thrown into uncertainty when Hally experiences what could be a Marian apparition or disturbing hallucinations reminiscent of his late mother's psychosis, which Ragnar aims to exploit to strengthen his church. In a narrative that recalls Elizabeth Strout's dysfunctional New England family (Olive Kitteridge), Carolyn Chute's charismatic Maine cult leader (The School on Heart's Content Road), a touch of John Irving's dark humor (A Prayer for Owen Meaney), and even Garth Stein's canine narrator (The Art of Racing in the Rain), Ned provides interesting insight into the human (and canine) conditions to craft an absorbing read. VERDICT For contemporary fiction collections. [See Prepub Alert, 12/14/15.]—Jennifer B. Stidham, Houston Community Coll. Northeast
★ 2016-02-18
Risk-taking fiction from Kelly (The Last Summer of the Camperdowns, 2013, etc.), this time featuring a canine narrator, an apparition, and a whole mess of trouble between fathers and sons. Whatever resemblance the wry musings of Ned may bear to the inner life of an actual Shih Tzu, he serves Kelly brilliantly as an outside observer suddenly thrown into the dysfunctional interactions of the Monahan family when prodigal son Spark steals him from the back seat of a Mercedes to bring home to Maine as a peace offering to his own son, Hally, whom he hasn't seen in four years. Spark does not, to put it mildly, get along with his father, Pastor Ragnar, leader of a sect Ned describes as "occupying the murky middle ground somewhere between Jonestown and the La Leche League." Kelly's trademark dark wit is in evidence throughout, as Ned's scornful running commentary on the foibles of other dog breeds provides some light notes in the increasingly sad drama that plays out after 12-year-old Hally sees the Virgin Mary standing on a cliff near their island home. This vision is a red flag to Spark; Hally's mother, Flory, it gradually emerges, heard voices and imagined things as a result of the mental illness that descended after Hally was born. The last thing Spark wants is for his son to be used as a marketing tool by manipulative, self-serving Pastor Ragnar. But having left infant Hally with his family in the aftermath of Flory's death, Spark is not in a position to do much but watch with dismay as Pastor Ragnar's publicitymongering attracts hordes of invasive gawkers who further unsettle Hally's already fragile emotional state—as well as a murderous stalker whose menacing actions drive the plot toward a dramatic climax. Plenty of damage is done, but Kelly allows her vulnerable, fallible characters to grope toward better understandings of themselves and each other, with Ned acting as their engaging and affectionate chronicler. More terrific work from a writer who gets better with each book.
| BN ID: | 2940169577365 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Blackstone Audio, Inc. |
| Publication date: | 05/10/2016 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
