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Exactly What You Mean

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Exactly What You Mean

By: Ben Hinshaw
Narrated by: Bert Seymour, Lily Howkins, Deborah McBride
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

From an exciting new voice in literary fiction comes a brilliantly innovative, tender and unsettling novel exploring what it means to lose our innocence.

Surrounded by the dramatic beauty of Guernsey, a teenager discovers a secret and finds his betrayal has the power to ruin adult lives. In London, a marriage shot through with infidelity leads to a quest for revenge, resulting in a series of simultaneously comical and catastrophic events. And in California, as wildfires threaten landscapes and lives, a young veteran struggles with the trauma of war, seeking solace at a local ranch.

In this extraordinary debut, a cast of characters grapple with unexpected betrayal, the loss of innocence and the lies we tell. With sharp insight, Ben Hinshaw illuminates the unnerving nature of what it means to grow up, to be a teenager playing at adulthood and an adult playing games.

©2022 Ben Hinshaw (P)2022 Penguin Audio Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Inspiring

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All stars
Most relevant
I loved this book ,very descriptive writing and a challenge to make connections connecting the chapters. Clever!

Very different book!

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This novel is a collection of short stories that are all linked which, as a reader, brings another level of interest. As always with short stories some are better than others but I found the links across the book piqued my interest enough to enjoy it as a whole.
Good audio from the 3 readers making it an enjoyable listen.

Short stories

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Having already read the book I thought I would give the audiobook a listen in order to refresh my memory on the characters and in particular, their connections, since we are about to discuss it at book club. It is beautifully narrated; all three narrators seem to really understand the characters and they portray them very well. It is a book of short stories that take place in various locations around the world at different times, and after a while you begin to see the recurrence of characters or a reference to something previously mentioned. It is very clever! Hinshaw's writing is as flawless as it is mesmerizing and can easily be enjoyed a second time round.

Thoroughly enjoyable

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I would like to return this Audible version as I thought the quality was extremely low.

Appalling narration. Weak Story.

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