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Imagine Me Gone

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About this listen

When Margaret's fiancé, John, is hospitalized for depression, she faces a choice: carry on with their plans or leave. She decides to marry him. This is the story of what unfolds from this act of love and faith, when their three children help their mother to care for Michael.

Told in alternating points of view by all five members of the family, this searing, gut-wrenching and yet frequently hilarious novel brings alive with remarkable poignancy the depth of family love.

©2016 Adam Haslett (P)2016 Hachette Audio Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Medical Witty

Critic reviews

" Imagine Me Gone is a beautiful, elegant, harrowing story of the dissonant music of family, a poignant book that makes you eager, once more, for the complications of the world." (Colum McCann)
" Imagine Me Gone is literature of the highest order. It manages to be both dreadfully sad and hilariously funny all at once. It is luminous with love." (Peter Carey, Man Booker Prize winner for History of the Kelly Gang)
All stars
Most relevant
I read this book for a book club and it's reception by the participants was mixed. Many people did not like it for being too inward-looking and lacking a story as such. However, having experience of mental health issues myself and within my family over many years, I found it to be a touching, poignant and reliable account. As with many audio books, I found the narration somewhat obtrusive at first, mainly as it necessarily imposes a voice that the reader may not envisage. This is unavoidable but I soon accepted the style of the narrators as more natural, and enjoyed the reading. I loved and felt for the well drawn and multi faceted characters, enjoying the chapter structures that covered their different points of view. Mental health issues are definitely something that has a wide reaching effect on family members, beyond the original sufferer, and this was conveyed effectively throughout the book. Doubtless, the book was not an easy read/listen die to its convincingness but it was well worth it, as a shared experience of family trauma, with some welcoms lighthearted moments.

Touching

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This is a wonderful story. It is deeply moving and tragic, but also ultimately inspirational. A couple more voice artists would have been welcome though to bring all the characters to life.

Wonderful

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