Seating Arrangements cover art

Seating Arrangements

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Seating Arrangements

By: Maggie Shipstead
Narrated by: Arthur Morey
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About this listen

A New York Times bestseller and winner of the 2012 Dylan Thomas Prize and 2012 L.A. Times First Novel Prize

The Van Meters have gathered at their family retreat on the New England island of Waskeke to celebrate the marriage of daughter Daphne to an impeccably appropriate young man. The weekend is full of lobster and champagne, salt air and practiced bonhomie, but long-buried discontent and simmering lust seep through the cracks in the revelry.

Winn Van Meter, father-of-the-bride, has spent his life following the rules of the east coast upper crust, but now, just shy of his sixtieth birthday, he must finally confront his failings, his desires, and his own humanity.

Contemporary Fiction Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Urban

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Critic reviews

‘Joyously good’ DAILY MAIL

‘A ferociously clever comedy of manners’ GUARDIAN

‘Distinctive and dazzling … The world has found a remarkable, humane new voice to explain us to ourselves’ Allison Pearson

‘A wise, sophisticated and funny novel about family, fidelity, class and crisis’ MARIE CLAIRE

Books of 2012 – TELEGRAPH

Books of 2012 – SUNDAY EXPRESS

All stars
Most relevant
Not sure it was my style tbh . Was pleased I had finished it . I wonder whether a woman reading or two people would of been better

Ok . Quite dull after a while

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Struggled to finish this book and only continued with it as it was a book club read. Tedious story with self indulgent pompous characters and could not relate to any of it. It is well written but totally boring none the less. Previously read Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead which I really enjoyed so expectations were admittedly high.

Tedious

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Would you recommend Seating Arrangements to your friends? Why or why not?

Unfortunately not this audio version, maybe another or try reading it yourself

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Monotonous and bad narration completely blocked me from getting into the stort

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Never got into it sadly

could be a good story but narrator gets in the way

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