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The Thing About December
- Narrated by: Donal Ryan
- Length: 6 hrs and 22 mins
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The Thing About December
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Summary
Brought to you by Penguin.
He heard Daddy one time saying he was a grand quiet boy to Mother when he thought Johnsey couldn’t hear them talking. Mother must have been giving out about him being a gom and Daddy was defending him. He heard the fondness in Daddy’s voice. But you’d have fondness for an auld eejit of a crossbred pup that should have been drowned at birth.
While the Celtic Tiger rages, and greed becomes the norm, Johnsey Cunliffe desperately tries to hold on to the familiar, even as he loses those who all his life have protected him from a harsh world. Village bullies and scheming land-grabbers stand in his way, no matter where he turns.
Set over the course of one year of Johnsey’s life, The Thing About December breathes with his grief, bewilderment, humour and agonising self-doubt. This is a heart-twisting tale of a lonely man struggling to make sense of a world moving faster than he is.
Donal Ryan’s award-winning debut, The Spinning Heart, garnered unprecedented acclaim, and The Thing About December confirms his status as one of the best writers of his generation.
Critic reviews
"A force of nature...a life-enhancing talent." (Sebastian Barry)
"His paragraphs are unnoticeably beautiful, his heart always on show, and he writes with a social accuracy that is devastating." (Anne Enright)
"Painfully moving...Ryan’s work has set a benchmark to which other writers will aspire." (John Boyne)
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What listeners say about The Thing About December
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Joanne Hannan
- 14-11-21
Skips
You can’t listen properly as it keeps skipping. Which is an awful pity as it’s a beautiful book.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 29-10-20
Wonderful book
Powerful story, brilliantly told and beautiful narration. Descriptive power left me breathless. Donal Ryan is a masterful writer and insightful story teller. Loved it.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anna Dow
- 05-01-23
Heartbreaking and stunningly well observed!
I found this book heartbreaking and compelling in equal measure! Having the author read was a genius stroke as the characters, language and landscape sprang to life in his local accent, adding authenticity and allowing us to hear the main character’s, Johnsie, world as he was experiencing it - just perfect! Thank you Donal Ryan
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- L. J. Adlington
- 05-09-21
Excellent
I found this author through accident and will have to read/listen to more of his books. I think the fact that he read this added a lot Totally had me hooked
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 26-11-20
something wrong with this recording.
this recording is skipping, can't listen to it, have downloaded it twice and same problem
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Ms N
- 07-06-21
Wow
What a beautiful insightful tender book. Highly recommended. The turn of phrase is delightful and I felt like I was present throughout. Fabulous!
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 18-01-21
Donal Ryan is excellent!
Thoroughly enjoyed this story! Chapter 7 skips in the audible, rest of it thoroughly makes up for it.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Olive Kennedy
- 06-01-23
the thing about December
narrator perfect. book had humour and extreme poignancy. wonderful characterisation, authentic, painfully relevant indeed
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 12-08-23
Pure genius!
This novel is a masterpiece, written by a true master of the craft. The depth of character is unreal, and I can think of no other author who creates such fully realised people to populate his novel. The prose is perfect. Every sentence, every chapter, is honed and packed with meaning. That the author himself is reading it just makes it so very much better. The Thing About December is a journey and a magical, wonderful experience. The story and its wonderful characters will live always in my heart!
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Ellenmvdv
- 16-02-23
depressing, nothing happens
struggled through this, felt like sitting down with a friend who just complains non stop. a grey cloud on my day each morning. if you're looking for an Irish novel with a slow mood but with peaks and troughs of emotion read "when all is said" instead
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