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The Wren, the Wren
- Narrated by: Anne Enright, Aoife Duffin, Owen Roe, Liza Ross
- Length: 7 hrs and 40 mins
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The Wren, the Wren
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Summary
Brought to you by Penguin.
Carmel had been alone all her life. She had been alone since she was twelve years old. The baby knew all this. They looked at each other; one life into another life, and the baby knew exactly how alone her mother had been.
Nell - funny, brave and so much loved - is a young woman with adventure on her mind. As she sets out into the world, she finds her family history hard to escape. For her mother, Carmel, Nell's leaving home opens a space in her heart, where the turmoil of a lifetime begins to churn. And across the generations falls the long shadow of Carmel's famous father, an Irish poet of beautiful words and brutal actions.
This is a meditation on love: spiritual, romantic, darkly sexual or genetic. A generational saga that traces the inheritance not just of trauma but also of wonder, it is a testament to the glorious resilience of women in the face of promises false and true. Above all, it is an exploration of the love between mother and daughter - sometimes fierce, often painful, but always transcendent.
Critic reviews
"The Wren, The Wren is a magnificent novel.' (Sally Rooney, author of Normal People)
"[P]ractically crackle with intelligence, compassion and wit. Phil McDaragh is so real I almost googled him. The Wren, The Wren might just be Anne Enright's best yet.' (Louise Kennedy, author of Trespasses)
'Tender, acutely observed, shocking at times. Enright perfectly captures the experience of a woman in her twenties, thirties, forties and fifties. Women rise throughout The Wren, The Wren, rising above abusive relationships and casual abandonment, sometimes inflicting violence on each other - but still rising into better times. Magnificent.' (Priscilla Morris, author of Black Butterflies)
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What listeners say about The Wren, the Wren
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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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mr
- 26-09-23
Loved it!
A poetic book to savour and reread. It is beautifully narrated by the author herself
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 20-03-24
A beautiful book.
I loved every syllable and feel like I could listen to this story again straight away from the beginning. The whole thing was just perfect, the story itself, the exploration of words, meaning, poetry and people brought me to a place of pure enjoyment. A beautiful book.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Robert K.
- 10-10-23
Love this style of writing
Anne Enright is observant, insightful and clever with words. All my fave topics/thoughts arise.
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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
- J. F. Wrin
- 22-03-24
Irish generations
I often wonder, when I listen to Anne Enright, Donal Ryan, Louise Kennedy … (there are more) whether coming from an Irish family makes it easier to delight in and whether some of the intricate details are lost on those with no intimate knowledge of such families.
The narrators were all very good. Anne Enright herself has a rich and perfectly aging voice, fitting into the role of the mother with absolutely no glance backward.
That all said, I am on the whole, avoiding books, which are written in chapters of different characters or different timelines. I cannot be certain whether I would have actually read this all the way through in spite of the fact that the family politics and bickering are so accurately carved.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Elisabeth
- 15-02-24
A mixed book
The older women had interesting stories and had depth of character. The long descriptions of the younger woman’s experience of an increasingly abusive and controlled relationship was harder to digest because it went on for so long. So much introspection and no action. It seemed out of character for Nell. It also didn’t seem to play forward into the rest of the story. Otherwise Well read. An ok book but not stunning.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 20-04-24
Relationship
Took me a while to figure out what was going on but I persevered and I think I eventually got it.
Long rambling story, they all seemed to have an ‘ism’ and although some parts of their relationships were loving there was a lot of cruelty and major dysfunction. Just like a poet to state undying love but he leaves his wife and family just when they need him the most.
Some burst out laughing observations kept me going, amid the misery.
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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
- 07-10-23
brilliant
loved it. incredible performances on the audio book. A gorgeous insight to a family of characters. Bird lovers will enjoy
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- eileen boyle
- 25-01-24
I feel that the different voices added to a great story
It took me a little while to warm to the story and the characters. Then I did to a degree and would at times become disgruntled again, during the last few hours this happened less and I looked forward to my next listen. Thanks
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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
- Vag
- 29-09-23
brilliant book - loved every moment
Lyrical, stunning writing such an authentic voice. The main character read so incredibly well by the author enriched the story telling. A small tale of the impact of a larger than life Dada abandoning a family, and the generational emotional impact/ damage that has on his daughters and grandchild. It is a tale of survival, so far so well covered ground, but the characters are engaging brutally honest, and there are other big themes around power relations between genders, between mother an daughter, environmental damage are woven into the lives of the women. The central poem The Wren, symbolically linked to main character is a small, energetic bird with a very loud but beautiful voice, but represents rebirth and the coming of Spring. This book had a loud and beautiful voice - Read and enjoy!
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Dr. Ka Mckinnell
- 13-10-23
Beautiful work
Beautiful prose so accurate about people, their experiences and feelings. But I found their lives depressing which May say more about me than the book
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