Today Will Be Different cover art

Today Will Be Different

From the bestselling author of Where'd You Go, Bernadette

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Today Will Be Different

By: Maria Semple
Narrated by: Kathleen Wilhoite
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About this listen

Eleanor Flood knows she's a mess. But today will be different. Today she will shower and put on real clothes. She will attend her yoga class after dropping her son, Timby, off at school. She'll see an old friend for lunch. She won't swear. She will initiate sex with her husband, Joe. But before she can put her modest plan into action - life happens.

For today is the day Timby has decided to pretend to be ill to weasel his way into his mother's company. It's also the day surgeon Joe has chosen to tell his receptionist - but not Eleanor - that he's on vacation. And just when it seems that things can't go more awry, a former colleague produces a relic from the past - a graphic memoir with pages telling of family secrets long buried and a sister to whom Eleanor never speaks.

From the dazzling pen of Maria Semple, author of bestselling Where'd You Go, Bernadette, comes a hilarious and life-affirming story about a woman who wakes up determined to be her best self.

Read by Kathleen Wilhoite

(p) 2016 Hachette Audio©2016 Maria Semple
Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Witty Comedy

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Critic reviews

The joy, as before, is in the narrative voice... Brilliant set-pieces include a scene of existential despair in CostCo, a flashback to a hideous society wedding in the deep south, and Dr Joe's epiphany during a Seattle Seahawks game.. Semple reaffirms her gift for creating memorable, monstrous characters
This whip-smart, bleakly humorous study of how we live now is full of finely drawn characters and deserves to widen her fanbase.
It's funny and silly but also poignant and more than a little reminiscent of Semple's bestselling Where'd You Go, Bernadette
There are some good lines and more than a few laughs, plus occasional pungent observations on life
With its sparky gags and quirky cast of characters, never has a meltdown been so entertaining
One to Watch: Where'd You Go, Bernadette established Maria Semple as a brilliant comic writer. Today Will Be Different, about a middle-aged mum who is desperately trying to keep control of her life despite having one of those days, is just as smart, funny and original.
sees Semple once again writing about a difficult woman with gleeful empathy and humour that can turn on a knife edge to heartbreak
Whipsmart, dazzling, darkly comic and deeply touching. I loved it! (Marian Keyes)
I adore it. Every bit as smart - and smart-arsed - as BERNADETTE . . . this is wonderful (Sam Baker, author of THE WOMAN WHO RAN and co-founder of THE POOL)
So unique, so smart, so funny, so beautifully humane, so utterly of our times, it's astonishing (Gillian Flynn, author of GONE GIRL)
I love Maria Semple! TODAY WILL BE DIFFERENT is just as funny, poignant, and life-affirming as BERNADETTE (Nina Stibbe, author of LOVE, NINA and MAN AT THE HELM)
I had the uncanny feeling, while reading TODAY WILL BE DIFFERENT, that Maria Semple had somehow snuck into my house when I was asleep, took an x-ray image of my heart, then painted it by hand in neon colors. This book is searingly honest and hilarious and dark and neurotic. It is dizzying. Best of all, it is delicious (Lauren Groff, author of FATES AND FURIES)
Today will be different, Eleanor Flood tells herself, and oh baby hang on for a wild ride that's like nothing Eleanor sees coming. In this brilliant depiction of a woman hanging on by her fingernails, Maria Semple delivers a perfect panic of a day on which the barely tolerable, muddle-through-it desperation that so many of us have known at one time or another suddenly erupts with life-shattering force. Can an existential crisis make us laugh? Such is Semple's talent that this one does, without losing any of the punch or gravity of the hardest kinds of lived experience (Ben Fountain, author of BRIEF ENCOUNTERS WITH CHE GUEVARA)
Clever, funny and silly
This waspishness selfishness is a clever mask, but Semple has a knack of teasing out the warmth behind it.
an entertaining book to while away a few hours.
her narrative oozes stylistic originality
Captivating, right up to the final twist.
this witty novel is a life-affirming read.
All stars
Most relevant
I really enjoyed this audiobook having loved Bernadette. The authors quite unique voice guides you through a difficult day in the life of the lead character. Beautifully voiced by the narrator we follow her through the everyday trials and tribulations. A real pleasure and recommended!

A unique voice

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Is there anything you would change about this book?

so light hearted funny and very true moments... but i generally preferred semple's first book. this drags on a little...

preferred her previous book

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Some parts funny but there’s no real amazing messages in this book. But that’s just my opinion and we are all different. It’s ok

Some parts funny but there’s no real amazing messages in this book. But that’s just my opinion and we are all different. It’s ok

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