Brett Ashley Kaplan's Blog
June 2, 2022
Audiobook of Rare Stuff!
I absolutely love audiobooks and re-discovered them relatively recently during the first phase of the pandemic. I was too frightened to fly but I so missed my elder daughter, Anya, who started college in the doomed fall of 2020, that I drove 16 hours from Champaign, IL (each way!) with our dog to visit her in Fort Collins, CO. I do not like long drives. But a long drive with an audiobook isn’t so very bad. I listened to Moby Dick (took more than both ways)—as you know from Rare Stuff I love whales. And I listened to a self-help book, The Courage to be a Stepmom, which helped me understand much better some of the problems in our step-family. We are currently not blended—although we used to be. I also deeply love the audio book of Aminatta Forna’s The Memory of Love. I gave a talk about my novels and a colleague, Carol Spindel, suggested I read Forna’s novel because like Rare Stuff, it has different narrators and perspectives—I ended up getting the audio book and the narrator, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith has a mesmerizing voice! His voice and Forna’s beautiful words draw you in completely to the narrative of love and betrayal against the backdrop of revolution and unseen political transformations that nonetheless impact all the characters.
But my favorite all time audiobook is Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. Clarke, is, of course, a genius of a writer so that helps enormously. But the narration by Simon Prebble is simply flawless. He manages to do, I think, all the voices with slightly different inflections—Strange & Norrell has a zillion colorful, magical characters but one never got confused as to who was who because Prebble so very deftly shifted so that you always knew what was going on and who was who. It’s a truly wonderful audiobook.
As Rare Stuff is about to come out I began thinking about an audiobook….tune in next time for a little taste of the book and more about how to make one! All best, Brett
But my favorite all time audiobook is Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. Clarke, is, of course, a genius of a writer so that helps enormously. But the narration by Simon Prebble is simply flawless. He manages to do, I think, all the voices with slightly different inflections—Strange & Norrell has a zillion colorful, magical characters but one never got confused as to who was who because Prebble so very deftly shifted so that you always knew what was going on and who was who. It’s a truly wonderful audiobook.
As Rare Stuff is about to come out I began thinking about an audiobook….tune in next time for a little taste of the book and more about how to make one! All best, Brett
May 11, 2022
Review in Kirkus
Very thrilled to discover this review in Kirkus today! https://www.kirkusreviews.com/search/...
RARE STUFF
Author: Brett Ashley Kaplan
Review Issue Date: June 1, 2022
Online Publish Date: May 11, 2022
Publisher:Spuyten Duyvil
Pages: 354
Price ( Paperback ): $20.00
Publication Date: August 1, 2022
ISBN ( Paperback ): 978-1-956005-57-8
Section: Fiction
Yiddish-speaking whales, a suitcase packed with secrets, and one young woman’s desperate attempt to find answers.
When Sidney Zimmerman’s father, Aaron, dies, she doesn't feel any longed-for closure. Instead, cleaning out his apartment, she uncovers a suitcase hidden in the back of the closet and full of such seemingly random items as a red high-heeled shoe, a paperweight, and a photograph of a man in a fedora, and, on his desk, the manuscript of the unpublished novel Slobgollion. The items in the suitcase turn out to be cryptic clues about Sid’s mother, Dorothy, an amateur cetologist—a scientist who studies whales—who disappeared when Sid was a child. Sid’s search for answers about what happened to her mother spurs the novel along. Things fall into place as Sid and her boyfriend, André, follow Aaron’s mysterious breadcrumbs, and people spring up to help as if placed there by magic: “We’ve been scripted, we’re in one of dad’s books, surely, yet another person hails us as if he jumped out of the suitcase, breathing.” The novel alternates among Sid’s perspective, the long-suffering André’s perspective, and chapters from Aaron’s unpublished manuscript featuring Yiddish-speaking whales trying to save the world from environmental collapse. Kaplan packs a lot into her novel, from cautionary tales about conservation to somewhat superficial discussions on interracial relationships, police brutality, and genocide. And while the novel’s ambitious scope could easily have been its downfall, it's saved by descriptions of tender longing for connection and purpose, particularly realized in André’s chapters, as well as a soft, magical tone.
A dreamy story with surprising emotional resonance.
RARE STUFF
Author: Brett Ashley Kaplan
Review Issue Date: June 1, 2022
Online Publish Date: May 11, 2022
Publisher:Spuyten Duyvil
Pages: 354
Price ( Paperback ): $20.00
Publication Date: August 1, 2022
ISBN ( Paperback ): 978-1-956005-57-8
Section: Fiction
Yiddish-speaking whales, a suitcase packed with secrets, and one young woman’s desperate attempt to find answers.
When Sidney Zimmerman’s father, Aaron, dies, she doesn't feel any longed-for closure. Instead, cleaning out his apartment, she uncovers a suitcase hidden in the back of the closet and full of such seemingly random items as a red high-heeled shoe, a paperweight, and a photograph of a man in a fedora, and, on his desk, the manuscript of the unpublished novel Slobgollion. The items in the suitcase turn out to be cryptic clues about Sid’s mother, Dorothy, an amateur cetologist—a scientist who studies whales—who disappeared when Sid was a child. Sid’s search for answers about what happened to her mother spurs the novel along. Things fall into place as Sid and her boyfriend, André, follow Aaron’s mysterious breadcrumbs, and people spring up to help as if placed there by magic: “We’ve been scripted, we’re in one of dad’s books, surely, yet another person hails us as if he jumped out of the suitcase, breathing.” The novel alternates among Sid’s perspective, the long-suffering André’s perspective, and chapters from Aaron’s unpublished manuscript featuring Yiddish-speaking whales trying to save the world from environmental collapse. Kaplan packs a lot into her novel, from cautionary tales about conservation to somewhat superficial discussions on interracial relationships, police brutality, and genocide. And while the novel’s ambitious scope could easily have been its downfall, it's saved by descriptions of tender longing for connection and purpose, particularly realized in André’s chapters, as well as a soft, magical tone.
A dreamy story with surprising emotional resonance.
