E-audiobook
The descendants [electronic resource] : [a novel] / Kaui Hart Hemmings.
Summary:
Record details
- ISBN: 9780792749547 (sound recording : OverDrive Audio Book)
- ISBN: 0792749545 (sound recording : OverDrive Audio Book)
- Publisher: [North Kingstown, R.I.] : Sound Library, 2007.
Content descriptions
- General Note:
- Downloadable audio file.Title from: Title details screen.Unabridged.Duration: 9:10:31.
- Participant or Performer Note:
- Read by Jonathan Davis.
- System Details Note:
- Requires OverDrive Media ConsoleRequires OverDrive Media Console (file size: 131902 KB).Mode of access: World Wide Web.
Search for related items by subject
- Subject:
- Families > Fiction.
Hawaii > Fiction. - Genre:
- DOWNLOADABLE AUDIOBOOK.
Audiobooks.
Other Formats and Editions
Electronic resources
- AudioFile Reviews : AudioFile Reviews 2007 October/November
Jonathan Davis reads in a strong voice, but each sentence ends in a pause, a vocal style that fits the story's main character, Matthew King, a man who is questioning his life. After Matthew decides to sell the last parcel of his family land in Hawaii and disconnect his comatose wife from life support, he discovers she had planned to divorce him for a new lover. Further, his 10-year-old daughter is mentally disturbed, and his 17-year-old daughter is recovering from drug addiction. As Davis inserts pregnant pauses into his delivery, we get a strong sense that Matthew doesn't know what's going to come at him next. Once Matthew forms a solid vision of his future, Davis's reading reflects the change with stronger, surer tones. S.W. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine - Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2007 April #2
As smart, perceptive, and evocative as Hemmings' premiere literary offering was, (the superlative short story collection House of Thieves, 2005), her irresistible debut novel is light years beyond. Expanding on a tale in that collection, Hemmings follows Matt King and his daughters, precocious 10-year-old Scottie and temperamental 17-year-old Alex, in the aftermath of his wife's involvement in a boating accident that leaves her in a coma. While Joanie tenaciously hangs on, Matt and his daughters tentatively navigate the uncharted waters of life-without-Mom. Reeling from the discovery that Joanie had been having an affair, Matt considers his two out-of-control daughters and realizes that he's failed as both a husband and father. Determined to track down and confront his wife's lover, Matt and the girls embark on a journey of atonement and discovery that will set the course for the rest of their lives. Evincing a sublimely mature style and beguiling command of theme and setting, Hemmings' virtuoso performance offers a piquantly tender and winsomely comic portrait of a singular family's revealing response to tragedy. ((Reviewed April 15, 2007)) Copyright 2007 Booklist Reviews. - Kirkus Reviews : Kirkus Reviews 2007 April #2
Hemming's first novel expands on a short story, "The Minor Wars," that appeared in her debut story collection (House of Thieves, 2005) about a self-consciously privileged Hawaiian family in crisis. The great-grandson of a Hawaiian princess, lawyer Matt King is under pressure to decide to whom his family should sell its vast land holdings when he learns that his wife Joanie, comatose since a boat-racing accident, is definitely going to die once the hospital removes life support. A beautiful model with a penchant for hard drinking and fast boats, Joanie has always chafed at her quiet domestic life with Matt, a workaholic trying to live off his career rather than his inheritance. Matt has left the day-to-day rearing of their daughters Scottie and Alex to Joanie and now feels inept as he reaches out to the girls. Scottie is a classic ten-year-old, that painful mix of pseudo-sophistication and clueless innocence. Sent by Joannie to boarding school for typical rich-kid bad behavior (cocaine), Alex comes home at the cusp of maturity, still furious with her parents but self-aware. Pressed, she tells Matt that she caught Joanie having an affair. Matt now must deal with his sense of betrayal as well as his and his daughters' grief. Unlikely help comes from Alex's maybe-boyfriend Sid, whose laid-back wisdom has been hard-earned. Matt takes the girls and Sid in search of Joanie's lover to let him know her conditionâand he soon realizes that the man did not love Joanie and perhaps used her to sway Matt's decision about the land sale.Hemmings pulls off a remarkable feat in making the Kings' sense of loss all the more wrenching for being directed at a woman who was neither a good wife nor a good mother.Agent: Kim Witherspoon/InkWell Management Copyright Kirkus 2007 Kirkus/BPI Communications. All rights reserved. - Library Journal Reviews : LJ Reviews 2007 May #2
Matthew King has an unusual lineageâhe is the royal descendant of one of Hawaii's largest landowners. This should be quite a fortunate situation, but life has a way of turning things on end. Matt's beautiful young wife is in a life-threatening coma. A model who lived life fearlessly, she was thrown overboard while racing in a motorboat. The news from the doctor isn't good, and Matt must find a way to tell friends and family. Being a busy attorney, he has not been the most attentive husband and father. Now he suddenly finds himself in charge of feisty ten-year-old Scottie and incorrigible 17-year-old Alex. Both girls are dealing with puberty, school, and the realization that their mother isn't coming home. Confronting tragedy brings this family unit together in surprising ways, and Hemmings has created an endearing yet humorous portrait. The characters are vivid, and the book flows along with strong narration. Highly recommended for all public libraries.âRobin Nesbitt, Columbus Metropolitan Lib., OH
[Page 80]. Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information. - Publishers Weekly Reviews : PW Reviews 2007 March #1
Hemmings's bittersweet debut novel, an expansion of her first published short story ("The Minor Wars," from House of Thieves and originally published in StoryQuarterly ), stars besieged and wryly introspective attorney Matt King, the land-rich descendant of Hawaiian royalty and American missionaries and entrepreneurs. He wrestles with the decision of whether to keep his swath of valuable inherited land or sell it to a real estate developer. But even more critical, Matt also has to decide whether to pull the plug on his wife, Joanie, who has been in an irreversible coma for 23 days following a boat-racing accident. Then Matt finds out that Joanie was having an affair with real estate broker Brian Speer, impelling him to travel with his two daughtersâprecocious 10-year-old Scottie and fresh from rehab 17-year-old Alexâfrom Oahu to Kauai to confront Brian. Matt finds out the truth about Joanie and Brian, which influences his decision about what to do with his family's on-the-block land and complicates his plans for Joanie. Matt's journey with his girls forms the emotional core of this sharply observed, frequently hilarious and intermittently heartbreaking look at a well-meaning but confused father trying to hold together his unconventional family. (May)
[Page 37]. Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.