We Were the Mulvaneys Audiobook By Joyce Carol Oates cover art

We Were the Mulvaneys

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We Were the Mulvaneys

By: Joyce Carol Oates
Narrated by: J. Todd Adams
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The Mulvaneys are blessed by all that makes life sweet: a hardworking father, a loving mother, three fine sons, and a bright, pretty daughter. They are confident in their love for each other and their position in the rural community of Mt. Ephraim, New York. But something happens on Valentine's Day, 1976 - an incident that is hushed up in the town and never spoken of in the Mulvaney home - that rends the fabric of their family life.

As the years pass the secrets they keep from each other threaten to destroy them, but ultimately they bridge the chasms between them and reunite in the spirit of love and healing. Rarely has such an acclaimed writer made such a startling and inspiring statement about the value of hope and compassion.

©1996 The Ontario Review, Inc., (P)2001 HighBridge Company; 16 9 Family Life Literary Fiction Sagas Genre Fiction Classics

Critic reviews

"[It gets] under our skin and demand that we pay attention." (New York Newsday)
"[she has a gift] of making the page a window, with something on the other side that we'd swear was life itself." (The New York Times Book Review)

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We Were the Mulvaneys Audiobook By Joyce Carol Oates cover art
We Were the Mulvaneys By: Joyce Carol Oates
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A really worthwhile listen of a family saga nearly ruined by the addition of music in various parts.

Annoying music

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I loved the story. Wanted to listen to it in one day all day
could not stop listening.

family values

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An uneventful book featuring a selfish father & spineless mother ripping their family apart for no good reason.

Too much music between chapters...boring

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Perhaps because its abridged, the characters don't ring true and the tradgedy becomes trivial -- something that these folks should just get over with and move on.

Also the narrator, while pleasent to listen to, doesn't always emphasize sentences correctly and mispronounces some words.

Doesn't ring true

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I enjoyed this story. Well written and speaks to how families come together and break apart. Relatable in so many ways. Easy listen

Family Story

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