The Porpoise Audiobook By Mark Haddon cover art

The Porpoise

A Novel

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In a bravura feat of storytelling, Mark Haddon calls upon narratives ancient and modern to tell the story of Angelica, a young woman trapped in an abusive relationship with her father. When a young man named Darius discovers their secret, he is forced to escape on a boat bound for the Mediterranean. To his surprise he finds himself travelling backwards over two thousand years to a world of pirates and shipwrecks, of plagues and miracles and angry gods. Moving seamlessly between the past and the present, Haddon conjures the worlds of Angelica and her would-be savior in thrilling fashion. As profound as it is entertaining, The Porpoise is a stirring and endlessly inventive novel from one of our finest storytellers. Literary Fiction Magical Realism Fiction Fantasy Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Magic Family Life

Critic reviews

"Staggeringly ambitious, innovative, beautifully written. . .The Porpoise has the pace of a really good thriller, combined with a subtlety and depth that few thrillers possess."
--Pat Barker, author of The Silence of the Girls and the Booker Prize-winning The Ghost Road

"A full-throttle blast of storytelling mastery. Ancient and modern overlap in exhilarating ways, it's like romping through a literary Netflix: an episode of something historical and bloody, then something slick and contemporary, then something really weird and unnerving. . .The Porpoise is a joy to read.
--Max Porter, author of the International Dylan Thomas Prize-winning Grief is the Thing With Feathers

"Mark Haddon cuts down to the grittiness of humanity every time he writes. The Porpoise is a beautiful, unputdownable, ancient tangle with its own sweeping tides and dangerous depths."
--Daisy Johnson, author of the Booker Prize finalist Everything Under

"An artfully crafted story of layered lives. . .Haddon’s ambitious tale captures the ethos of tragic Shakespearean vibrations and the tangle of lives that magically intersect. The prose is exquisite and elevates this story that blends reality and mythology to great effect."
--Publishers Weekly
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I don’t really get why or how this was all weaved together. The author is a talented writer, but the story/stories were just too inconsistent. For me it was lot of asking WHY is this a story, how does all of this go together. The story really doesn’t have reason for being told or an ending. Nothing comes together.

Stick to one story line

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loved everything about the book. interesting juxtaposition of ancient and contemporary. beautifully read. I want more.

Haddon does it again

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……….exasperating read...…….!!!!!!!! Haddon takes the reader everywhere and then some! I often backed up and re-read just to make certain I absorbed it all. Absolutely beautifully written....get ready for a whole lot of story...……..but very much worth it.

Beautifully Written.....

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... you haven't been paying attention. " I'm not sure some classics need retelling. It is written well, the performance is good.

"If you think this ends well...

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Mark Haddon is a master story teller! Tim McInnerny reads with compassion and conviction. I listen to a lot of audio books, I have no idea what to listen to next after this book. What can possibly compete?

Fantastic!

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