Listen free for 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo + applicable taxes after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
What the Living Do cover art

What the Living Do

Written by: Marie Howe
Narrated by: Marie Howe
Try for $0.00

$14.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $8.71

Buy Now for $8.71

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Tax where applicable.

Publisher's Summary

Informed by the death of a beloved brother, here are the stories of childhood, its thicket of sex and sorrow and joy, boys and girls growing into men and women, stories of a brother who in his dying could teach how to be most alive. What the Living Do reflects "a new form of confessional poetry, one shared to some degree by other women poets such as Sharon Olds and Jane Kenyon. Unlike the earlier confessional poetry of Plath, Lowell, Sexton et al., Howe's writing is not so much a moan or a shriek as a song. It is a genuinely feminine form...a poetry of intimacy, witness, honesty, and relation" (Boston Globe).

This audio edition of What the Living Do is beautifully read by the author. 

Cover photograph: Song of Sentient Beings (1134) by Bill Jacobson (1994), used with permission.

©1998 Marie Howe (P)2021 Echo Point Books & Media, LLC

What the critics say

"A deeply beautiful book, with the fierce galloping pace of a great novel." (Liz Rosenberg, Boston Globe)

What listeners say about What the Living Do

Average Customer Ratings

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.