watch out -- you will have trouble unplugging

i listened at 2x for 2 reasons: i wanted the next plot twist (that's good) and the narrative was bloated (that's bad). But you'll overlook the latter for the former. I thoroughly enjoyed this, for all the yucky Upper East Side self-satisfied parts of it, found it insightful and always absorbing.

20 people found this helpful

Maybe I should have known better

This book was hyped a lot in the press, and so I anticipated so much more. It's an interesting read, but overall not as good as I had hoped.

16 people found this helpful

Fantastic reading;literary soap opera

What did you like best about You Should Have Known? What did you like least?

The reading of this book was absolutely first-rate. Delaine read all the characters from a 12-year-old boy to older women, even one minor character with a Scottish accent, superbly.
Korelitz is very skilled in sketching out her characters and their environs.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

Reading this novel is like following a trail scattered with breadcrumbs. At first you admire the view and easy of passage, but then you start to get annoyed that it's so easy and that there are no twists and turns.

Was You Should Have Known worth the listening time?

Yes, thanks to the reading.

16 people found this helpful

Excellent !

What did you love best about You Should Have Known?

I was absolutely riveted by the story and the narration. This was one of those audio books where I felt the emotional arc of the story because of the excellent reading by Christine Delaine.

What was one of the most memorable moments of You Should Have Known?

There were many, but one of the most memorable was when Grace reconnected with her estranged friend, Vida. I also loved the meeting with Jonathan's family.

What does Christina Delaine bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Her voice conveyed, beautifully, the emotional impact that each disclosure of how little Grace knew about her husband.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I felt connected to all the emotions that Grace experienced throughout the story, especially the sense of dread as her orders life crumbled.

14 people found this helpful

Shut up Grace!

This book is long and painful. Grace is painfully oblivious and stuck up. She spends the entire book talking about how she doesn't like other people because they're just not good enough for her and her husband. She's too good to have pierced ears. Too good for non classical music. Too good to read fiction. Too good to do anything. Half of this cursed book is how Grace is such a damned intellectual.

Then when the plot winds up, nothing. All we get is Grace breaking down slowly. Slowly figuring out what happened. Slowly coming to terms. Slowly doing everything. I've seen more awareness from a toddler. Literally nothing happens because Grace does nothing. We never get a conflict. The reader gets nothing in this story.

13 people found this helpful

A pleasant moment, but...

This book is not a mysterie and classifying it as such will disappoint some readers.

13 people found this helpful

A great listen that I sped through

What made the experience of listening to You Should Have Known the most enjoyable?

I didn't know anything about the book aside from the basic premise and it was great to experience it without future knowledge. I did find the main character so annoying at times, but I think we were supposed to think she was overly uptight and set in her ways.

What three words best describe Christina Delaine’s voice?

She is a bit breathy for me but I got used to it and it worked!

10 people found this helpful

Painfully Boring

Too long, too many unnecessary details and not enough action. That's all I have to say about that!

9 people found this helpful

A real page turner, but...

I enjoyed this story. It kept me on the edge of my seat. The reader was excellent. My only problem was how clueless the main character seemed throughout the first half of the book. She never seemed to ask herself why the police were questioning her, why strange things were happening, why she couldn't reach her husband. It's as though on some subconscious level she knew but didn't want to know, which is a hard premise to swallow when she is a therapist who wrote a book called "You Should Have Known." This made the book less than great in my mind, even though it was a fun read.

9 people found this helpful

Intelligent

It's always a pleasure to read a book that doesn't rehash hundreds of others, that keeps you alternately guessing and speaking aloud to the character, and makes you want to drive the long way home so you have an excuse to keep listening.

Brava!

7 people found this helpful