Ordinary People

By: Diana Evans

Narrated by: Jennifer Saayeng

October 2018's Selection for the Washington Post's "Lily Lit" Book Club

One of The Millions' "Most Anticipated" Books of 2018

Evoking the sharp insight of Little Fires Everywhere and the sweep of NW, an incisive portrait of the bliss and torment of domestic love.

Hailed as “one of the most thrilling writers at work today” (Huffington Post), Diana Evans reaches new heights with her searing depiction of two couples struggling through a year of marital crisis. In a crooked house in South London, Melissa feels increasingly that she’s defined solely by motherhood, while Michael mourns the former thrill of their romance. In the suburbs, Stephanie’s aspirations for bliss on the commuter belt, coupled with her white middle-class upbringing, compound Damian’s itch for a bigger life catalyzed by the death of his activist father. Longtime friends from the years when passion seemed permanent, the couples have stayed in touch, gathering for births and anniversaries, bonding over discussions of politics, race, and art. But as bonds fray, the lines once clearly marked by wedding bands aren’t so simply defined. Ordinary People is a moving examination of identity and parenthood, sex and grief, and the fragile architecture of love.

©2018 Diana Evans (P)2018 Audible, Inc.

Ordinary

The voice is great. The story tells a realistic life story about marriage. A little too realistic. I realize I want my books to embellish a little.

Ordinary People

Loved the narration, really looked forward to listening to her each time. Very interesting story. Gives you a lot to think about in your own life. Wonderful descriptions of characters and scenes to imagine the story, like you are there.

Beautiful character study

Here’s a novel that explores the real nature of relationship. The characters feel whole, troubled, beautiful, precariously teetering on the edge of their futures— lost from the path of what they’d expected.

The writer gives so much to the people who inhabit this book and the places they inhabit. Place becomes its own character, with its own flaws and arcs. I love how the story breaks into bivalved narratives— the narrative of the characters and the characterization of the places.

Artful spellbinding, be prepared to fall in and out of love with each of them.

Long painful slog.

The unraveling of this couple’s marriage unfolds very gradually over many pages. None of the characters were very compelling, yes they are ordinary. I got the idea early but the same conflicts and unhappiness just go on and on without much nuance. Not for me, I’m not sure why I finished it.

Ordinary would be thrilling. OH. HOW. TIRESOME.

I admit - I never got to the end. After just more than half the novel I realized there's no reason to continue.
Starting with the quite horrible narrator, who practically KILLED this book. By pausing. Everywhere. There was. A comma. Seems like the only thing she does. Is. Pause. I thought i was going MAD.
On top of that, the story is not only boring but sounds like it's written from a somewhat childish POV on marriage, parenting, and sex in a long term relationship. Having been there, done that. I am looking for a more sophisticated POV on those issues, which this book was not about to deliver.
In fact, REAL ordinary people have much more interesting small crisis, but they probably need a more talented author to capture them.
Sorry. A waste of time.