The Fixed Stars
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $29.50
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Erin Mallon
-
By:
-
Molly Wizenberg
About this listen
At age 36, while serving on a jury, author Molly Wizenberg found herself drawn to a female attorney she hardly knew. Married to a man for nearly a decade and mother to a toddler, Wizenberg tried to return to her life as she knew it, but something inside her had changed irredeemably. Instead, she would discover that the trajectory of our lives is rarely as smooth or as logical as we'd like to believe.
Like many of us, Wizenberg had long understood sexual orientation as a stable part of ourselves: we're "born this way". Suddenly, she realized that her story was more complicated. Who was she, she wondered, if something at her very core could change so radically?
The Fixed Stars is a taut, electrifying memoir exploring timely and timeless questions about desire, identity, and the limits and possibilities of family. In honest and searing prose, Wizenberg forges a new path: through the murk of separation and divorce, coming out to family and friends, learning to co-parent a young child, and realizing a new vision of love. The result is a frank and moving story about letting go of rigid definitions and ideals that no longer fit and learning instead who we really are.
©2020 Dreamscape Media, LLC (P)2020 Dreamscape Media, LLCListeners also enjoyed...
-
You Could Make This Place Beautiful
- A Memoir
- By: Maggie Smith
- Narrated by: Maggie Smith
- Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In her memoir You Could Make This Place Beautiful, poet Maggie Smith explores the disintegration of her marriage and her renewed commitment to herself in lyrical vignettes that shine, hard and clear as jewels. The book begins with one woman’s personal, particular heartbreak, but its circles widen into a reckoning with contemporary womanhood, traditional gender roles, and the power dynamics that persist even in many progressive homes.
-
-
Beautiful, relatable, profound
- By Betty Blue on 04-16-23
By: Maggie Smith
-
Untamed
- By: Glennon Doyle
- Narrated by: Glennon Doyle
- Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There is a voice of longing inside each woman. We strive so mightily to be good: good partners, daughters, mothers, employees, and friends. We hope all this striving will make us feel alive. Instead, it leaves us feeling weary, stuck, overwhelmed, and underwhelmed. We look at our lives and wonder: Wasn’t it all supposed to be more beautiful than this? We quickly silence that question, telling ourselves to be grateful, hiding our discontent—even from ourselves.
-
-
Shockingly shallow and self-centered
- By G. Scimeca on 03-11-20
By: Glennon Doyle
-
Girls Can Kiss Now
- Essays
- By: Jill Gutowitz
- Narrated by: Jill Gutowitz
- Length: 7 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jill Gutowitz’s life—for better and worse—has always been on a collision course with pop culture. There’s the time the FBI showed up at her door because of something she tweeted about Game of Thrones. The pop songs that have been the soundtrack to the worst moments of her life.
-
-
GOOD AND GAY
- By Sarah Griffin on 03-17-22
By: Jill Gutowitz
-
Greedy
- Notes from a Bisexual Who Wants Too Much
- By: Jen Winston
- Narrated by: Jen Winston
- Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If Jen Winston knows one thing for sure, it’s that she’s bisexual. Or wait - maybe she isn’t? Actually, she definitely is. Unless...she’s not? Jen’s provocative, laugh-out-loud debut takes us inside her journey of self-discovery. Greedy follows Jen’s attempts to make sense of herself as she explores the role of the male gaze, what it means to be “queer enough”, and how to overcome bi stereotypes when you’re the posterchild for all of them: greedy, slutty, and constantly confused.
-
-
A beautiful read for anyone under the Bi+ Umbrella
- By Amazon Customer on 10-08-21
By: Jen Winston
-
Pageboy
- A Memoir
- By: Elliot Page
- Narrated by: Elliot Page
- Length: 8 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
“Can I kiss you?” It was two months before the world premiere of Juno, and Elliot Page was in his first ever queer bar. The hot summer air hung heavy around him as he looked at her. And then it happened. In front of everyone. A previously unfathomable experience. Here he was on the precipice of discovering himself as a queer person, as a trans person. Getting closer to his desires, his dreams, himself, without the repression he’d carried for so long. But for Elliot, two steps forward had always come with one step back.
-
-
Ah, I wish this were better. I'm disappointed.
- By Jackson Theofore Keys on 06-07-23
By: Elliot Page
-
Perfectly Queer
- Facing Big Fears, Living Hard Truths, and Loving Myself Fully Out of the Closet
- By: Jillian Abby
- Narrated by: Jillian Abby
- Length: 7 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jill had a happy, healthy 20-year relationship with her college sweetheart, two wonderful kids, and rescue cat from the Humane Society. They lived in a nice suburban home with a white picket fence and owned a small bar that was rated one of the “Best Mom & Pop” businesses in Tampa Bay. From the outside, everything looked perfect. Perfectly Queer takes the listener on Jillian Abby's poignant and painfully funny rollercoaster of self-discovery as she identifies and eventually accepts herself as a lesbian just before her 40th birthday.
-
-
Exactly What I Needed to Hear
- By Mandi on 02-14-24
By: Jillian Abby
-
You Could Make This Place Beautiful
- A Memoir
- By: Maggie Smith
- Narrated by: Maggie Smith
- Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In her memoir You Could Make This Place Beautiful, poet Maggie Smith explores the disintegration of her marriage and her renewed commitment to herself in lyrical vignettes that shine, hard and clear as jewels. The book begins with one woman’s personal, particular heartbreak, but its circles widen into a reckoning with contemporary womanhood, traditional gender roles, and the power dynamics that persist even in many progressive homes.
-
-
Beautiful, relatable, profound
- By Betty Blue on 04-16-23
By: Maggie Smith
-
Untamed
- By: Glennon Doyle
- Narrated by: Glennon Doyle
- Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There is a voice of longing inside each woman. We strive so mightily to be good: good partners, daughters, mothers, employees, and friends. We hope all this striving will make us feel alive. Instead, it leaves us feeling weary, stuck, overwhelmed, and underwhelmed. We look at our lives and wonder: Wasn’t it all supposed to be more beautiful than this? We quickly silence that question, telling ourselves to be grateful, hiding our discontent—even from ourselves.
-
-
Shockingly shallow and self-centered
- By G. Scimeca on 03-11-20
By: Glennon Doyle
-
Girls Can Kiss Now
- Essays
- By: Jill Gutowitz
- Narrated by: Jill Gutowitz
- Length: 7 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jill Gutowitz’s life—for better and worse—has always been on a collision course with pop culture. There’s the time the FBI showed up at her door because of something she tweeted about Game of Thrones. The pop songs that have been the soundtrack to the worst moments of her life.
-
-
GOOD AND GAY
- By Sarah Griffin on 03-17-22
By: Jill Gutowitz
-
Greedy
- Notes from a Bisexual Who Wants Too Much
- By: Jen Winston
- Narrated by: Jen Winston
- Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If Jen Winston knows one thing for sure, it’s that she’s bisexual. Or wait - maybe she isn’t? Actually, she definitely is. Unless...she’s not? Jen’s provocative, laugh-out-loud debut takes us inside her journey of self-discovery. Greedy follows Jen’s attempts to make sense of herself as she explores the role of the male gaze, what it means to be “queer enough”, and how to overcome bi stereotypes when you’re the posterchild for all of them: greedy, slutty, and constantly confused.
-
-
A beautiful read for anyone under the Bi+ Umbrella
- By Amazon Customer on 10-08-21
By: Jen Winston
-
Pageboy
- A Memoir
- By: Elliot Page
- Narrated by: Elliot Page
- Length: 8 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
“Can I kiss you?” It was two months before the world premiere of Juno, and Elliot Page was in his first ever queer bar. The hot summer air hung heavy around him as he looked at her. And then it happened. In front of everyone. A previously unfathomable experience. Here he was on the precipice of discovering himself as a queer person, as a trans person. Getting closer to his desires, his dreams, himself, without the repression he’d carried for so long. But for Elliot, two steps forward had always come with one step back.
-
-
Ah, I wish this were better. I'm disappointed.
- By Jackson Theofore Keys on 06-07-23
By: Elliot Page
-
Perfectly Queer
- Facing Big Fears, Living Hard Truths, and Loving Myself Fully Out of the Closet
- By: Jillian Abby
- Narrated by: Jillian Abby
- Length: 7 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jill had a happy, healthy 20-year relationship with her college sweetheart, two wonderful kids, and rescue cat from the Humane Society. They lived in a nice suburban home with a white picket fence and owned a small bar that was rated one of the “Best Mom & Pop” businesses in Tampa Bay. From the outside, everything looked perfect. Perfectly Queer takes the listener on Jillian Abby's poignant and painfully funny rollercoaster of self-discovery as she identifies and eventually accepts herself as a lesbian just before her 40th birthday.
-
-
Exactly What I Needed to Hear
- By Mandi on 02-14-24
By: Jillian Abby
-
Love Warrior
- A Memoir
- By: Glennon Doyle
- Narrated by: Glennon Doyle
- Length: 7 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Just when Glennon Doyle Melton was beginning to feel she had it all figured out - three happy children, a doting spouse, and a writing career so successful that her first book catapulted to the top of the New York Times best seller list - her husband revealed his infidelity and she was forced to realize that nothing was as it seemed. A recovering alcoholic and bulimic, Glennon found that rock bottom was a familiar place. In the midst of crisis, she knew to hold on to what she discovered in recovery: that her deepest pain has always held within it an invitation to a richer life.
-
-
A good examination of Pain, Hope and Love.
- By Kelly on 10-04-16
By: Glennon Doyle
-
Come As You Are: Revised and Updated
- The Surprising New Science That Will Transform Your Sex Life
- By: Emily Nagoski PhD
- Narrated by: Emily Nagoski, Nicholas Boulton
- Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For much of the 20th and 21st centuries, women’s sexuality was an uncharted territory in science, studied far less frequently - and far less seriously - than its male counterpart. That is, until Emily Nagoski’s Come As You Are, which used groundbreaking science and research to prove that the most important factor in creating and sustaining a sex life filled with confidence and joy is not what the parts are or how they’re organized but how you feel about them.
-
-
Usless!!!
- By tammy on 03-04-21
-
Ten Steps to Nanette
- A Memoir Situation
- By: Hannah Gadsby
- Narrated by: Hannah Gadsby
- Length: 13 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Gadsby grew up as the youngest of five children in Tasmania, where homosexuality was illegal until 1997. After moving to mainland Australia and receiving a degree in art history, they found themselves adrift, working itinerant jobs and enduring years of isolation punctuated by homophobic and sexual violence. When Gadsby was twenty-seven, a friend encouraged them to enter a stand-up competition. They won, and so began their career in comedy.
-
-
An emotional connection
- By John on 04-23-22
By: Hannah Gadsby
-
The Body Is Not an Apology, Second Edition
- The Power of Radical Self-Love
- By: Sonya Renee Taylor
- Narrated by: Sonya Renee Taylor
- Length: 5 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Humans are a varied and divergent bunch with all manner of beliefs, morals, and bodies. Systems of oppression thrive off our inability to make peace with difference and injure the relationship we have with our own bodies. The Body Is Not an Apology offers radical self-love as the balm to heal the wounds inflicted by these violent systems. World-renowned activist and poet Sonya Renee Taylor invites us to reconnect with the radical origins of our minds and bodies and celebrate our collective, enduring strength.
-
-
YES YES YES
- By Sarah vdw on 02-16-21
-
Lost & Found
- A Memoir
- By: Kathryn Schulz
- Narrated by: Kathryn Schulz
- Length: 7 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One spring morning, Kathryn Schulz went to lunch with a stranger and fell in love. Having spent years looking for the right relationship, she was dazzled by how swiftly everything changed when she finally met her future wife. But as the two of them began building a life together, Schulz’s beloved father—a charming, brilliant, absentminded Jewish refugee—went into the hospital with a minor heart condition and never came out. Newly in love yet also newly bereft, Schulz was left contending simultaneously with wild joy and terrible grief.
-
-
Bored to death
- By Amazon Customer on 03-15-22
By: Kathryn Schulz
-
Tiny Beautiful Things (10th Anniversary Edition)
- Advice from Dear Sugar
- By: Cheryl Strayed
- Narrated by: Cheryl Strayed, Steve Almond - introduction
- Length: 10 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tiny Beautiful Things collects the best of Dear Sugar in one volume, bringing her wisdom to many more readers. This tenth-anniversary edition features six new columns and a new preface by Strayed. Rich with humor, insight, compassion—and absolute honesty—this book is a balm for everything life throws our way.
-
-
A Spoonful of Sugar
- By Mel on 08-15-12
By: Cheryl Strayed
-
Greenlights
- By: Matthew McConaughey
- Narrated by: Matthew McConaughey
- Length: 6 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
I’ve been in this life for fifty years, been trying to work out its riddle for forty-two, and been keeping diaries of clues to that riddle for the last thirty-five. Notes about successes and failures, joys and sorrows, things that made me marvel, and things that made me laugh out loud. How to be fair. How to have less stress. How to have fun. How to hurt people less. How to get hurt less. How to be a good man. How to have meaning in life. How to be more me. Recently, I worked up the courage to sit down with those diaries.
-
-
Love this!
- By Nancy on 10-21-20
-
We're Going to Need More Wine
- Stories That Are Funny, Complicated, and True
- By: Gabrielle Union
- Narrated by: Gabrielle Union
- Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this moving collection of thought-provoking essays infused with her unique wisdom and deep humor, Union tells astonishingly personal and true stories about power, color, gender, feminism, and fame. Union tackles a range of experiences, including bullying, beauty standards and competition between women in Hollywood, growing up in white California suburbia and then spending summers with her Black relatives in Nebraska, coping with crushes, puberty, and the divorce of her parents.
-
-
👏🏾👏🏾 thank you. Thank You. THANK YOU!! #BRAVO
- By Kenneisha T. on 11-22-17
By: Gabrielle Union
-
Enchantment
- Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age
- By: Katherine May
- Narrated by: Rebecca Lee
- Length: 5 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Many of us feel trapped in a grind of constant change: rolling news cycles, the chatter of social media, our families split along partisan lines. We feel fearful and tired, on edge in our bodies, not quite knowing what has us perpetually depleted. For Katherine May, this low hum of fatigue and anxiety made her wonder what she was missing. Could there be a different way to relate to the world, one that would allow her to feel more rested and at ease, even as seismic changes unfold on the planet?
-
-
But what is she trying to say?
- By Kraig on 06-20-23
By: Katherine May
-
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone
- A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed
- By: Lori Gottlieb
- Narrated by: Brittany Pressley
- Length: 14 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One day, Lori Gottlieb is a therapist who helps patients in her Los Angeles practice. The next, a crisis causes her world to come crashing down. Enter Wendell, the quirky but seasoned therapist in whose office she suddenly lands. With his balding head, cardigan, and khakis, he seems to have come straight from Therapist Central Casting. Yet he will turn out to be anything but.
-
-
It was like a hallmark movie being waterboarded into my ears for 15 hours
- By Amazon Customer on 10-01-19
By: Lori Gottlieb
-
Year of Yes
- How to Dance It Out, Stand in the Sun and Be Your Own Person
- By: Shonda Rhimes
- Narrated by: Shonda Rhimes
- Length: 7 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The megatalented creator of Grey's Anatomy and Scandal and executive producer of How to Get Away with Murder chronicles how saying yes for one year changed her life - and how it can change yours, too.
-
-
Began well, but disappointing
- By Gary on 11-30-15
By: Shonda Rhimes
-
Hello Beautiful
- A Novel
- By: Ann Napolitano
- Narrated by: Maura Tierney
- Length: 15 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
William Waters grew up in a house silenced by tragedy, where his parents could hardly bear to look at him, much less love him—so when he meets the spirited and ambitious Julia Padavano in his freshman year of college, it’s as if the world has lit up around him. With Julia comes her family, as she and her three sisters are inseparable: Sylvie, the family’s dreamer, is happiest with her nose in a book; Cecelia is a free-spirited artist; and Emeline patiently takes care of them all.
-
-
Book was great, performance terrible
- By Amazon Customer on 03-17-23
By: Ann Napolitano
Featured Article: The Best Audiobooks Under 7 Hours
Have some time to spare? All of the audiobooks on this list come in under seven hours, so they’re perfect for a single-session binge or a multi-day journey. While some may say the longer the book the better, we believe there is a lot of value in short audiobooks. Some of the best nonfiction is short and powerful, while short sci-fi stories and fantasy novels are just the thing when you want to escape the world but don't have time to get absorbed in a 30-hour tome. Time and attention spans are short these days, so we've got you covered with some of the best audiobooks under seven hours across multiple genres.
What listeners say about The Fixed Stars
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sharon
- 08-27-21
Wonderful story and great narration!
I know some people were out off by the narrator, but I thought it was wonderful. For whatever reason, Molly didn’t narrate this book, but this narrator was the next best I thought. If you listen to Molly’s Spilled Milk podcast, you will find that this narrator really captures Molly’s voice. This story is heartfelt just like her other books, but takes it to a more personal level. Loved it. Thank you sharing this journey with us. ❤️🌈
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- 80Davis
- 02-11-21
To be seen
I feel seen with this book. It is so comforting to know I am not the only one going through this, and Molly does an excellent job telling her story without making anyone the enemy. It's just life.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- aw
- 09-02-20
Story is good narration is off-putting
I've been reading Molly Wizenberg's work for years and love her tone and content. There is so much sarcasm in the narrator's voice that it is really hard to listen to as I don't feel it matches the book or the way the author is intending for it to sound. I am left wondering if the author does not have the opportunity to pick or at least review the narrator before they do the book. This is a definite mismatch in my opinion and it is sad as it is really coloring my experience of the novel.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Minneapolis listener
- 10-23-20
Interesting story, well told, however...
Wizenberg is a good writer. She told her story well. I have to say I felt bad for her husband who caught this way out of left field.
I felt worse for the little girl. Her little nest was crushed, and when I got to the part about her being involved with the girlfriend’s cosmetic breast removal drains, I stepped off.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- JBird78
- 08-05-20
Narration is so bad
Ummm, is this a joke? I love Molly W and everything she has ever done. This narrator reads her work like a robot and with this weird affectation. I had to stop listening so it wouldn’t be ruined for me. Going to read the book myself. So sad that Molly hasn’t narrated this herself. I can tell I’m going to love the print version, but had to stop the audio version.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
6 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- K_Win
- 01-06-21
Being Human
Molly Wizenberg gently and beautifully steers us through the trials and tribulations of being human and not fitting the mold. What are sexuality and gender? A great book to help seekers find their way. I was impressed by Molly's telling of a very difficult subject. The protagonist Molly though questioning, confused, and at times self-deprecating is highly evolved. I was moved to tears and made to laugh out loud. This is worth the read or the listen. The narrator, Erin Mallon, was spot on.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 08-27-20
couldn’t stop listening
this book only took me a few days to finish, i couldn’t stop listening! highly recommend.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Myn
- 12-03-20
Honest, well written
I really enjoyed this book, and am grateful to people who share their stories, their hard truths, as it helps those of us on similar paths.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mick E.
- 09-14-21
Disappointed
There are some good scenes and ideas here, but the protagonist is so self absorbed it is difficult to care about her.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Brittany Gomez
- 09-04-21
Are you kidding me??
I thought this was an astrology book based on Fixed Stars!!! Totally mislead! Ughhhh if you’re interested in this book for astrology DO NOT PURCHASE!!!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!