The Opposite of Loneliness

Essays and Stories

By: Marina Keegan

Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller

Marina Keegan's star was on the rise when she graduated magna cum laude from Yale in May 2012. She had a play that was to be produced at the New York International Fringe Festival and a job waiting for her at the New Yorker. Tragically, five days after graduation, Marina died in a car crash.

As her family, friends, and classmates, deep in grief, joined to create a memorial service for Marina, her unforgettable last essay for the Yale Daily News, "The Opposite of Loneliness", went viral, receiving more than 1.4 million hits. She had struck a chord.

Even though she was just 22 when she died, Marina left behind a rich, expansive trove of prose that, like her title essay, captures the hope, uncertainty, and possibility of her generation. The Opposite of Loneliness is an assem­blage of Marina's essays and stories that, like The Last Lecture, articulates the universal struggle that all of us face as we figure out what we aspire to be and how we can harness our talents to make an impact on the world.

©2014 Tracy and Kevin Keegan (P)2014 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Keegan brings self-awareness to the collective insecurity of her peers even as she captures it with a precision that only comes from someone who feels it too. How unfortunate that she will never know the value readers will find in her work." ( Publishers Weekly)

An amasing young girl

This young lady had an amasing talent! Her positiveness and zest for life oozed from each page and her intimely death is a tragedy to the writing community!

Not all the stories were good

Some of the short stories were good, but I found myself wanting to fast forward through some of the not so good ones.

Most of the non-fiction was pretty good, it had me wishing most of the book was just non-fiction.

**SPOILER ALERT**
The story of her gluten allergies and the care her mom had for her truly broke my heart for her mother. Mainly because I can't imagine the pain of losing a child, no matter their age... and seeing how much she tried to do to ensure her daughter was happy and healthy and then have her die at such a young age is extremely sad. I thought of her mother when they mention she passed away at the beginning, but after hearing that story, it made it a lot more relatable to her mom.

Overhyped

I bought this book after reading RAVE reviews everywhere. While Marina Keegan's death is tragic and a budding talent was cut short, these stories are not ready for "prime time". The storytelling is solid but reveals a level of immaturity. The author more often than not relies upon BIG dramatic moments -- mostly death and dying -- to infuse drama into her stories. A more seasoned writer can find drama in even the smallest moments. And her essays are all about being in college. I suspect some of them ARE college assignments, like the one about her first car. I swear I also wrote a paper about my first car in my University English Comp class. The author most likely would have blossomed into a fine writer, but I suspect these stories were only published because she died so young.

A Moving Tribute

Would you consider the audio edition of The Opposite of Loneliness to be better than the print version?

Quite possibly. Emily Woo Zeller brings the stories and essays to vibrant life.

What other book might you compare The Opposite of Loneliness to and why?

The last really great short story collection I read was B.J. Novak's One More Thing. That said, the stories in here are different from Novak's, not as humorous but more fleshed out.

Have you listened to any of Emily Woo Zeller’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have not, but after this I'll look into other books she has performed with great interest.

If you could rename The Opposite of Loneliness, what would you call it?

Here's My Card. If you read the book to the end, you'll understand why.

Any additional comments?

Throughout The Opposite of Loneliness one can see Marina Keegan's worry that her voice will not be heard and her hope that young people can achieve their dreams without some kind of society-imposed waiting period. It is undeniable that if Keegan had not died at such a tragically young age, this book would have been different. The stories and essays might have been edited a bit further (although they are already excellent), and the selection itself might have been changed. But somehow, against all odds The Opposite of Loneliness feels like a cohesive whole, a moving tribute to an up-and-coming writer full of promise. The stories and essays are beautiful and diverse, and so good that while reading them, one forgets the author's own mortality for a while. The Opposite of Loneliness is full of life, bursting to the brim with it, and in this short a space Marina Keegan has left a lasting impact.

Marina Keegan left behind a beautiful gift

Excellent. Inspiring. The wit, talent, and insight displayed throughout every piece is truly remarkable. What a tragic loss of someone who was asking the right questions and possessed uncanny power and clarity of expression.

freakn awesome. a good variety of stories

loved it. a variety of stories that kept me pondering life and people. the title caught my attention. glad I picked it up for a listen.

Loved it!!

I loved this book! The short stories were written beautifully. Such a tragedy for someone so gifted to be taken so soon.

Young voices can guide us to understand this complicated time.

After a similar loss, this helpful story about a young woman who finds her writing voice got me thinking about the way we need to talk more. Thank you.

Listened to it twice.

Can't say why his collection was so captivating I had to listen to it twice. If she has written other things, I hope her survivors publish it all. So real.

I want more 😫😔😥

I really wish she'd written more. These stories were so beautiful and fulfilling to read. They were heartbreakingly beautiful. I feel really privileged to have be able to read and listen to these stories. This book will remain close to my heart.