Roar

by Cecelia Ahern Narrated by Aisling Bea, Lara Sawalha, Adjoa Andoh

Overview

From the bestselling author of P.S., I Love You, a fiercely feminist story collection that illuminates,*sometimes in fantastical ways,*how women of all kinds navigate the world today-now*an Apple TV+ series from the creators of GLOW starring Nicole Kidman, Cynthia Erivo, Merritt Wever, and Alison Brie!

In this singular and imaginative story collection, Cecelia Ahern explores the endless ways in which women blaze through adversity with wit, resourcefulness, and compassion. Ahern takes the familiar aspects of women's lives-the routines, the embarrassments, the desires-and elevates these moments to the outlandish and hilarious with her astute blend of magical realism and social insight.

One woman is tortured by sinister bite marks that appear on her skin; another is swallowed up by the floor during a mortifying presentation; yet another resolves to return and exchange her boring husband at the store where she originally acquired him. The women at the center of this curious universe learn that their reality is shaped not only by how others perceive them, but also how they perceive the power within themselves.

By turns sly, whimsical, and affecting, these thirty short stories are a dynamic examination of what it means to be a woman in this very moment. Like women themselves, each story can stand alone; yet together, they have a combined power to shift consciousness, inspire others, and create a multi-voiced Roar that will not be ignored.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"ROAR is a wild and daring collection. The stories are ingenious and surreal, brilliantly and hilariously articulating what it means to be a woman today. Cecelia Ahern has crafted something of a revolution within these pages. A powerful must-read."—Taylor Jenkins Reid, author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones & The Six

"These provocative and witty stories prove it's time to recognize Cecelia Ahern as one of our finest writers."—John Boyne, New York Times bestselling author of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

"An empowering book for women, Cecelia Ahern uses wildly inventive stories to reveal a simple truth - the power to create the life we want to live has been inside each of us all along. The world Ahern creates on these pages is fantastic yet authentic. Every woman will recognize herself in these stories and be inspired by them."—Jennifer Palmieri, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Dear Madam President

"Curiously delightful...each story resonate[s] as simultaneously personal and universal...A sharp, breathtaking collection."—Kirkus Reviews

"Fantastic...Ahern (P.S., I Love You) blends magical realism with keen observations about contemporary gender dynamics, offering readers a sharp selection of nuanced parables encouraging bravery, compassion, and self-reliance."—Publishers Weekly

"This collection includes 30 stories, ranging from four to seven pages. Each satirical selection varies in tone from whimsical to humorous to provocative...Some stories are surprisingly realistic; others are allegorical fables or surreal futuristic statements...Bold, imaginative, eclectic sketches feature women at the crossroads. Their resilience when faced with hardship and their methods of overcoming obstacles help to create a thoroughly challenging, pertinent, and ultimately uplifting read."—Library Journal

"Ahern's previous work, including PS, I Love You, There's No Place Like Here and The Gift are funny, light and often wise but didn't entirely presage "Roar," which is funny, wise and weighty - in a very good way. After all, when you write 30 stories about the dilemmas of people who hold up half the world's sky, things are bound to get heavy. The women in these fables cope with discrimination, loneliness and abandonment, among other things . . . It's best to read just one or two of Ahern's fables at a time. That way you can truly appreciate their wit, pathos and imagination. The author includes Helen Reddy's famous lyric 'I am woman, hear me roar' as an epigraph, but she might just as easily have used 'I'm every woman. It's all in me.'"
—The Washington Post

"This is insightful feminist fiction that is highly entertaining . . . Cecelia Ahern shows that women's reality is shaped not only by how others perceive them but also how they perceive the power to take control of their lives. We must hear these women who roar."—Washington Book Review

"Bedtime stories for feminists . . . contain wisdom, humor and warning . . . Roar offers respite for the woman who was stressed by modern life."—StarTribune

Kirkus Reviews

2019-02-04

As they near 60, smart, savvy women become increasingly invisible in our ageist society. Who can diagnose, much less fix, maladies of a sociocultural nature?

Acutely attuned to the subtle sexism, ageism, racism, and every other -ism constricting women's live, Ahern (Perfect, 2017, etc.) returns with a collection of curiously delightful fables imagining what would happen if the emotional trials of women's lives manifested in reality. Each tale's protagonist is simply named "the woman," letting each story resonate as simultaneously personal and universal. With echoes of Kafka's Metamorphosis and Sexton's Transformations, Ahern lets each of her protagonists physically manifest the tribulation that social, cultural, and familial expectations have pushed her to internalize. A woman who has escaped a war zone only to face relentless discrimination, particularly from the wealthy tennis moms at her children's school, grows gorgeous wings. A young mother of three, struggling to balance the demands of children, husband, and work, suddenly finds herself covered in inexplicable bite marks, as if she were being eaten alive by her never-quite-fulfilled responsibilities. In a fantastic world in which women can buy, return, and exchange husbands, one empty nester faces the difficult decision of whether to accept her flawed husband and their imperfect love. In a dystopian work in which gender roles are enforced through a police state, one woman strives to make a difference for her child, who may not easily fit in such a binary world. And in "The Woman Who Roared," multiple women, from multiple walks of life, all roar back at a stifling world, channeling their inner Helen Reddys, who, of course, announced, "I am woman, hear me roar, in numbers too big to ignore."

A sharp, breathtaking collection of fables.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940173812551
Publisher:	Hachette Audio
Publication date:	04/16/2019
Edition description:	Unabridged

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