Mandy Berman has 2 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 2 narrators. The most-rated is The Learning Curve.
Perennials
Summary
At what point does childhood end and adulthood begin? Mandy Berman's evocative debut novel captures, through the lens of summer camp, both the thrill and pain of growing up. Rachel Rivkin and Fiona Larkin used to treasure their summers together as campers at Camp Marigold. Now, reunited as counselors after their first year of college, their relationship is more complicated. Rebellious Rachel, a street-smart city kid raised by a single mother, has been losing patience with her best friend's insecurities; Fiona, the middle child of a not-so-perfect suburban family, envies Rachel's popularity with their campers and fellow counselors. For the first time, the two friends start keeping secrets from each other. Through them, as well as from the perspectives of their fellow counselors, their campers, and their mothers, we witness the tensions of the turbulent summer build to a tragic event, which forces Rachel and Fiona to confront their pasts - and the adults they're becoming. A seductive blast of nostalgia, a striking portrait of adolescent longing, and a tribute to both the complicated nature and the enduring power of female friendship, Perennials will speak to everyone who still remembers that bittersweet moment when innocence is lost forever.
©2017 Mandy Berman (P)2017 Random House Audio
The Learning Curve
Summary
How are young women supposed to see each other clearly when they can't even see themselves? This razor-sharp novel “perfectly captures [the] power dynamics and identity issues that...women are forced to face.” (Marie Claire, Best Books of the Year) Fiona and Liv are seniors at Buchanan College, a small liberal arts school in rural Pennsylvania. Fiona, who is still struggling emotionally after the death of her younger sister, is spending her final college year sleeping with abrasive men she meets in bars. Liv is happily coupled and on the fast track to marriage with an all-American frat boy. Both of their journeys, and their friendship, will be derailed by the relationships they develop with Oliver Ash, a ruggedly good-looking visiting literature professor whose first novel was published to great success when he was 26. But now Oliver is in his early 40s, with thinning hair and a checkered past, including talk of a relationship with an underage woman - a former student - at a previous teaching job. Meanwhile, Oliver’s wife, Simone, is pursuing an academic research project in Berlin, raising their five-year-old son, dealing with her husband’s absence, and wondering if their marriage is beyond repair. This sly, stunning, wise-beyond-its-years novel is told from the perspectives of the three women and showcases Mandy Berman’s talent for exploring the complexities of desire, friendship, identity, and power dynamics in the contemporary moment. Praise for The Learning Curve “Readers expecting a typical love triangle won’t find one. Instead, Berman delivers a thorough and incredibly timely investigation into relationship power imbalances that’s sure to start a lot of conversations.” (The Millions) “Fiona and Liv are two best friends who became inseparable after Fiona experienced a family tragedy. Senior year of college, their lives are headed in different directions, and their differences are only highlighted by the sudden arrival of famed writer and controversial figure Oliver Ash. It’s not what you think - at least, not entirely. This novel, through different perspectives, explores loss, grief, sex, friendship, power dynamics, and much more.” (Betches) “You win some, you learn some. The Learning Curve by Mandy Berman follows two roommates who develop relationships with a visiting professor with a questionable past. Spoiler: Things get complicated.” (The Skimm)
©2019 Mandy Berman (P)2019 Random House Audio