Awards & Accolades

Our Verdict

  • Our Verdict
  • GET IT

Next book

FAT SWIM

FICTION

The narrators complement each other as they deliver these stories.

Awards & Accolades

Our Verdict

  • Our Verdict
  • GET IT

Seven narrators perform this short story collection featuring characters living in Philadelphia. Many of the characters deal with society’s fatphobia, navigating a landscape of diet culture and obsession with thinness. The ensemble cast highlights the unique qualities of every story, making each viewpoint character sound distinct. All the narrators possess a sense of emotional depth that teases out the best of Eisenberg’s prose. In “Beauty,” Samantha Desz perfectly captures the loneliness and emotional complexity of the protagonist as her sense of self fluctuates as she posts videos of herself on the internet doing makeup routines.

The narrators complement each other as they deliver these stories.

Pub Date: April 28, 2026

Duration: 6 hrs, 6 mins

DD ISBN: 9780593908167

Publisher: Random House Audio

Review Posted Online: May 26, 2026

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2026

    Awards & Accolades

    Our Verdict

    • Our Verdict
    • GET IT

    Next book

    THE TYPING LADY

    AND OTHER FICTIONS

    All four narrators are fitting choices for this collection.

    Awards & Accolades

    Our Verdict

    • Our Verdict
    • GET IT

    Ozeki's thought-provoking 10-story collection features protagonists at various stages of life. Ozeki capably narrates the majority of her own stories at a relaxed pace, with varying tonal touches, from placid to biting, tailored to the content of each story. Rounding out the cast are a youthful-sounding Akie Kotabe as the child of a Yale faculty member in “The Anthropologist's Kid”; Jeff Ebner, pleasant in “Immortal,” about a patient who eats plastic; and George Newbern, thoughtful in one of the best stories of the collection, “Where Ambition Goes To Die,” about a couple's ambitious past selves. “The Problem of the Body,” about a grandmother/author who catfishes on a dating app on behalf of her granddaughter, is another standout.

    All four narrators are fitting choices for this collection.

    Pub Date: June 2, 2026

    Duration: 8 hrs, 48 mins

    DD ISBN: 9798217338719

    Publisher: Penguin Audio

    Review Posted Online: June 25, 2026

      Awards & Accolades

      Our Verdict

      • Our Verdict
      • GET IT

      Next book

      STILL LIFE

      TEN CRIME STORIES

      With this diverse group of narrators, each story is powerfully performed with emotional intelligence and perfect pacing.

      Awards & Accolades

      Our Verdict

      • Our Verdict
      • GET IT

      Ten narrators powerfully capture the jarring and thoughtful experiences contained in the crime stories in this Swedish collection. From a police officer who quickly learns his bias can be deadly to a young woman seeking revenge on a wealthy fellow student to a mother who soon commits the very crime her son has been accused of, each story grabs hold of the listener and leaves them questioning what it means to break the law, even with the best of intentions. Each narrator takes on a separate story, and their individual performances skillfully match the emotional power and complicated examination of human nature these pieces provide.

      With this diverse group of narrators, each story is powerfully performed with emotional intelligence and perfect pacing.

      Pub Date: May 30, 2026

      Duration: 11 hrs

      DD ISBN: 9798228701991

      Publisher: Blackstone Audio

      Review Posted Online: June 2, 2026

      Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2026

        Close Quickview