The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward

One-sentence summary:
Ted is an antisocial alcoholic who lives with a teenage girl that isn’t allowed out of the house and a religious cat who thinks in English, but when a new neighbor who is on a mission to find out what happened to her missing sister moves in next door, she threatens to bring things to light.

Aaaand, believe it or not, it only gets stranger from there...

I listened to the audiobook of this one. I really thought the first half of the book was incredibly unique and compelling, but at a certain point, I started to get lost. I had to go back and relisten several times to figure out what was happening. Finally, towards the end, I just felt completely lost to a point that I didn’t think going back would even help me, and I was just too frustrated to try. I’m going to be honest with you: I only have about 25 minutes of this audiobook left, and I’m giving up.

I think I’m frustrated that the story -- the events both in the past and the present -- seem to keep being retold in a different way or changing. Um, I don’t like that, and I just don’t understand what is happening, and I give up.

I think my experience of this may have been very different if I read it. In fact, I’ve seen others who listened to the audiobook express confusion and frustration, while a lot of people who actually read the book - in print - seemed to have really enjoyed it.

I’ll probably get the print version of it at some point and give it another chance.

In summary, the narrators are great, but my advice is this: if you haven’t read this yet but are considering it, skip the audiobook. Get yourself a hard copy or the ebook and read the thing.

But maybe life is just busy and my patience is short. 

Please feel free to chime in if you’ve either read or listened to this and agree or disagree with me! 

Which leads me to my question of the day….

Q: What’s an audiobook that really frustrated or confused you?

I think you know my answer, so I’m signing off…

Have a good Tuesday eve, friends!