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You Know You Want This
- Cat Person and Other Stories
- Narrated by: Aubrey Plaza, Jayme Mattler, Molly Pope, Will Damron, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Emily Tremaine, Finn Wittrock, Amy Ryan, Olivia Taylor Dudley, Corey Brill, Jacques Royand, Kristen Roupenian
- Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Anthologies & Short Stories
Non-member price: $30.38
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Publisher's Summary
Random House presents the audiobook edition of You Know You Want This, written by Kristen Roupenian.
The truth was that if a woman bit a man in an office environment, there would be a strong assumption that the man had done something to deserve it....
From the creator of 'Cat Person' - the first short story to go viral - comes You Know You Want This, a compulsive collection about sex, dating and modern life. These are stories of women’s lives now. They also happen to be horror stories. In some, women endure the horror. In others, they inflict it.
Here are women at work, at home, on dates, at the doctor’s, with their families and with their friends. Here are women grappling with desire, punishment, guilt and anger. These are stories that make you feel fascinated but repelled, scared but delighted, revolted but aroused.
You Know You Want This shows why Kristen Roupenian is the most audacious new voice in American fiction. Funny, furious, sly and explicit, she takes a long, hard look at the messed-up power dynamic between men and women - and messes it up some more.
Critic Reviews
"The stories in You Know You Want This are wildly strange and deeply human. When it comes to the secret hurt and twisted desires that lurk in seemingly mundane encounters between men and women, Kristen Roupenian is a super genius. I loved every single word of this freaky, fantastic book." (Julie Buntin)
"These transgressive and darkly electric stories announce the arrival of a bold, new, necessary voice in American short fiction." (Claire Vaye Watkins)
"In an age that needs a wrecking ball, You Know You Want This provides one. This is a raucous, visceral page-turner that tunnels into the heart of relationships gone awry, modern-day miscommunications, and other horrors of being human. Not polite. Suffers no fools. Takes no prisoners. Read it." (Jeff VanderMeer, New York Times best-selling author)
More from the same
Author
What listeners say about You Know You Want This
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Anonymous User
- 24-04-2019
Hilarious, offbeat and captivating short stories
Each story is busting with a dynamic realism that really quickly draws you in. Some shocking and some relatable tales of sex, love, loss, control, desire, lust and greed
Would recommend to anyone with a dark sense of humour and the perverse
Narration and performances are well executed and bring an extra depth to the stories
5/5
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- Blind Girl
- 27-02-2019
This is us? This is US?
My first alert: please don't read the Guardian review on this title beforehands. It is a perfect spoiler. I did, unfortunately.
Now, against all negative reactions I listened to this audio with great pleasure. Roupenian is able to build a story properly and round it nicely. Tension on the right place, dialogues believeable, characters almost 3D. Never mind you don't see the point in most of the stories. A promising start wanting to 'épater le bourgeois' with loads of fonctionless disturbing elements. But there are stories that really make sense and reveal the author's profound sensibility towards society today. 'Cat Person' is not the best story in the collection, but black magic horror pieces are certainly the worst. I will purchase her following one for sure.
Narrators were briliant without exception. Mocking, faded or laconic voices giving shape even to the hopeless stories.
1 person found this helpful
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- JK
- 18-02-2019
Other Stories and Cat Person
I feel like 3 stars may have been too harsh, but 4 would have been misleadingly generous. First off, it has to be said that this collection was well-written and full of interesting performances, so that perhaps my own lack of enthusiasm had to do with the fact that I knew Cat Person and had been hoping for other, similar stories which captured millennials equally well.
If anything, Cat Person's sober realism sits somewhat uncomfortably amongst stories of the grotesque, bizarre, and downright magical. Considered in their own right, these stories are carefully crafted and reminiscent perhaps of Dahl's Kiss Kiss, yet often (not always!) lacking the humour Dahl brought to his dark and twisted tales - this is not easy, but certainly interesting listening. Just don't expect Cat Person and Other Stories - this is very much Other Stories and Cat Person.
1 person found this helpful
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- Alice May
- 26-04-2020
Funny, shocking, irresistible
I listened to all of the stories in one go rather than dipping in and out. There’s a definite theme of sexual sadism going on, but somehow it’s done in a way that however happily vanilla you are (and I am) you still find yourself smiling with recognition at the description of the characters’ reactions to the scenarios they find themselves in. None are quite as satisfyingly perfect as ‘Cat Person’ but - whether magically fantastical or ostensibly realistic - the observations have the deftness and precision of the scalpel’s blade.
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- BookWorm
- 27-04-2019
The most boring book...or maybe I am just not that deep!
I normally enjoy most books.I listened to Elizabeth Day’s (who’s book I love btw) podcast interviewing the author of this book and was in intrigued by the book and purchased it with my fresh monthly credit!
What s bloody disappointment!!!I fell asleep listening to the book 3 times,I have skipped to other stories 4 times and I could not finish the book.
Maybe it is me,but stories have no particular theme,no deeper meaning,weird structure,monotone narrating (puts you right to sleep)!I just did not get it...Sorry!
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