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Banal Nightmare: A Novel Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Halle Butler (Author), Ruby McCollister (Narrator), Random House Audio (Publisher)
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 5 ratings
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A ferocious novel by one of the boldest voices in American fiction and the author of The New Me, the “definitive work of millennial literature” (The New Yorker)

“Butler has crafted a novel in which every character proves to be completely, uniquely crazy. Her perverse sense of humor should be studied and celebrated.”—David Sedaris

Margaret Anne “Moddie” Yance had just returned to her native land in the Midwestern town of X, to mingle with the friends of her youth, to get back in touch with her roots, and to recover from a stressful decade of living in the city in a small apartment with a man she now believed to be a megalomaniac or perhaps a covert narcissist.

So begins Halle Butler’s sadistically precise and hilarious Banal Nightmare, which follows Moddie as she abruptly ends her long-term relationship and moves back to her hometown, throwing herself at the mercy of her old friends as they, all suddenly tipping toward middle age, go to parties, size each other up, obsess over past slights, dream of wild triumphs, and indulge in elaborate revenge fantasies. When her friend Pam invites a mysterious East Coast artist to take up a winter residency at the local university, Moddie has no choice but to confront the demons of her past and grapple with the reality of what her life has become. As the day of reckoning approaches, friends will become enemies, enemies will become mortal enemies, and old loyalties will be tested to their extreme.

Banal Nightmare is filled with complicated characters who will dazzle you in their rendering just as often as they will infuriate you with their decisions. Halle Butlersingularly captures the volatile, angry, aggrieved, surreal, and entirely disorienting atmosphere of the modern era.

Cover art: Yelling, 1994, by John Wesley. Used with permission of the estate of John Wesley. Private Collection, Photo Christie’s Images/Bridgeman Image.

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  1. Listening Length
    9 hours and 37 minutes
  2. Author
    Halle Butler
  3. Narrator
    Ruby McCollister
  4. Audible release date
    July 16, 2024
  5. Language
    English
  6. Publisher
    Random House Audio
  7. ASIN
    B0CNFJ6VYV
  8. Version
    Unabridged
  9. Program Type
    Audiobook
  10. See all details
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Product details

Listening Length 9 hours and 37 minutes
Author Halle Butler
Narrator Ruby McCollister
Whispersync for Voice Ready
Audible.com Release Date July 16, 2024
Publisher Random House Audio
Program Type Audiobook
Version Unabridged
Language English
ASIN B0CNFJ6VYV
Best Sellers Rank #8,360 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals)
#27 in Satirical Literature & Fiction
#261 in Fiction Satire

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
5 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

kathleen g
4.0 out of 5 stars lots of unhappiness
Reviewed in the United States on July 16, 2024
Butler has amped up her examination of life in your 30s in this novel about Moddie, who has moved from Chicago to her home town and still isn't happy. In fact, I don't think anyone is happy in this novel that hovers over Moddie and her friends, Bad marriages, money troubles, frustrating jobs and the rest dog this group. This is redeemed by Moddie's smart mouth and astute observations, Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. While I found it a bit tiresome (which might be the point in spots), I'm sure others will identify.
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Stevie
3.0 out of 5 stars Lacerating Humor
Reviewed in the United States on July 16, 2024
Aspiring artist Margaret Anne “Moddie” Yance has returned to the midwestern college town of X to re-engage with the friends of her youth after a stressful decade in Chicago living with Nick, a man she now believes to be “a megalomaniac or perhaps a covert narcissist.” Staying with Nick was a “recipe for a dull and boring life” as Moddie “did all of the laundry, cooked all of the meals, took out the trash, cleaned, shopped, paid the bills, all of it, he did none of it, she did all of it, holy god for ten years all of it.” Moddie returns to X, but after the initial enthusiasm from old friends Nina and Pam, they were now rarely free to socialize. leaving Moddie alone with her thoughts. “The worse parts of Chicago had followed her here, because the worst parts of Chicago had been inside her.”

Butler ping pongs among the perspectives of her various characters, but each is judgmental of the others while lacking standing because they are all so miserable. Everyone in the college-town group is dissatisfied with their careers and their relationships and their friends (even something as banal as Target is not immune from the scathing criticism). Butler’s novel is bleak, depressing, but brutally honest. Some scenes are so painfully accurate that they made me laugh out loud, like a solo Moddie at a cocktail party trying, unsuccessfully, to wedge her way into various conversations with her unfiltered and strident opinions. I suspect that this will be a polarizing novel but, while cringeworthy, it is also very funny. Thank you Random House and Net Galley for an advance copy of this scathing satire.
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