Hausfrau
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Mozhan Marnò
About this listen
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, THE HUFFINGTON POST, AND SHELF AWARENESS • “In Hausfrau, Anna Karenina goes Fifty Shades with a side of Madame Bovary.”—Time
“A debut novel about Anna, a bored housewife who, like her Tolstoyan namesake, throws herself into a psychosexual journey of self-discovery and tragedy.”—O: The Oprah Magazine
“Sexy and insightful, this gorgeously written novel opens a window into one woman’s desperate soul.”—People
Anna was a good wife, mostly. For listeners of The Girl on the Train and The Woman Upstairs comes a striking debut novel of marriage, fidelity, sex, and morality, featuring a fascinating heroine who struggles to live a life with meaning.
Anna Benz, an American in her late thirties, lives with her Swiss husband, Bruno—a banker—and their three young children in a postcard-perfect suburb of Zürich. Though she leads a comfortable, well-appointed life, Anna is falling apart inside. Adrift and increasingly unable to connect with the emotionally unavailable Bruno or even with her own thoughts and feelings, Anna tries to rouse herself with new experiences: German language classes, Jungian analysis, and a series of sexual affairs she enters with an ease that surprises even her.
But Anna can’t easily extract herself from these affairs. When she wants to end them, she finds it’s difficult. Tensions escalate, and her lies start to spin out of control. Having crossed a moral threshold, Anna will discover where a woman goes when there is no going back.
Intimate, intense, and written with the precision of a Swiss Army knife, Jill Alexander Essbaum’s debut novel is an unforgettable story of marriage, fidelity, sex, morality, and most especially self. Navigating the lines between lust and love, guilt and shame, excuses and reasons, Anna Benz is an electrifying heroine whose passions and choices listeners will debate with recognition and fury. Her story reveals, with honesty and great beauty, how we create ourselves and how we lose ourselves and the sometimes disastrous choices we make to find ourselves.
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“A debut novel about Anna, a bored housewife who, like her Tolstoyan namesake, throws herself into a psychosexual journey of self-discovery and tragedy.”—O: The Oprah Magazine
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Three women linked by their blood, their dreams...and their sins. From Leningrad in the '70s to America and London in the present day, Kimberley Freeman's new novel follows the lives of two sisters, Lena and Natalia, and their cousin, Sofi, as they move away from Russia and all they have known. Despite promising to always take care of each other, a pact to meet every winter is shattered as their lives change and long-held resentments begin to surface. Can that resentment turn to hatred? To murder?
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It's just not the same without Caroline Lee
- By Maria on 12-04-17
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A Long, Long Time Ago and Essentially True
- By: Brigid Pasulka
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 14 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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The novel opens on the eve of World War II. In the mountain village of Half-Village, a young man nicknamed the Pigeon, under the approving eyes of the entire village, courts the beautiful Anielica Hetmanska. But the war's arrival wreaks havoc in all their lives and delays their marriage for six long years.
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The Old & New Worlds Converge & Transcend Time
- By Sara on 11-22-16
By: Brigid Pasulka
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After the Parade
- By: Lori Ostlund
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 12 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Sensitive, big-hearted, and achingly self-conscious, 40-year-old Aaron Englund long ago escaped the confines of his Midwestern hometown, but he still feels like an outcast. After 20 years under the Pygmalion-like direction of his older partner, Walter, Aaron at last decides it is time to stop letting life happen to him and to take control of his own fate.
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Narrator
- By Barbara on 11-10-24
By: Lori Ostlund
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When It Happens to You
- A Novel in Stories
- By: Molly Ringwald
- Narrated by: Molly Ringwald
- Length: 6 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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When it happens to you, you will be surprised. That thing they say about how you knew all the time, but just weren't facing it? That might be the case, but nevertheless, there you will be. Molly Ringwald mines the complexities of modern relationships in this gripping and nuanced collection of interlinked stories. Writing with a deep compassion for human imperfection, Ringwald follows a Los Angeles family and their friends and neighbors while they negotiate the hazardous terrain of everyday life - revealing the deceptions, heartbreak, and vulnerability familiar to us all.
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Narrated by Molly!
- By JillHen on 03-01-13
By: Molly Ringwald
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Three Daughters of Eve
- By: Elif Shafak
- Narrated by: Alix Dunmore
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Set across Istanbul and Oxford, from the 1980s to the present day, Three Daughters of Eve is a sweeping tale of faith and friendship, tradition and modernity, love and an unexpected betrayal. Peri, a wealthy Turkish housewife and mother, is on her way to a dinner party at a seaside mansion in Istanbul when a beggar snatches her handbag. As she wrestles to get it back, a photograph falls to the ground - an old polaroid of three young women and their university professor.
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Review 3 daughters of Eve
- By CA on 04-28-18
By: Elif Shafak
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Saints for All Occasions
- A Novel
- By: J. Courtney Sullivan
- Narrated by: Susan Denaker
- Length: 15 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Nora and Theresa Flynn are 21 and 17 when they leave their small village in Ireland and journey to America. Nora is the responsible sister; she's shy and serious and engaged to a man she isn't sure that she loves. Theresa is gregarious; she is thrilled by their new life in Boston and besotted with the fashionable dresses and dance halls on Dudley Street. But when Theresa ends up pregnant, Nora is forced to come up with a plan - a decision with repercussions they are both far too young to understand.
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The narration ruined it
- By Janis Reynolds on 06-12-17
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Mr. Fox
- A Novel
- By: Helen Oyeyemi
- Narrated by: Carol Boyd
- Length: 8 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Fairy-tale romances end with a wedding and the fairy tales don't get complicated. In this book, celebrated writer Mr. Fox can't stop himself from killing off the heroines of his novels, and neither can his wife, Daphne. It's not until Mary, his muse, comes to life and transforms him from author into subject that his story begins to unfold differently....
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A Great Novel, just Poor for Audio
- By James A. Dittes on 08-13-16
By: Helen Oyeyemi
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Ain't She Sweet?
- By: Susan Elizabeth Phillips
- Narrated by: Ann Marie Gideon
- Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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The girl everybody loves to hate has returned to the town she'd sworn to leave behind forever. As the rich, spoiled princess of Parrish, Mississippi, Sugar Beth Carey had broken hearts, ruined friendships, and destroyed reputations. But 15 years have passed, and now she's come home - broke, desperate, and too proud to show it. The people of Parrish don't believe in forgive and forget. But none of them have reckoned on the unexpected strength of a woman who's learned survival the hard way.
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wonderfully read
- By older reader on 06-14-20
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The World We Found
- By: Thrity Umrigar
- Narrated by: Soneela Nankani
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Best-selling author and PEN and Beyond Margins Award finalist Thrity Umrigar’s acclaimed novels “resonate with rich prose and vibrant depictions of India” ( Booklist). In The World We Found, Armaiti, Laleh, Kavita, and Nishta - once friends at the University of Bombay - reconnect 30 years later when Armaiti is diagnosed with cancer. Coming together, all four women are forced to reexamine their lives.
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Good story but performance not so much!
- By Alisha on 09-13-15
By: Thrity Umrigar
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Modern Girls
- By: Jennifer S. Brown
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Wiley
- Length: 13 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1935, Dottie Krasinsky is the epitome of the modern girl. A bookkeeper in midtown Manhattan, Dottie steals kisses from her steady beau, meets her girlfriends for drinks, and eyes the latest fashions. Yet at heart, she is a dutiful daughter, living with her Yiddish-speaking parents on the Lower East Side. So when, after a single careless night, she finds herself in a family way by a charismatic but unsuitable man, she is desperate: unwed, unsure, and running out of options.
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Super annoying voiceover
- By Amazon Customer on 04-25-17
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Suddenly
- By: Barbara Delinsky
- Narrated by: Carol Monda
- Length: 15 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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In the idyllic small town of Tucker, Vermont, life flows at a rhythmic pace for pediatrician Paige Pfeiffer. But when Mara O'Neill, her best friend and medical partner, inexplicably kills herself, Paige's comfortable world is suddenly shattered. Temporarily caring for Mara's newly adopted baby daughter while she comes to grips with her grief, Paige clings to the hope that, in time, her orderly life will return.
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Parent guide! (not romance)
- By christine on 10-10-11
By: Barbara Delinsky
What listeners say about Hausfrau
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Pamela Dale Foster
- 05-21-15
Trying to Learn What Self Is
Anna had no one since her parent's died in a car crash when she had finished college, not even friends. When she met Bruno, who lived in Switzerland, Anna was intrigued with the idea of moving because by moving she may have a better chance of knowing the true Anna. She supposed that she loved Bruno, she had never been in love before. Therefore, for Anna, who didn't know herself, thought this would be the beginning of that search.
Anna was unable to make any friend's, that had not changed. Bruno's mother lived very close, within walking distance, and was with Anna quite often. Bruno's mother did not like Anna nor did Anna care for her MIL. Anna was still unable to make friends.
Anna had finally found herself and happiness. However, when this illicit affair was over Anna, was further back than where she had started from. Now that Anna understood just what she had been missing, she was miserable.
Anna had three children, Victor, Charles and Polly. Victor was like Bruno in looks as well as actions. Charles was carefree and in love with life. Polly was a happy go lucky child, who fit in with everyone and everything. Anna knew now that marriage was not helping her to find her true self because she had found and lost it. My understanding was that she cared for her children but I don't think that she knew if she loved them. Bruno insisted that Anna visit a psychiatrist to help her, as well as everyone else who lived with her, with her moodiness, depression and inability to show love.
Anna was seeing her psychiatrist, who suggested that she try to find an activity where other adults were involved. Who knew, Anna may connect with someone and find a friend.
The book was well written and I knew Anna very well. The other character's were also well developed.The narrator gave life to the character's. I listened to the book in short bursts because, as other reviewers have noted, Anna was depression, in its true form. However, Anna was living a life, that I'm sure statistics would prove that many people, men and women alike, live. Maybe reading this book, we are able to attribute some of Anna's life into our own. Surely, not all people. This book could teach you, if you were interested, all about depression in one of its life forms. Anna exhibits one kind of depression, not all the different forms of depression that exist. There were short periods of happiness in the book but not many. I can't say that I enjoyed the book but I liked the book because of Anna. She wanted what everyone wants, happiness, whatever you yourself consider to be happiness. One person's happiness is not someone else's happiness.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Marilyn
- 04-14-15
A tragedy seen from 100 yards
Most appreciated by those trained in the field of psychiatry.
The train wreck of a woman unable to trust those most able to help her.
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- EcoBella
- 11-15-16
Incredibly depressing
This book was very well written but wow, the storyline is very dark and the main character makes you want to scream. She's portraying a woman that doesn't make smart choices or can carry herself through the world. Not a fan.
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- Karen Snyder
- 04-19-15
Brilliant character study
The Hausfrau is inhabited by characters who are unengaged in their own lives. Illicit sexual encounters counteract boredom and unhappiness and sow the seeds for destruction and possible renewal in this thought provoking novel.
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- Carolina
- 05-26-16
I really enjoy it
What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?
I found this womans worries so exhausting yet so humane. Her confindence is crushed and she really doesn't know what to do with her life. If I were in her shoes I feel I most likely will be as desperate as she is.
What about Mozhan Marno’s performance did you like?
Perfect, as always.
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- Doggy Bird
- 03-28-15
A well-narrated book which surprised me
I really enjoyed this audio and was stunned to read how many negative reviews the book has gotten on Audible.
First of all the narration is excellent, I have never heard this narrator before but I will look for other readings by her immediately.
Second, the book itself is a fascinating view of a person living in a foreign country. She faces enormous challenges integrating herself into a foreign society, which with I sympathized. Anna does not resolve these issues in time to save herself, but we get to enjoy her intelligent and pointed commentary about the Swiss language and the culture as we watch her struggle. As a person who has lived in another country prior to mastering its language I really found that aspect of the book to be quite engaging and a good reflection of the feelings I knew myself as an outsider sometimes ambivalent about my new 'home'.
Third, the character of Anna is very frustrating, but I saw the book as more of a meditation on Anna Karenina than as a character portrait of a real person. I thought it was fascinating to follow the author through the exploration of how a modern woman could end up in the same situation as Tolstoy's Anna Karenina. I don't think I liked the character of Anna in Hausfrau, or some of the other characters but that did not prevent enjoying the book and its examination of their dilemmas.
There were issues that bothered me in the writing, such as the continued obsession with images of fire which didn't seem to lead anywhere, and I thought the ending was a bit prolonged, but nothing I felt while reading this book can relate to the very negative reactions other listeners describe. I enjoyed this audiobook quite a lot and found it very intelligent.
I hope that readers will give the book a chance - I wasn't able to read a book for months because nothing felt right, and once I listened to a sample of Hausfrau I had to buy it right away and read it straight through in only a few days during limited commuting hours. The narrator adds quite a lot to the experience and does wonderful accents and very expressive reading. The prose is also very beautiful and clever. I think the author is very promising and I look forward to reading more of her work.
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7 people found this helpful
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- Gretchen Eisenman
- 04-04-15
Four out of five
I really enjoyed this book, especially the sections that talked about language, and the loneliness of living in a foreign country. I think readers who have lived abroad will definitely relate!
I have heard this described as a "modern day Madame Bovary", and I think that's a good way to explain it.
I will say I was a little surprised at how much sex there was in the book, and how explicit it was! This didn't hinder my enjoyment of the book, but it lead to some awkward blushing, since I often listen to books on my headphones while working and commuting. If you have a problem with explicit sex and morally ambiguous characters, this may not be the book for you.
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- dln
- 03-28-15
intriguing
Excellent book exploring the human condition. The author's use of words captured my attention from start to finish. While I am totally different than the main character, I could understand her choices because the author made me feel I understood her and could imagine myself as her.
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- Avidlistener
- 05-07-16
Depressing read
This is a modern version of Flaubert's Madame Bovary with the same depressing view of the fate of a housewife who makes poor life choices. I found it very hard to believe in the American protagonist who was so passive and disenfranchised in her marriage to a Swiss banker that she didn't even have a bank account, driver's license, or job, despite living in the late 20th century. I also disliked all the Jungian psychoanalytical pronouncements of her shrink who seemed to be more interested in dream analysis than in giving the woman practical suggestions for empowering herself in a meaningful way. The story is well-written and competently narrated, but the ending gives the wrong sort of message to young wives with unsatisfying marriages. I did, however, find the interweaving of the details of German grammar with the plot development to be creative and different.
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- Stevon
- 08-03-15
quite the story
First time author, her debut novel. Interesting author that is best known for writing erotic poems. She went to college in Texas and to an Episcopal seminary. She states her writing encompasses sex, divinity and worlplay and this book does that. In this book Hausfrau is the German for housewife. An American woman marries a Swiss guy and moves to Switzerland. She does nothing to assimilate into the local society and instead becomes bored and starts making bad decisions and doing bad things. There are consequences. The book is really well written. You wonder if the author didn't lead this life at least to a certain extent to have all the thoughts she communicates in the book. I will try this author again assuming shewrites a second one.
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1 person found this helpful