
Where Things Come Back
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $19.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Josh Hurley
-
Fred Berman
About this listen
Winner of the 2012 Michael L. Printz and William C. Morris Awards, this poignant and hilarious story of loss and redemption “explores the process of grief, second chances, and even the meaning of life” (Kirkus Reviews).
In the remarkable, bizarre, and heart-wrenching summer before Cullen Witter’s senior year of high school, he is forced to examine everything he thinks he understands about his small and painfully dull Arkansas town. His cousin overdoses; his town becomes absurdly obsessed with the alleged reappearance of an extinct woodpecker; and most troubling of all, his sensitive, gifted fifteen-year-old brother, Gabriel, suddenly and inexplicably disappears. Meanwhile, the crisis of faith spawned by a young missionary’s disillusion in Africa prompts a frantic search for meaning that has far-reaching consequences. As distant as the two stories initially seem, they are woven together through masterful plotting and merge in a surprising and harrowing climax. This extraordinary tale from a rare literary voice finds wonder in the ordinary and illuminates the hope of second chances.
©2012 John Corey Whaley (P)2012 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
- By: Benjamin Alire Saenz
- Narrated by: Lin-Manuel Miranda
- Length: 7 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison. Dante is a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world. When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the loners start spending time together, they discover that they share a special friendship - the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime. And it is through this friendship that Ari and Dante will learn the most important truths about themselves and the kind of people they want to be.
-
-
One of the best novels I've listened to in years.
- By Nyx on 10-27-13
-
Looking for Alaska
- By: John Green
- Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
- Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Miles Halter is fascinated by famous last words - and tired of his safe life at home. He leaves for boarding school to seek what the dying poet François Rabelais called the “Great Perhaps”. Much awaits Miles at Culver Creek, including Alaska Young, who will pull Miles into her labyrinth and catapult him into the Great Perhaps.
-
-
I am concussed dot-dot-dot
- By Bren McKenna on 10-01-19
By: John Green
-
Noggin
- By: John Corey Whaley
- Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne
- Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Travis Coates has a good head…on someone else’s shoulders. A touching, hilarious, and wholly original coming-of-age story from John Corey Whaley, author of the Printz and Morris Award-winning Where Things Come Back. Listen - Travis Coates was alive once and then he wasn’t. Now he’s alive again. Simple as that. The in-between part is still a little fuzzy, but Travis can tell you that, at some point or another, his head got chopped off and shoved into a freezer in Denver, Colorado. Five years later, it was reattached to some other guy’s body, and well, here he is.
-
-
the ending was beautifully simplistic, with a topic that is extremely difficult for us, life and death.
- By Anonymous User on 10-13-24
-
Highly Illogical Behavior
- By: John Corey Whaley
- Narrated by: Robbie Daymond, Julia Whelan
- Length: 6 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sixteen-year-old Solomon is agoraphobic. He hasn't left the house in three years, which is fine by him. Ambitious Lisa desperately wants to get into the second-best psychology program for college (she's being realistic). But how can she prove she deserves a spot there? Solomon is the answer. Determined to "fix" Sol, Lisa thrusts herself into his life, introducing him to her charming boyfriend, Clark, and confiding her fears in him. Soon all three teens are far closer than they thought they'd be, and when their facades fall down, their friendships threaten to collapse as well.
-
-
It's illogical not to give this a try
- By FanB14 on 06-24-16
-
Hatchet
- By: Gary Paulsen
- Narrated by: Peter Coyote
- Length: 3 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Newbery Award-winner Gary Paulsen's best-known book comes to audio in this breathless, heart-gripping drama about a boy pitted against the wilderness with only a hatchet and a will to live. On his way to visit his recently divorced father in the Canadian mountains, thirteen-year-old Brian Robeson is the only survivor when the single-engine plane crashes. His body battered, his clothes in shreds, Brian must now stay alive in the boundless Canadian wilderness.
-
-
Outstanding!
- By Raquel Aceves-Mittman on 02-14-12
By: Gary Paulsen
-
The Nickel Boys (Winner 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction)
- A Novel
- By: Colson Whitehead
- Narrated by: JD Jackson, Colson Whitehead
- Length: 6 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Elwood Curtis, a black boy growing up in 1960s Tallahassee, is unfairly sentenced to a juvenile reformatory called the Nickel Academy, he finds himself trapped in a grotesque chamber of horrors. Elwood’s only salvation is his friendship with fellow “delinquent” Turner, which deepens despite Turner’s conviction that Elwood is hopelessly naive, that the world is crooked, and that the only way to survive is to scheme and avoid trouble.
-
-
Who spoke for the black boys?
- By Darwin8u on 02-06-20
By: Colson Whitehead
-
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
- By: Benjamin Alire Saenz
- Narrated by: Lin-Manuel Miranda
- Length: 7 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison. Dante is a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world. When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the loners start spending time together, they discover that they share a special friendship - the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime. And it is through this friendship that Ari and Dante will learn the most important truths about themselves and the kind of people they want to be.
-
-
One of the best novels I've listened to in years.
- By Nyx on 10-27-13
-
Looking for Alaska
- By: John Green
- Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
- Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Miles Halter is fascinated by famous last words - and tired of his safe life at home. He leaves for boarding school to seek what the dying poet François Rabelais called the “Great Perhaps”. Much awaits Miles at Culver Creek, including Alaska Young, who will pull Miles into her labyrinth and catapult him into the Great Perhaps.
-
-
I am concussed dot-dot-dot
- By Bren McKenna on 10-01-19
By: John Green
-
Noggin
- By: John Corey Whaley
- Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne
- Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Travis Coates has a good head…on someone else’s shoulders. A touching, hilarious, and wholly original coming-of-age story from John Corey Whaley, author of the Printz and Morris Award-winning Where Things Come Back. Listen - Travis Coates was alive once and then he wasn’t. Now he’s alive again. Simple as that. The in-between part is still a little fuzzy, but Travis can tell you that, at some point or another, his head got chopped off and shoved into a freezer in Denver, Colorado. Five years later, it was reattached to some other guy’s body, and well, here he is.
-
-
the ending was beautifully simplistic, with a topic that is extremely difficult for us, life and death.
- By Anonymous User on 10-13-24
-
Highly Illogical Behavior
- By: John Corey Whaley
- Narrated by: Robbie Daymond, Julia Whelan
- Length: 6 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sixteen-year-old Solomon is agoraphobic. He hasn't left the house in three years, which is fine by him. Ambitious Lisa desperately wants to get into the second-best psychology program for college (she's being realistic). But how can she prove she deserves a spot there? Solomon is the answer. Determined to "fix" Sol, Lisa thrusts herself into his life, introducing him to her charming boyfriend, Clark, and confiding her fears in him. Soon all three teens are far closer than they thought they'd be, and when their facades fall down, their friendships threaten to collapse as well.
-
-
It's illogical not to give this a try
- By FanB14 on 06-24-16
-
Hatchet
- By: Gary Paulsen
- Narrated by: Peter Coyote
- Length: 3 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Newbery Award-winner Gary Paulsen's best-known book comes to audio in this breathless, heart-gripping drama about a boy pitted against the wilderness with only a hatchet and a will to live. On his way to visit his recently divorced father in the Canadian mountains, thirteen-year-old Brian Robeson is the only survivor when the single-engine plane crashes. His body battered, his clothes in shreds, Brian must now stay alive in the boundless Canadian wilderness.
-
-
Outstanding!
- By Raquel Aceves-Mittman on 02-14-12
By: Gary Paulsen
-
The Nickel Boys (Winner 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction)
- A Novel
- By: Colson Whitehead
- Narrated by: JD Jackson, Colson Whitehead
- Length: 6 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Elwood Curtis, a black boy growing up in 1960s Tallahassee, is unfairly sentenced to a juvenile reformatory called the Nickel Academy, he finds himself trapped in a grotesque chamber of horrors. Elwood’s only salvation is his friendship with fellow “delinquent” Turner, which deepens despite Turner’s conviction that Elwood is hopelessly naive, that the world is crooked, and that the only way to survive is to scheme and avoid trouble.
-
-
Who spoke for the black boys?
- By Darwin8u on 02-06-20
By: Colson Whitehead
-
Night
- By: Elie Wiesel
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 4 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and the Congressional Gold Medal, Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel offers an unforgettable account of Hitler's horrific reign of terror in Night. This definitive edition features a new translation from the original French by Wiesel's wife and frequent translator, Marion Wiesel.
-
-
This book consumed me
- By Ella on 01-24-06
By: Elie Wiesel
-
One of Us Is Lying (TV Series Tie-In Edition)
- By: Karen M. McManus
- Narrated by: Kim Mai Guest, MacLeod Andrews, Shannon McManus, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pay close attention, and you might solve this. On Monday afternoon five students at Bayview High walk into detention. Bronwyn, the brain, is Yale-bound and never breaks a rule. Addy, the beauty, is the picture-perfect homecoming princess. Nate, the criminal, is already on probation for dealing. Cooper, the athlete, is the all-star baseball pitcher. And Simon, the outcast, is the creator of Bayview High's notorious gossip app. Only Simon never makes it out of that classroom. Before the end of detention, Simon's dead.
-
-
It kept me guessing!!
- By tarafarah7: Tara Brown on 06-03-17
By: Karen M. McManus
-
The 57 Bus
- A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives
- By: Dashka Slater
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 5 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If it weren't for the 57 bus, Sasha and Richard never would have met. Both were high school students from Oakland, California, one of the most diverse cities in the country, but they inhabited different worlds. Sasha, a white teen, lived in the middle-class foothills and attended a small private school. Richard, a black teen, lived in the crime-plagued flatlands and attended a large public one. Each day, their paths overlapped for a mere eight minutes. But, one afternoon, on the bus ride home from school, a single reckless act left Sasha severely burned.
-
-
An Unusual True-Crime Event...Beautifully Written.
- By Mary Burnight on 02-21-18
By: Dashka Slater
-
Salt to the Sea
- By: Ruta Sepetys
- Narrated by: Jorjeana Marie, Will Damron, Cassandra Morris, and others
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
World War II is drawing to a close in East Prussia and thousands of refugees are on a desperate trek toward freedom, many with something to hide. Among them are Joana, Emilia, and Florian, whose paths converge en route to the ship that promises salvation, the Wilhelm Gustloff. Forced by circumstance to unite, the three find their strength, courage, and trust in each other tested with each step closer to safety. Just when it seems freedom is within their grasp, tragedy strikes.
-
-
Haunting Historical YA Fiction
- By FanB14 on 02-19-16
By: Ruta Sepetys
-
Down and Across
- By: Arvin Ahmadi
- Narrated by: Assaf Cohen
- Length: 7 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Scott Ferdowsi has a track record of quitting. Writing the Great American Novel? Three chapters. His summer internship? One week. His best friends know exactly what they want to do with the rest of their lives, but Scott can't commit to a breakfast cereal, let alone a passion. With college applications looming, Scott's parents pressure him to get serious about a career path like engineering or medicine. Desperate for help, he sneaks off to Washington, DC, to seek guidance from a famous professor who specializes in grit, the psychology of success.
-
-
Wish i bought the book.....
- By Wayne on 02-10-18
By: Arvin Ahmadi
-
The Serpent King
- By: Jeff Zentner
- Narrated by: Michael Crouch, Ariadne Meyers, Ethan Sawyer
- Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dill has had to wrestle with vipers his whole life - at home, as the only son of a Pentecostal minister who urges him to handle poisonous rattlesnakes, and at school, where he faces down bullies who target him for his father’s extreme faith and very public fall from grace. He and his fellow outcast friends must try to make it through their senior year of high school without letting the small-town culture destroy their creative spirits and sense of self. Graduation will lead to new beginnings for Lydia, whose edgy fashion blog is her ticket out of their rural Tennessee town.
-
-
Once and future king
- By Robert J on 03-31-16
By: Jeff Zentner
-
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks
- By: E. Lockhart
- Narrated by: Tanya Eby Sirois
- Length: 6 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Frankie Laundau-Banks is no longer the kind of girl to take "no" for an answer. Especially when "no" means she's excluded from her boyfriend's all-male secret society. Not when her ex boyfriend shows up in the strangest of places. Not when she knows she's smarter than any of them.
-
-
Sounds like an AI reader
- By A on 01-01-25
By: E. Lockhart
-
Ghost Town
- By: Krystal Doolittle
- Narrated by: Stacy Dugan
- Length: 4 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Willow was like any other teenage girl until a fatal car accident left her an orphan with the ability to see ghosts. Relocating to live with her grandparents, she hoped to lay low to survive the rest of high school and maybe figure out the whole "seeing the dead" thing. But with ghosts popping up in the middle of class, Willow was struggling to keep the gossip at bay. No one thinks you're normal when you get caught having a one-sided conversation alone.
-
-
good read
- By Jerri Estep on 12-04-23
-
Slammed
- A Novel
- By: Colleen Hoover
- Narrated by: Heidi Baker
- Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Following the unexpected death of her father, eighteen-year-old Layken becomes the rock for both her mother and younger brother. She appears resilient and tenacious, but inside, she's losing hope. Then she meets her new neighbor Will, a handsome twenty-one-year-old whose mere presence leaves her flustered and whose passion for poetry slams thrills her. Not long after a heart-stopping first date during which each recognizes something profound and familiar in the other, they are slammed to the core when a shocking discovery brings their new relationship to a sudden halt.
-
-
this book was kinda boring
- By Shelly lay on 02-10-23
By: Colleen Hoover
-
All the Bright Places
- Movie Tie-In Edition
- By: Jennifer Niven
- Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne, Ariadne Meyers
- Length: 11 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Theodore Finch is fascinated by death, and he constantly thinks of ways he might die. But each time, something good, no matter how small, stops him. Violet Markey lives for the future, counting the days until graduation, when she can escape her Indiana town and her aching grief in the wake of her sister's recent death. When Finch and Violet meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school, it's unclear who saves whom.
-
-
Best YA Quirky Love Story of 2015
- By FanB14 on 06-09-15
By: Jennifer Niven
-
Without Merit
- A Novel
- By: Colleen Hoover
- Narrated by: Candace Thaxton
- Length: 9 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Voss family is anything but normal. They live in a repurposed church, newly baptized Dollar Voss. The once cancer-stricken mother lives in the basement, the father is married to the mother’s former nurse, the little half-brother isn’t allowed to do or eat anything fun, and the eldest siblings are irritatingly perfect. Then, there’s Merit. Merit Voss collects trophies she hasn’t earned and secrets her family forces her to keep. While browsing the local antiques shop for her next trophy, she finds Sagan.
-
-
This Book Will Not Disappoint!
- By Christie on 10-28-17
By: Colleen Hoover
-
The Last House on the Street
- A Novel
- By: Diane Chamberlain
- Narrated by: Susan Bennett
- Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Architect Kayla Carter and her husband designed a beautiful house for themselves in Round Hill’s new development, Shadow Ridge Estates. It was supposed to be a home where they could raise their three-year-old daughter and grow old together. Instead, it’s the place where Kayla’s husband died in an accident - a fact known to a mysterious woman who warns Kayla against moving in. The woods and lake behind the property are reputed to be haunted, and the new home has been targeted by vandals leaving threatening notes.
-
-
✫✫ 5 Stars ✫✫
- By ❤️Cyndi Marie❤️🎧Audiobook Addicts🎧 on 01-12-22
What listeners say about Where Things Come Back
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Inkish Kingdoms . com
- 03-08-17
When a curse save your life!
You can Google me for the rest of the review! I have a whole review of this book in my Blogger and Wordpress blog:
"Inkish Kingdoms"
I cannot say that I laughed with this book. I think the main event on the book is what actually sets the mood and the tone of the book (I mean that is what is supposed to happen, isn’t it?). It is just way too serious the fact that Cullen’s little brother just disappeared.
I can picture Cullen and his best friend just trying to live a normal life and move on, but how? The whole situation just becomes absurd at some point, not the book, but real life. How can you actually move on with your life like nothing happened? It is impossible not to give up to the pressure and to ones emotions.
The narrator was simple amazing! You can totally feel what Cullen was feeling! His fears and frustration! Even his cynicism was palpable! There is a reason why I gave 5 stars on every rate for this book!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
12 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 05-07-18
Wow!
So interesting and I never really knew where it was going or what was going to happen. Got this book for a book group I'm with. Well written book with two story lines that come together about ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. I would recommend to those who like mysteries and young adult. I also liked that there were two voice actors for this story.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Lynn A. D.
- 05-10-19
A good listen
This is a very well performed story about a family whose 15-year-old son disappears, as told mainly by his older brother. The reader is lead through experiences and situations in the lives of people the boys knew, and eventually learns what happened to the missing boy. It's a better story than I've made it seem, well worth the read.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Brenda Denman
- 08-11-22
Brilliant!
Once started, my curiosity made me finish. The pieces came together in the most unexpected ways!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Roger D. Grape
- 12-23-12
Wonderfully Interwoven Story/Narration
What made the experience of listening to Where Things Come Back the most enjoyable?
This was a fascinating story to listen to, because there are two stories being told, which become blended together toward the end.
Have you listened to any of Josh Hurley and Fred Berman ’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
This was my first listen for both narrators, and they both did a great job.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- FanB14
- 11-23-15
Weird and Wonderful
This is an amazing tale of brothers Cullen and Gabriel. While the town goes cukoo in search of a rare and possibly non-existent woodpecker, Gabriel goes missing. Cullen is left to spend his senior year worrying and accepting pity glances and casseroles from the townsfolk. The tone is straight forward, a little deadpan and sombre, yet humorous. The entire idea is clever and I loved it. If you choose to read it, I have to share that I believe the last sentence is one of the best in YA novels of all time. Just when you're confused and don't think Whaley can pull it off, he wraps it all up with a shocking and satisfying conclusion.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Narin Olankijanan
- 05-01-20
Wonderful Experience to Read this!
I just love his writing style so much that I can keep listening to it for hours and hours. I don't really know how the author did it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kindle Customer
- 03-21-17
Worst book ever!
This book epitomizes a phrase I have hated my entire life. I am ashamed to say that I cannot come up with a better way to describe this book. If you could turn the phrase "life's a bitch and then you die" into a novel, this would be the book. Full of swearwords and teenage angst, which is actually the delightful side of the book. Also filled with darkness very confused suicidal religious maniacs that taint everything good about religion. The story is depressing and strange and frustrating. The timeline is written poorly and does nothing but confuse the reader. The characters are not only flawed, but incredibly depressing. Not only do I want my money back. But I wanted to reach through the CD player and grab the authors throat and ask for the six hours of my life back. Nothing has resolution at the end. It just leaves you hanging. There are no good lessons to be learned. It is a complete waste of time! Please please do not read this book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
5 people found this helpful