It’s Thursday of Rene Gutteridge Week! What’s been your favorite part so far? We’re not done yet, though; there’s more to come.
Listen by Rene Gutteridge (Tyndale, January 2010), 432 pages
Summary
Marlo’s known as being a town where nothing bad (or newsworthy) ever happens. No one knows what to think or where to turn when a mysterious website starts publishing the private conversations of townspeople. People’s initial reactions are varied, but as hours turn into days, it becomes clear that the site could have serious consequences.
Thoughts
I really loved the different perspectives in this book — a couple teens, a newspaper reporter, a newspaper editor, a cop, a mom.
In some ways, this felt like an issue book — a book written to illuminate, explore, condemn, etc., a certain problem — rather than just a book. I tend to dislike stories written for the purpose of conveying a moral or message. But as time has passed since I read it, that impression, along with my irritation based on it, has faded. Instead, I’m left with the thought that this story is a somewhat new exploration of the power of words, both to hurt and to heal. What I remember in this case are the aspects I enjoyed: the characters, the emotions.
Gutteridge’s Occupational Hazard series is still my favorite of her work, but this isn’t at the bottom of the stack, either.
★★★☆☆
- Other Gutteridge books I’ve read:
- Boo [my review]
- Boo Who [my review]
- Boo Hiss [my review]
- Boo Humbug [review Friday]
- Possession [my review]
- Scoop (Occupational Hazards, book 1) [my review]
- Snitch (Occupational Hazards, book 2) [my review]
- Skid (Occupational Hazards, book 3) [my review]
- Ghost Writer [my review]
- Never the Bride, co-authored by Cheryl McKay [my review]
About the author
Rene Gutteridge (Facebook) is the author of 17 novels. On her blog she posted chapter-by-chapter discussions about Listen, as well as other content about the power of words.
Other reviews
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I received this book from the publisher. I am an Amazon Associate and receive a small commission on sales through my affiliate links.
Help! I realized recently that I haven’t read a single book in translation so far in 2010. This is a problem. 
I generally enjoy translated books, but somehow I’ve missed them so far this year. What’s worse, when this first occurred to me, I couldn’t even think of ones I wanted to read. Since then, I’ve picked up (am reading it now) 
This time, I believe she bought the book at a Friends of the Library sale, or something similar. I don’t know all the details, and they don’t really matter too much. She didn’t pay full price, which is good — because when the book arrived earlier this week, it was in Spanish. Which is great, except I can’t read Spanish. 
