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Florence Gordon

Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

A wise and entertaining novel about a woman who has lived life on her own terms for seventy-five defiant and determined years, only to find herself suddenly thrust to the center of her family's various catastrophes

Meet Florence Gordon: blunt, brilliant, cantankerous, and passionate, a feminist icon to young women. At seventy-five, Florence has earned her right to set down the burdens of family and work and shape her legacy at long last. But just as she is beginning to write her long-deferred memoir, her son Daniel returns to New York from Seattle with his wife and daughter, and they embroil Florence in their dramas, clouding the clarity of her days with the frustrations of middle age and the confusions of youth. And then there is her left foot, which is starting to drag.

With searing wit, sophisticated intelligence, and a tender respect for humanity in all its flaws, Brian Morton introduces a constellation of unforgettable characters. Chief among them is Florence, who can humble the fools surrounding her with one barbed line, but who eventually finds there are realities even she cannot outwit.

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    • AudioFile Magazine
      One of the challenges of narrating a character-driven novel is allowing listeners to form their own opinions about the protagonists. Dawn Harvey's dramatic performance of this story about a 75-year-old feminist writer and her family sounds intrusive. Harvey's intonations and pauses heavily signal passages she interprets as sarcastic or funny, preventing listeners from reacting directly to the prose. The novel explores personal secrets, the pressures of self-imposed and family expectations, and aging, but Harvey's clipped presentation and storytelling approach leave no room for contemplation. Inconsistent vocalization of the dialogue, with inflections that are sometimes mismatched to the characters' personalities, further distance the listener. This beautifully written work, which portrays three generations of women as they face identity issues, is better enjoyed in print. C.B.L.
    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from June 2, 2014
      Morton (Starting Out in the Evening) offers up a fascinating family presided over by the irascible Florence Gordon, a 75-year-old New York City intellectual and feminist activist who likes to surprise, argue, and criticize. Florence never sought public adoration during her long career committed to women’s empowerment, but, now that she has been touted as “an American classic” by her young new editor, she finds she likes the attention. Her pending memoir will be her crowning literary achievement, but her family’s temporary relocation to New York from Seattle interferes with her process: she considers it an unwelcome intrusion into her well-established routine. Florence’s son, Daniel, is a Seattle policeman, an apparently disappointing career choice for the son of a famous feminist, and she cannot understand why she feels so little affection for him. She thinks his wife, Janine, is a vacuous suck-up and also has a difficult time connecting with her inquisitive teenage granddaughter, Emily, although the two eventually develop a tentative rapport. Florence never sees the disaster looming in her son’s marriage after an unexpected, life-altering medical diagnosis causes her to make two fateful decisions about her own future. As a strong-willed, independent woman, Florence is comfortable with herself and the manner in which she deals with others—“one of the fine things in life is the difference between what goes on inside you and what you show to the world.” Morton’s characters are sharply drawn, vivid in temperament and behavior, and his prose smartly reveals Florence’s strength and dignity.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Nan McNamara gives a nuanced performance of this audiobook revolving around a well-known feminist writer whose ordered existence in New York City becomes compromised by a medical diagnosis. The imposing 75-year-old Florence Gordon lives an independent life and has little contact with her family. Then her son, Daniel, a Seattle police officer, travels with his wife, Janine, and their teenage daughter to New York. McNamara seamlessly meets the novel's shifts in point of view, precisely expressing the characters' struggles with aging, identity, career, romance, marriage, and each other. She keeps the plot flowing despite the pauses necessitated by short chapter breaks. This audiobook will be savored by those who enjoy contemplative character-driven stories. M.J. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine

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This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Funding for additional materials was made possible by a grant from the New Hampshire Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities.