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Idiopathy
- Narrated by: Melody Grove
- Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
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Idiopathy
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Summary
Shortlisted for the Costa First Novel award 2013, this bitterly humorous debut is a novel of love, narcissism, and ailing cattle.
Katherine has given up trying to be happy. Her cynical wit repels the people she wants to attract, and attracts the people she knows she should repel. Her ex Daniel, meanwhile, isn’t sure that he loves his new girlfriend. But somehow not telling her he loves her has become synonymous with telling her that he doesn’t love her, meaning that he has to tell her he loves her just to maintain the status quo.
When their former friend Nathan returns from a stint in a psychiatric ward to find that his mother has transformed herself into bestselling author and Twitter sensation ‘Mother Courage’ – Katherine, Daniel and Nathan decide to meet to heal old wounds. But will a reunion end well? Almost certainly not.
Both scathing invective on a self-obsessed generation and moving account of love and loneliness, ‘Idiopathy’ skewers everything from militant environmentalists to self-help quackery and announces the arrival of a savagely funny talent.
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Critic reviews
‘A savagely brilliant novel … Brimming with comic brio and nuanced psychological insight, ‘Idiopathy’ signals the arrival of an exciting new talent … If ‘Idiopathy’ was half as fun to write as it is to read I suspect Mr Byers found some happiness along the way.’ David Annand, Sunday Telegraph
‘Brilliant … a mordantly riveting first novel about what it's like to be a thirtysomething.’ John Lanchester, Observer
‘Laced with satirical verve . . . this is a savagely funny debut from a gifted, cynical new voice.’ Joseph Charlton, FT
‘Will make you purr with delight. It’s well observed, light on its feet and never less than entertaining, with elegant ruminations on sex, love and loneliness that offset by some sublime comic riffs on the state of the nation.’ Sebastian Shakespeare, Tatler
‘Scabrously funny, beadily vigilant and often piercingly perceptive … it’s hard to fault the enthusiasm with which Byers goes about his task, or the vicious wit he brings to it.’ Trevor Lewis, Sunday Times
‘Page by page, an almost indecently entertaining book. Byers goes beyond being merely a talented comic novelist … insights bring the deeper laughs – and they are what allow him to turn the corner, as the novel reaches its climax, into something altogether more poignant and more serious.’ Sam Leith, TLS
‘Brimming with comic brio and nuanced psychological insight , Sam Byers’s first novel, “Idiopathy”, signals the arrival of a new talent.’ Telegraph
‘Even as Idiopathy threatens to become an emotional abattoir, Byers’s prose remains spreadsheet-specific, mock analytical, funny . . . [Byers] has taken a laudable risk in turning his Bovarys bovine and Kareninas sheepish.’ Joshua Cohen, The New York Times Book Review
‘Byers has a quicksilver prose style and an easy, unlabored way of getting his point across . . . A sad, poignant and funny debut, deeply relatable and replete with promise for the author’s future.’ Time Out New York (4 out of 5 stars)
What listeners say about Idiopathy
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Nick Drew
- 03-10-18
Occasionally insightful, but a touch journalistic
An interesting study of the inner lives of its characters, with some excellent observations and turns of phrase, set against the background of a national crisis - the device of contrasting the internal and personal with the national and public was well-balanced early on but receded into the background as the story became a sort of comedy of manners, a little like a slightly over-written sit-com. Some of the characters become such generally detestable caricatures that I struggled to keep listening, and I would have like them to have some redeeming features. The discussion of the inner lives of the characters bordered on the journalistic, or perhaps on the style of a self-help book, on occasion, and whilst this was perhaps a deliberate device it didn't really work for me. The denouement is a bit rushed and silly, but did draw a laugh. Generally an interesting listen, much enlivened by Melody Grove's well-paced, sensitive and amusing performance - the narrator kept me going when the plot and characterisation wavered.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- PoBeC
- 06-01-19
Not easy
Unlikable characters but so beautifully drawn. Brilliant narrative & internal construction. There’s not a huge story here. Not a great payoff. It’s a pretty depressing analogy. A Dickensian exercise in character construction but for the current era, and without redeeming features. BUT the writer is a genius. I have no doubt about that. I leave this book with two main thoughts :
1) the characters will stay with me. Especially the terrifying, pitiable Katherine.
2) I can’t wait to read everything this author ever creates. Perhaps it’s bad but I felt his presence throughout as a wondered about the mind, the imagination & the experiences that nurtured this talent.
Don’t be out off, read it, it’s not fluffy escapism no. But it is a worthwhile meditation on the human condition & a brave confrontation with the inner demons that we like to pretend don’t exist.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Asha
- 17-03-14
This story makes me annoyed.
What disappointed you about Idiopathy?
Dialogue was too realistic for characters that aren't realistic enough! An awful infuriating female protagonist with no redeeming features (in my opinion) and quite unlikely that anyone could be with her for so long. A protagonist doesn't need to be likable, however the dialogue does at least need to have purpose. The arguments between the central couple went round in circles, not really making sense. And rather than reaching any kind of conclusion, they petered off, leaving me wondering what the point of including it in the story was. And leaving me annoyed at having experienced such a stupid argument.My other criticism is that the plot takes an age to unfold, without much payoff and it doesn't feel like it should have. Action and plot that could have been done with in 4 chapters or so, takes the majority of the book. I am disappointed, as I was looking forward to this book coming out, and enjoyed the sample and blurb!
Would you ever listen to anything by Sam Byers again?
Possibly
What does Melody Grove bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?
Good overall performance
What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?
It made me want to throw things.
Any additional comments?
There are plenty of other books about relationships with fallible but redeeming characters out there.
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