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Stella Maris

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Stella Maris

By: Cormac McCarthy
Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, Julia Whelan
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About this listen

'A drought-busting, brain-vexing double act’ – Guardian

Alicia Western is the following: Twenty years old. A brilliant mathematician at the University of Chicago. And a paranoid schizophrenic who does not want to talk about her brother, Bobby.

Told entirely through the transcripts of Alicia’s psychiatric sessions, Cormac McCarthy's Stella Maris is a profoundly moving companion to The Passenger. It is a powerful enquiry that questions our notions of God, truth, and life itself.

‘Cormac McCarthy was such a virtuoso, his language was so rich and new . . . his books were terrifying and absolute. His sentences were astonishing.’ - Anne Enright

©2022 Cormac McCarthy (P)2022 Penguin Random House
Family Life Psychological Fiction

Critic Reviews

'It's an uncanny, unsettling dream, tuned into the static of the universe' – New York Times

What listeners say about Stella Maris

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The best for last

Possibly the most moving and thought provoking audio book I have listened to. Breath taking in it's vision and intimacy.

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BEST BOOK EVER

This was my fav in 2023. It is simply brilliant. I wasn't a massive fan of The Passenger but this one, although connected, was simply perfection particularly with Julia Whelan narrating it, I would say it is one of her best performances.

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brilliant performances

mcCarthy's Passenger and Stella Maris is really about Alicia and we see a much deeper view of her in this book. Ballerini and Whelan do an amazing job together.

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Enjoyed every moment

I listened to it in one day. I did not want it to end. To me, Cormack McCarthy is a storytelling philosopher. His stories provide opportunities to move from one philosophy (or challenge to one's reality) to another. This is pure McCarthy, in my opinion. I am not worthy nor fully able to express my true opinion, but I thought it was brilliant.

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Haunting

A bleak view of the world by an isolated beautiful person. McCarthy’s world is a bleak place. Abrupt ending that left me feeling sad. Great novel.

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A book based entirely on brilliant dialogue.

Excellent audiobook, brought to life by two fine actors. The exploration of mathematics and its relationship with the unconscious and truth was overshadowed by the mental anxiety of Alicia’s unrequited love. McCarthy keeps exploring the human psyche in unexpected and unusual ways.

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A beautiful and sad story

The beautiful code to McCarthy's Passenger was a beautiful story of the depth of genius, and its concomitant impact on mental health. A great conclusion to the Passenger, and I am already planning my re-read.

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Thankyou cormac McCarthy

A sad and joyous miracle of a book - McCarthy bringing together a lifetime of thinking, intuitions and studious and playful contemplation of WTF we are doing here and coming up with - who knows! But some glorious and heartening and inspiring hints. Richly ruthlessly cynical yet ultimately oddly romantic. Wonderful farewell from this wonderful man.

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Astonishing

McCarthy's final novel is astonishing. Recommend that The Passenger be read first, although there's a case for saying they can be read in either order. Unlike many of his books, Stella Maris is set in contemporary times. McCarthy's own writing genius is on full display in this short novel, which is focused entirely on the genius mathematician sister and her sessions with a psychiatrist at the institution where she's admitted herself for a final time.

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insufferable

what i imagine you might get from asking ChatGPT, "write an intellectual dialogue between a smartass mathematician and her peychologist."

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