Euphoria

Reviews

“A taut, witty, fiercely intelligent tale of competing egos and desires in a landscape of exotic menace—a love triangle in extremis.”

“Masterful…A thrilling and beautifully composed novel…a riveting and provocative novel, absolutely first rate.”

“Captures the amber of one man’s exquisite longing for a woman who changed the way we look at ourselves.”

“Set between the First and Second World Wars, the story is loosely based on events in the life of Margaret Mead. There are fascinating looks into other cultures and how they are studied and the sacrifices and dangers that go along with it. This is a powerful story, at once gritty, sensuous, and captivating.”

“I’m always happy to read Lily King, and I particularly enjoyed reading Euphoria.”

“Lily King delves into the intellectual flights and passions of three anthropologists—as complex, rivalrous, and brutal as any of the cultures they study. Euphoria is a brilliantly written book.”

“Adventure and romance, danger and knowledge, desire and desolation: these are a few of my favorite things. And, exquisitely braided, they form the core of Euphoria…This passionate and thrilling new novel reminds us that all our mores are fictions, that culture itself is only a story we tell ourselves. And what a harrowing tale Lily King weaves from these threads. I’m left breathless, excited, ready to wander and explore, a little afraid, enamored, enlightened.”

“In a perfect marriage of words and voice, narrators Simon Vance and Xe Sands join author Lily King to produce an extraordinary audiobook experience…Sands and Vance perform the stupendous feat of creating memorable versions of the same characters. Their performances offer nuanced interpretations of the different personalities and…a unique narrative pace that enhances the listener’s understanding of this unforgettable tale. Winner of an AudioFile Earphones Award.”

“This audio version, read by Simon Vance and Xe Sands, may well become my favorite audio of 2015…The narrators make this intense, emotionally charged tale of desire and depair, both physical and intellectural, even more vivid.”

“Stunningly passionate and gorgeously written.”

“Fresh, brilliantly structured, and fully imagined.”

“A searing and absolutely mesmerizing glimpse into 1930’s New Guinea, a world as savage and fascinating as Conrad’s Heart of Darkness…Jaw-droppingly, heart-stoppingly beautiful.”

“I was totally captivated. Euphoria is a great book.”

“Euphoria is at once romantic, exotic, informative, and entertaining.”

“Enthralling…In the beauty and cruelty of others, we discover our own.”

“It’s smart and steamy, and like the best historical fiction, it made me want to read about Mead.”

“ It’s both romantic and intelligent…This is the best kind of historical novel—the kind that sent me running to read more about its real-life inspiration.”

“King builds an intense, seductive, sexual, and intellectual tension among the three [anthropogists]: This taut, fraught triangulation is the novel’s driving force.”

“While the love triangle sections do turn pages, King’s immersive prose takes center stage.”

“Inspired by an event in the life of Margaret Mead, this novel tells the story of three young anthropologists in 1930s New Guinea…This three-way relationship is complex and involving, but even more fascinating is the depiction of three anthropologists with three entirely diverse ways of studying another culture.”

“King changes the names (and the outcome) in this atmospheric romantic fiction set in New Guinea and clearly based on anthropologist Margaret Mead’s relationship with her second and third husbands…A small gem, disturbing and haunting.”

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