Autobiography of Us, Aria Beth Sloss
Autobiography of Us, Aria Beth Sloss
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Autobiography of Us
A Novel

Author: Aria Beth Sloss

Narrator: Kathe Mazur

Unabridged: 9 hr 11 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/01/2013

Synopsis

A gripping debut novel about friendship, loss, and love—a confession of what passed between two women who met as girlsComing of age in the patrician neighborhood of Pasadena, California, during the 1960s, Rebecca Madden and her beautiful, reckless friend Alex dream of lives beyond their mothers' narrow expectations. Their struggle to define themselves against the backdrop of an American cultural revolution unites them early on, until one sweltering evening the summer before their last year of college, when a single act of betrayal changes everything. Decades later, Rebecca's haunting meditation on the past reveals the truth about that night, the years that followed, and the friendship that shaped her.Autobiography of Us is an achingly beautiful portrait of a decades-long bond. A rare and powerful glimpse into the lives of two women caught between repression and revolution, it casts new light on the sacrifices, struggles, victories, and defeats of a generation.

About Aria Beth Sloss

Aria Beth Sloss is a graduate of Yale and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She is a recipient of fellowships from the Iowa Arts Foundation, the Yaddo Corporation, and the Vermont Studio Center, and her writing has appeared in Glimmer Train, the Harvard Review, and online at the Paris Review and FiveChapters. She lives in New York City.

About Kathe Mazur

Kathe Mazur has narrated many audiobooks, winning the prestigious Audie Award for best narration in 2014, being named a finalist for the Audie Award in 2013 and 2015, and winning several AudioFile Earphones Awards. As an actress, she can be seen as DDA Hobbs on The Closer and in the upcoming Major Crimes. She has worked extensively in film, theater, and television, including appearances on Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, House, Brothers and Sisters, Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior, ER, Monk, and many others.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Sarah on February 21, 2013

This book is marketed as a novel about friends, and while a somewhat miss-matched friendship provides an umbrella context for the plot, it's not really about friendship. This is a novel about mothers and their children, or more specifically, mothers and their daughters. However, Aria Beth Sloss does......more

Goodreads review by (Lonestarlibrarian) Keddy Ann on March 30, 2013

This is one of the most depressing books I ever read. Teenaged Alex Carrington, a luminous beauty and talented aspring actress, picks rather mousy, shy Rebecca Madden as a best friend when she first bursts onto their L.A. high school scene in 1958. From then on, Rebecca is forever in Alex's thrall.......more

Goodreads review by Amanda on March 14, 2013

I was excited to read this book as I thought the title and synopsis sounded wonderful, the story of two girls and their lasting friendship. However, it fell really flat for me. I never felt like Alex and Rebecca, the main characters, were all that close. I never felt a real, sincere, long lasting bo......more

Goodreads review by Patricia on April 28, 2019

Another really good book about female friendship. A story of two best friends who grew up together, lost touch with each other in adulthood and kept coming back to each other over and over. The person telling the story is one of the women, telling the story to her child, who was the adopted baby of......more

Goodreads review by Michelle on March 13, 2013

Oh how I loved this book. I absolutely gobbled it up, lived inside it. I don’t think it’s for everyone. I can’t even explain who wouldn’t like it; I can only see why others might not. This explores, in great depths, so many relationships. Friends (through different stages: childhood, college, mother......more

Quotes

“In Autobiography of Us, Sloss captures not only the lives of two passionate and intelligent women but that very particular moment in American history when expectations about women and families were beginning to change—I felt Alex and Rebecca’s pains and pleasures as my own. A beautifully written and utterly captivating novel.” Margot Livesey, New York Times bestselling author

“An impressive psychological drama, Sloss’ first novel aptly brings to the fore the social issues that uniquely challenge her heroine.” Booklist

“Book clubs may find much to discuss regarding women's friendships, social class, and changes in women's options as a result of the feminist movement.” Library Journal

“Some friendships are fated, not chosen. Aria Beth Sloss’ gorgeous first novel deftly and richly exposes the lasting hope as well as the inevitable wounds that come from great love. Raw and vital, Autobiography of Us leaves us marveling at the strange, beautiful architecture of redemption.” Maggie Shipstead, New York Times bestselling author

“A masterly portrait of the lives of two indelible characters…Aria Beth Sloss’ fiercely imagined Autobiography of Us is a wrenching, provocative story of thwarted friendship, ambition, and love. It marks a stunning debut from a bold new talent.” Kate Walbert, New York Times bestselling author

“With surprising ease, the book plays out the friends’ complicated dynamic against a tableau of enormous changes for women, resulting in a potent story of altered expectations and thwarted dreams…A book that gains momentum with each new choice and crisis…[Autobiography of Us] blossoms in stirring and surprising ways.” New York Times

“[A] delicate, bittersweet story.” USA Today

“[A] sharply imagined debut…Sloss writes with assured grace, capturing the conflicted sensibilities of a generation of women.” O, The Oprah Magazine

“Spanning three decades, this engaging novel explores the loves, losses, and shifting friendship of two privileged Southern California girls.” People

“Aria Beth Sloss’ powerful novel flashes back to the ’60s, when young women’s choices seemed limited and female friendships were fragile life-lines. You’ll find this story both moving and engrossing.” Parade

Awards

  • Amazon Best Book of the Month
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