How to Write a Novel, Melanie Sumner
How to Write a Novel, Melanie Sumner
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How to Write a Novel
A Novel

Author: Melanie Sumner

Narrator: Katie Schorr

Unabridged: 7 hr 43 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/04/2015

Synopsis

Aristotle “Aris” Thibodeau is twelve-and-a-half years old and destined for greatness. Ever since her father’s death, however, she’s been stuck in the small town of Kanuga, Georgia, where she has to manage her mother Diane’s floundering love life and dubious commitment to her job as an English professor, not to mention coparenting a little brother who hogs all the therapy money. Luckily, Aris has a plan. Following the advice laid out in Write a Novel in Thirty Days!, she sets out to pen a bestseller using her charmingly dysfunctional family as material. If the mom character, Diane, would ditch online dating and accept that the perfect man is clearly the handyman/nanny character, Penn MacGuffin, Aris would have the essential romance for her plot (and a father in her real life). But when a random accident uncovers a dark part of Thibodeau family history, Aris is forced to confront the fact that sometimes in life—as in great literature—things might not work out exactly as planned.How to Write a Novel is a brilliant satire of the modern family, at once endearing, hilarious, and bittersweet.

About Melanie Sumner

Melanie Sumner is the award-winning author of The Ghost of Milagro Creek, The School of Beauty and Charm, and Polite Society. Her short fiction has appeared in the New Yorker, Harper’s, the New York Times, Seventeen, and many other magazines and anthologies. She is the recipient of a NEA Fellowship in fiction, a PEN America grant, a Whiting Award, and was named one of Granta’s Best Young American Novelists in 1995. She is currently an assistant professor of English at Kennesaw State University, Georgia.

About Katie Schorr

Katie Schorr is an actor and writer in New York. Her one-woman show, Take Me. Seriously, ran for six months at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, and she performs throughout New York in new works at the Ensemble Studio Theatre and Ars Nova, among other theaters. She has appeared on VH1’s Best Week Ever and costars in the web series Head in the Oven with Saturday Night Live actor Bill Hader. Her audiobook credits include narrating the novels in Alyson Noel’s bestselling Immortals series. Of her work on the series, AudioFile magazine has said, “Narrator Katie Schorr has a wonderfully raspy, youthful voice, which she puts to good effect on the cast of teenage characters.”

Reviews

Goodreads review by Angela M on August 31, 2015

She's precocious from the beginning , maybe a bit overly precocious , but I knew I would like Aris from the beginning. The name is short for Aristotle - is this author pushing the envelope a bit too far ? In the end , I didn't think so . Is the story quirky? Absolutely. Does it seem a little far fet......more

Goodreads review by Meredith (Trying to catch up!) on August 07, 2015

After receiving the book Write a Novel in 30 days from her mother, 12.5 year old-going on 35- Aris (Aristotle) Thibodeau decides she is going to write a novel that is going to make her rich enough to change her family's life. Aris has been through quite a lot in her young life--the death of her fath......more

Goodreads review by Kelly on March 01, 2017

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Wow. This book is such a cute, quirky story that I just couldn't put down. I wanted to keep reading and reading just to see what would happen. This book is about Aristotle (or Aris), a 12.5 year old girl who received a......more

Goodreads review by Rebecca on August 05, 2015

Quirky. Engaging. Altogether imperfectly perfect. "How to Write a Novel" was one of the best reads this summer. Poor Aris is locked into a most unhealthy and codependent relationship with her mother -- and she's only 12.5. Sumner captures the tween voice in all of its absurdities, emerging maturity,......more

Goodreads review by Laura.125Pages on August 09, 2015

Original review at www.125pages.com *I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. 2 Stars ♦ As I read a book, I copy and paste phrases, sentences, and paragraphs into emails and send them to myself for reference while writing a review. As the mother of two (20 and 10) this book made......more

Quotes

“Sumner brings a knowing, tongue-in-cheek sparkle to discussions of writing workshop chestnuts…never losing sight of the humanity of her characters and the unpredictable nature of reality.” Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“In the vein of Graeme Simsion’s The Rosie Project, Sumner’s quirky story about an unconventional family is charming and precocious, like Aris herself.” Library Journal

“A beautiful and accomplished novel by an extraordinarily gifted talent.” Jill McCorkle, author of Life after Life

“How a kid can help her broke, widowed, overwhelmed mom: write a novel!…Sweet, clever, and fun.” Kirkus Reviews

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