Manmade Constellations, Misha Lazzara
Manmade Constellations, Misha Lazzara
13 Rating(s)
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Manmade Constellations

Author: Misha Lazzara

Narrator: Tavia Gilbert

Unabridged: 8 hr 24 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/09/2022


Synopsis

A modern-day love story that explores childhood trauma, the boundaries between idealism and self-righteousness, and the heartaches we must confront in order to chart our courses forward.Lo Gunderson feels trapped in her small midwestern hometown until she sees an ad for a free car in the local paper. To maintain her staunch anticapitalist values, she refuses to spend money on what she can find for free, so this car is the perfect ticket out of the town. Though it doesn’t cost any money, it still comes with a price. Blanche Peterson is dying and asks for a single favor—that Lo track down her estranged son, whom Blanche hasn’t seen in over a decade.Before she can decide whether to fulfill Blanche’s dying wish, she needs to get the car started. She’s helped by John Blank, a Southern auto mechanic who moved up north for a fresh start. Despite vastly different backgrounds, they share an electrifying mutual attraction that threatens to upend Lo’s carefully constructed worldview.Meanwhile, Blanche’s son, Jason, finds himself adrift after an argument with his girlfriend. Memories of his negligent mother and the death of his father resurface for the first time in years as he travels across the country searching for what comes next.Manmade Constellations is a smart, magnetic, and emotional novel dedicated to the American landscape, exploring how taking to the open road teaches lessons that can’t be learned at home.

About Misha Lazzara

Misha Vaagen Lazzara was born and raised in Minnesota. She holds an MA in English from UNC Charlotte and an MFA in creative writing from North Carolina State University. She currently lives in North Carolina with her husband and three children.

About Tavia Gilbert

Tavia Gilbert is an acclaimed narrator of more than four hundred full-cast and multivoice audiobooks for virtually every publisher in the industry. Named the 2018 Voice of Choice by Booklist magazine, she is also winner of the prestigious Audie Award for best narration. She has earned numerous Earphones Awards, a Voice Arts Award, and a Listen-Up Award. Audible.com has named her a Genre-Defining Narrator: Master of Memoir. In addition to voice acting, she is an accomplished producer, singer, and theater actor. She is also a producer, singer, photographer, and a writer, as well as the cofounder of a feminist publishing company, Animal Mineral.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Kat on January 28, 2023

I picked this book up because the cover was beautiful, and the story within mirrored that. This book explores what it means to be human, what it means to live on this earth, and how we are all intricately connected whether we realize it or not. The way Lazzara describes Minnesota is so accurate; as......more

Goodreads review by Giovanna on August 23, 2022

Thanks to NetGalley for the Advanced Copy in exchange for an honest review 2.5 This was very enjoyable read and I really liked the set up, but the book kind off falls apart in the second hand and the author starts spoon feeding you a bit too much. I also felt like this could have been two separate bo......more

Goodreads review by Lolly K Dandeneau on August 08, 2022

via my blog: [URL not allowed] 𝑶𝒏𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆, 𝑳𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒆𝒏 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒖𝒕𝒆𝒔 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝑱𝒆𝒂𝒏 𝑳𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆, 𝒂 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓’𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒖𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔, 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔- 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒂 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒈𝒂𝒏. As her twenties are pas......more

Goodreads review by Kate on June 22, 2022

In this absolute dazzler of a debut novel, Lazzara deftly articulates the total necessity, utter heartbreak, and transcendental power of love. Manmade Constellations shines with a fantastic cast of complicated and challenging characters who are irresistible, infuriating, surprising, and lovable. Thi......more

Goodreads review by Jerry on December 15, 2022

I found a lot of myself in Lo Gunderson. Someone wanting to leave her small town to see and save the world. Lo is a freegan which a bit radical. Lo interacts with characters that don’t just dismiss her but engage in conversation (a bit far fetched in real life where it is too easy just to label and......more


Quotes

“Misha Lazzara is an extremely talented writer with a compelling story to tell. Her dialogue is pitch-perfect and her setting so vivid, you feel you are there.” Jill McCorkle, New York Times bestselling author

“[A] notable debut…Readers will enjoy this new voice.” Publishers Weekly

“With this dazzling debut novel, Misha Lazzara takes her place among the most important young fiction writers in America. Hers is a talent to watch, applaud, and—quite frankly—envy.” Aaron Gwyn, author of All God’s Children

“Part love story, part mystery, Manmade Constellations explores the search for home on an imperfect planet. Misha Lazzara writes with empathy, grace, and a poet’s eye for detail, and her characters will live in your mind long after you’ve finished this page-turning novel.” Belle Boggs, author of The Gulf

“Misha Lazzara’s Manmade Constellations recharges the American road trip novel with a lyric touch. Part detective story—a search for a stranger’s lost son—part voyage of self-reflection—from a hometown and family the heroine hopes to leave behind—and all-around love story, the reader will gladly stay put in the passenger seat. Lazzara’s deftly drawn characters, their impulsive decisions, rendered in a narrative as page-turning as it is poetic, transports the reader to the greatest scenery of all: the landscape of the heart.” Wilton Barnhardt, bestselling author of Lookaway, Lookaway

“Misha Lazarra scrapes away the wintry layers of small-town Minnesota and shows us what smolders beneath: the burning human heart. These indelible characters, with their quirks and flaws and grit, make us root for them on their journeys, reminding us that sometimes you have leave to find home again. Structurally inventive and deeply immersive, Manmade Constellations is a marvel.” Bryn Chancellor, author of Sycamore