To Die For

A Novel

By: Joyce Maynard

Narrated by: Michael Crouch, Piper Goodeve, Carly Robins, Lily Ganser, Tara Sands, Paul Castro Jr., Lisa Flanagan, Jonathan Davis, Jim Conroy, Will Collyer, Arianna Ratner, Dwayne Hill, Jeff Wiens, Joyce Maynard, Adam David Thompson

Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

“A seductive page-turner” about a murderously ambitious cable-news star by the New York Times best-selling author of Labor Day (The New York Times Book Review).

Local weather reporter Suzanne Maretto craves nothing more than to transcend life at her suburban cable television news station and follow in the footsteps of her idol: Barbara Walters. When she concludes that her unglamorous husband is getting in the way of her dream of stardom, the solution seems obvious: Get rid of him. She seduces a 15-year-old admirer, Jimmy, and persuades him to do her dirty work. Mission accomplished, Suzanne takes to the airwaves in her new role as grieving widow, in search of a TV deal. If that means selling Jimmy down the river, she’s ready.

Maynard’s brilliant, funny, and groundbreaking novel—adapted by Gus Van Sant into the cult classic movie of the same name, starring Nicole Kidman—was first published in 1992 before the era of manufactured stardom and the phenomenon of televised murder trials as entertainment. The book still stands as a razor-sharp satire of celebrity-fixated culture and the American obsession with TV—a novel that imagined the phenomenon of reality television before its creation, with alternately bone-chilling and hilarious accuracy.

©1992 Joyce Maynard (P)2023 Audible, Inc.

Meh

The story was interesting in that it was based on a true story but it should have been a short story.

fiction or fact?

great book . I loved the performances of all of the actors . but did no one notice the complete parallels to the Pamela Smart case from 1990?

Typical narcissist story

I love crime stories. This one started out pretty good but the ending was flat. Suzanne was truly a manipulative narcissist and death was too easy. She should have spent the rest of her privileged life in prison.

Susan was very greedy and self absorbed

The story line was very intriguing and I liked all the narrators. I I will be looking for more of them in other books.

Mediocre

Maybe it was a sensational story way back when. The narration is too contrived and “trying to be cute.” Waste of time. I would like my money back, really

What was that?

I tried to find the humor and understand Suzanne’s narcissistic beliefs about herself but everything about the book fell flat.

I hated to rate the narration so low as several actually portrayed their character well but Suzanne’s voice about did me in. Unfortunately not my book!!

Stick with the movie

There's a reason you never knew the movie was based on a book. This is more like a novelization. The movie is the original vision even though it came later. I came across this right after the 4K Blu-ray of the movie was announced by Criterion. I remembered seeing the movie back in the 90s and liking it somewhat so maybe worth another look. Then I bought this book from Audible and it was just terrible. I listened to 20 minutes of the obnoxious, multi-narrator garbage before pulling the plug. I had the feeling that the movie would be about the same because the general tone of the obnoxious characters made me remember the movie a little more. But I had already ordered it so when it came I watched it anyway and was very pleasantly surprised. Yes, the characters of the movie are horrible, narcissistic people but nuanced with great performances. Don't know how Gus Van Sant was able to distill that vision from this terrible novel. So give this a miss but watch the movie if you haven't already and watch it again if you forgot from the 90s.

Great production and writing

I enjoyed the interview format, where each character tells his or her story. Despite so many different performers (one for each character) it was easy to follow.
You know where the plot is leading, but it's still enjoyable and gripping.
The one performer I had a problem with was the one reading Suzanne, the main character. I didn't find her interpretation believable.

Shallow and predictable

The narration was amateurish. I was sorely disappointed-really disappointed in myself for continuing to listen to the end.

Enjoyable but predictable

The story was thin, characterizations 2D and inconsistent. The end felt uninspired and Suzanne's fate doesn't make sense.