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To Throw Away Unopened
- Narrated by: Jasmine Blackborow
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
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To Throw Away Unopened
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Summary
'Fierce, direct, unashamed. She masks nothing ... Scythes through the myths, the distortions, the adornments and finds the rich, distinctive stories underneath.' The Sunday Times
'A chronicle of outsiderness ... Searingly honest ... A painstaking and painful dissection of familial fallout .' The Observer
What was I fighting for? Even now I'm not sure. Something so old and so deep, it has no words, no shape, no logic.
Every memoir is a battle between reality and invention - but in her follow up to Clothes, Music, Boys, Viv Albertine has reinvented the genre with her unflinching honesty.
To Throw Away Unopened is a fearless dissection of one woman's obsession with the truth - the truth about family, power, and her identity as a rebel and outsider. It is a gaping wound of a book, both an exercise in blood-letting and psychological archaeology, excavating what lies beneath: the fear, the loneliness, the anger. It is a brutal expose of human dysfunctionality, the impossibility of true intimacy, and the damage wrought upon us by secrets and revelations, siblings and parents.
Yet it is also a testament to how we can rebuild ourselves and come to face the world again. It is a portrait of the love stories that constitute a life, often bringing as much pain as joy. With the inimitable blend of humour, vulnerability, and intelligence that makes Viv Albertine one of our finest authors working today, To Throw Away Unopened smashes through layers of propriety and leads us into a new place of savage self-discovery.
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Critic reviews
"Fierce, direct, unashamed. She masks nothing... Scythes through the myths, the distortions, the adornments and finds the rich, distinctive stories underneath." (The Sunday Times)
"A chronicle of outsiderness... Searingly honest.... A painstaking and painful dissection of familial fallout." (The Observer)
What listeners say about To Throw Away Unopened
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 17-07-21
well written and we'll narrated
a well detailed. well written, true and real experience. some dark moments and realisations we can all learn from.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Valdis Anspoks
- 01-02-20
Everyone should read or hear this.
My first audio book follows an appearance on my beloved R 4. Beautifully written, well researched, loved the quotes and a trip down memory lane. Some may consider it almost unrelentingly miserable but having shared some of her experiences I found it thoughtful and an unflinchingly accurate description of a life. Fantastic.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Sabi
- 22-02-23
Wonderful.
I loved how Viv's voice came through so loud and clear , helped along by exceptional narrative skill from Jasmine. Using first names, because it's like I know them now.
Incredibly brave, revealing book and beautifully written.
I loved how the scenes chopped and changed,went backwards and forwards and yet because the characters were so strongly written, I was never lost.
Having lost my mum, well I didn't loose her, she died, I was hooked as each scene cleverly revealed just enough touching imagery of Viv's mums death.
To Throw Away Unopened was an important for me to read. I have now bought it in hardback. Thank you Viv x
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- mancbella
- 23-08-19
very depressing
this was a difficult and painful listen. only go there if you like the dark side.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Anonymoose
- 16-06-19
Unflinchingly honest
An unflinchingly honest and feminist memoir of family secrets and the death of Albertine’s mother. It’s told in a beguilingly non-chronological, apparently stream of conscious style. What she uncovers about her own parents as her 90-odd-year-old mother is dying unravels slowly and unsettlingly. It’s also peppered with wry take-no-shit observations about womanhood.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- JC
- 23-10-18
Brilliant
Loved it, such an honest and funny tale of Viv Albertine's life. Great narration. Would recommend
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Ali
- 19-05-22
Brilliant
Raw, honest and brutal. Made me wince and laugh in equal measure. Bring it on Viv, you are my heroine. Listen to this unforgettable book (try to ignore the narrator -she’s a bit annoying in places ) and give thanks that Viv survived to write it 💋.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Kindle Customer
- 22-03-21
Love Jasmine Blackborrow's narration
Jasmine really got inside Viv's head abd really did her justice.
What a kick ass woman. As the poem sort of goes They mess you up your Mum Dad. I recommend this woman who is feeling a little oppressed for whatever reason. However it does tell the story of Viv losing her mother Kathleen (also Kick-ass) so proceed with caution if this is triggering area. My favourite quote used in the book is
I am never proud to participate in violence, yet I know that each of us must care enough for ourselves, that we can be ready and able to come to our own defence when and wherever needed. Maya Angelou, Letter to My Daughter, 2008
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Lesley
- 31-03-22
Sensuous
A story - well told. Starkly real sounding. Brilliant holding up of how the wholesome and the broken sit together in our lives and how the way we tell the stories of our lives with those around us can be scaffolding - helpful scaffolding.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Sarah Power
- 18-01-19
A read again and again book!
"Viv Albertine should be anointed patron saint of the domestically dispossessed."
Viv once more entertains, enlightens and makes all the mistakes and cringe worthy life experiences we go through as women a part of a life well lived. Sibling rivalry, terrible parental relationships and Viv's own self awareness and thoughts on life are astute and more often than not heartbreakingly hilarious . I will miss her in my life, in my head and will listen again and again to this book. Really hope another appears!
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4 people found this helpful