Outer Banks audiobook

I am a fan of Anne Rivers Siddons and have been steadily moving through her arsenal of twenty four books, often times wondering which book to read next. When a friend recommended "Outer Banks," I bought it sight unseen, thinking anything Siddons writes will be good. "Outer Banks" is yet again another of Siddons' captivating reads. Its first person narrative from the voice of a woman, now in her early fifties, as she reflects on the people involved in the most pivotal phase of her life is resplendent with the kind of poignancy we all can relate to. It is a story that begins in college, where the narrator comes to a small Southern college and is befriended by a group of girls that leave an indelible mark. In the midst of this circle enters Paul Sibley, a slightly older, mysteriously handsome and rather exotic architectural student, who is a standout amidst this staid environment, and who overwhelms the narrator as they enter into a relationship that begins in ecstasy and ends with a wound that never heals. But life carries on, with its scars of disillusionment and betrayal, and although the narrator agrees to a reunion with the players involved in what we learn is her life's painful turning point, "Outer Banks" is a full-circle story with an uncanny resolution. Populated with singular and fully developed characters in a well-rounded group of friends, the reader comes to know each character intimately. We know their backgrounds, their motivations, their unique personalities and their hidden fears. As the setting, Outer Banks, North Carolina is the location of the vacation home of one in this group of friends. It is its own character; this vast, desolate beach terrain, where an opulent beach-side mansion hovers over the crashing waves in an area that feels like the dark side of the moon. It is within these walls that the characters revisit the dynamic set in play thirty years earlier. Though time has evolved, their way of relating to each other has not, and deep seated resentments come to the fore in a manner that provides eventual redress. This book has an ending I can only describe as utter fantastic, and I use this word in the truest sense of its meaning. It verges on gothic in its surreal, dramatic urgency. It frightens and shifts and catches the reader unaware. I recommend this book for its brilliant story development and because Siddons wrote the kind of characters one never forgets.

This book is a stunner!! I never saw the twists and turns coming. It's wonderfully wicked and an engrossing story of friendships, love, jealousy and betrayal.

Outer Banks is one of my favorite Anne Rivers Siddons books. She is a middle-aged woman looking back to her college years in a sort of "how did I get here" experience. I always enjoy getting to know her characters and locations and have taken several East coast vacations largely due to the interest in the area that her books left with me. I read this book again when years later I finally went to the Outer Banks on vacation and found a tattered copy where we stayed. Having read everything ARS has ever written, the characters and places get somewhat familiar. She gets me involved and attached to her characters and then stirs everything up for the ending. I read her books for the rich descriptions of her complex and real people and relationships, but am often disappointed by the bizarre twists and surprise endings. But Outer Banks worked for me. And the ending was my favorite of all her books.

I was surprised that I ended up liking this book as much as I did. I felt myself pretty drawn in by the story, except for the part at the end. Now that, I thought, was downright bizarre.

I read this many years ago, and I loved it. I would like to re-read it some day.

Again, a surprise. Sort of The Awakening meets Rebecca meets Mean Girls meets a Hallmark movie if Hallmark made horror. I can't say this author has ever bored me, which is something.

Elegant Kate, walking a tightrope over an abyss of lies; Cecie, self-contained, sensitive and sensible; Ginger, the sexy, vibrant, richer-than-sin heiress and poor, hopeless, brilliant Georgina, nicknamed Fig - came together as sorority sisters on a Southern campus in the 1960s. Four women bound by rare, blinding and early friendship. They spend two idyllic spring breaks at Nag's Head, North Carolina, the isolated strip of barrier islands where grand old weather beaten houses perch defiantly on the edge of rugged cliffs overlooking a storm tossed sea. Now, thirty years later, they are coming back - back to recapture the magical memories of those early years, to experience again the love, the enthusiasm, the passion, pain and cruel betrayal that shaped these four young girls into vibrant young women and set them off on the courses of their lives.I really enjoyed this book. I think that Anne Rivers Siddons is perhaps one of my favorite authors and I give this book an A+! A definite 5 and a half actually! :)

I think this is the second Anne Rivers Siddons book I ever bought and read (on the strength of how much I enjoyed "Hill Towns"). Many years later I am belatedly revising it and enjoying it afresh.Kate is a married woman who has battled deadly ovarian cancer for nearly five years, and now, just shy of getting the 'all clear' she believes it is coming back. Before she surrenders to another round of debilitating chemotherapy, she wants to enjoy one last magical summer with the three friends from her student years."Outer Banks" is Kate's narrative of the heady days of Tri Omega sisterhood with Cecie, Ginger and Fig, of a devastating love affair that tore the friendship apart, and finally, of getting back together all these years later.As is typical of all her books,"Outer Banks" is an effortless read that is full of character insight and atmospheric description. Her people seem real - and their stories and the places they live and visit, are truly memorable.Which is why I came back, long after my first reading, to enjoy this wonderful novel all over again.

Please ignore the negative reviews of this book. I feel compelled to open each one and look into the faces of the profile pictures to understand more clearly what exactly poor taste looks like. Those who claim the characters are "unbelievable" are simply wrong; in fact, these characters are classic archetypes seen both in fiction and real life. Each reminded me, easily, of someone I know or have known in the past. Siddons develops her characters beautifully and with great care. Anyone who says anything in this book is far-fetched has obviously led much more of a boring and inexperienced life than Siddons or myself. I think one really needs to have lived to appreciate this writer's work. Reading her words are like eating the richest of chocolate. This one is probably my favorite of her books, especially since I am from the Outer Banks and know exactly of the raw beauty she speaks. I only wish the cover art was not so basic; the writing underneath deserves a far more appropriate advertisement. I have read and enjoyed this and most of Siddons's books at least twice.

Gifted and descriptive writer and thorough character development. Surprise ending that I didn’t love but otherwise good read and didn’t want to put it down.

I loved this book better than Peachtree Road up to 98%. The story theme was about false appearances, people acting on the surface in civilized and splendid fakery, like the elegant dancing of 18th century Baroque minuets. The setting is four middle-aged sorority girls and a reunion at a grand house on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. We have Kate Stuart Lee, neither a Lee of Virginia nor offspring of General Stuart. Her boyfriend Paul Sibley, a prostitute's son whose mother took the last name of a construction company her brother worked for, who dumped her to marry the rich Ginger Fowler. Then there's Cece Hart, a girl we never really got to know, and the dumpling Fig Newton who was made fun of and grudgingly accepted.The story jumps between flashback and the present day, when a sick Kate Lee gets an invitation from Ginger Fowler Sibley for a reunion. Kate's husband, Alan, for some inexplicable reason urges her to go. This felt like a set up to me. Why would he want Kate visiting the very house she was supposed to marry Paul in, especially after Kate calls Paul's name in their last lovemaking session? Incomprehensible.Okay, so suspend disbelief of Alan, the hapless husband. Now the four aged cronies are gathered together and all they do is drink and reminiscence, while the enigmatic Fig watches and waits with catlike anticipation. The similarities to C. S. Lakin's Innocent Little Crimes begin to arise as the memories become more pointed, jabbing and setting off one friend against the other. The climax comes when Paul, who was supposed to be staying elsewhere, arrives at the eve of the storm. Literally the gloves come off and once again, four women fight their feelings at his presence.It turns out that underneath all the veneer of friendship and affection lay great ugliness. This book really does make you think. While you're feigning affection to me, can you tell that I'm pretending to like you? At the end, the one true friend is the one who would risk your displeasure and her own life to drag you out of the pretend world you mired yourself in.[4.5 stars] Up to 98% this book was 5 stars. But my biggest question is unanswered. Who shot ***? If anyone knows, please comment or tell me. It seems to me the author dug herself into a hole and came up with a convenient/cliched solution that does not keep with the character she created. I would have thought this character would want to stick around and enjoy the mayhem she worked so hard to cause. This little twist ruined the entire story for me. And honestly there are better ways to work the plot to achieve the same result. Instead, it feels like the story ran out of steam and she just wanted to end it. And sadly, the coverup and lies continues.

Having read several of Anee Rivers Siddons books, I will say that this is my favorite so far; starts off a little slowly but once the main character enters college and makes some friends the story really becomes moving. Every woman can relate to the love-hate relationships that these friends have with each other. Also, a trip back to the sixties is always worth a visit (especially to the South if you weren't raised there). The story also jumps ahead from time-to-time to the main character's life as an adult; a really hard to put down though not entirely happy tale.

A good vacation read - esp if you're at the beach. Lot's of character development and probably a lot more lingering on the descriptive than it needs to be. At times I felt the author was showing off with big fancy words (just too many) and too much quoting of literature and poetry. But despite its slow moments, enough happened that I wanted to push on and see how it would all turn out.

Very slow start. The first half of the book I found myself struggling to stay motivated to read it. Siddons’ writing style is not that which I typically gravitate toward; the sentences are long and her vocabulary is great with many words I had to google to define. Once you get about halfway, though, it starts moving so quickly and I read the last 200 pages of the book in 2 days. Definitely not a light, beach read; the plot is heavy and deep, rooted in female friendships with a love triangle that turns into something completely different at the end.

I read this when it first came out and decided to read it again. I didn't remember the characters or the story, but as soon as I started rereading it I remembered the description of "the abyss". Although, I couldn't have told you what book I had read it in that description stuck with me all these years. I guess everyone who lives long enough experiences the feeling of being on the edge of an abyss at least once, but the description of people who feel constantly on the edge really reached out to me when I first read this book and helped me understand people in my life who felt that way.