The Dying of the Light audiobook

AWESOME READ!!​ FULL REVIEW IS ON JULY 5."THE DYING OF THE LIGHT is in typical Robert Goolrick fashion - excellent, descriptive writing, love, scandals, sex, ​mystery, ​and intrigue.The cover is stunning, and a​s you continue reading, you will understand the meaning of the title.If you have enjoyed Mr. Goolrick's other books, I know you will enjoy THE DYING OF THE LIGHT. Mr. Goolrick can always tell a great story with beautiful words.And what an amazing ending. 5/5"

THE DYING OF THE LIGHT engrossed me from the very first page. I love reading books set in the American south, especially books that have romance, tragedy, and of course, a wonderful gothic feeling.READ THE REST OF THE REVIEW OVER AT FRESH FICTION!

Robert Goolrick set this story on the Rappahannock River, in Caroline County, Virginia. I have lived on the Middle Peninsula or Northern Neck of Virginia most of my life. I cross the Rappahannock daily, and know intimately its pull on the hearts of those who live here. I have lived in and visited, old family homes, a few of which are mentioned in this novel. I know the family names and the traditions described in the book. Mr. Goolrick gets all the details just right, all the way down to the china, silver, portraits and even the battered old furniture and possessions. He "gets" the Southern, plantation mentality, right down to its tragic nature and flaws. Goolrick has created a novel that captures your mind and your heart as you are carried back into the lives of Diana Cooke Copperton Cooke, her son, Ash, and their home, Saratoga. Their desires, hopes and choices lead the reader through passion and tragedy as they try to survive. We follow Diana and her family as they often, knowing what will make them happy, still go the other direction. I was completely captivated all the way through the novel!

This was the July 2018 selection of the Nervous Breakdown Book Club. Goolrick is a new author to me. I would call it Southern Gothic in style. A Virginia family with ancestors from colonial times, living in straightened financial circumstances, is threatened with the loss of their mansion. Diana, their only child, has known from childhood that she must marry a man with money in order to save the house.I had mixed reactions as I read. The writing is fevered and sometimes florid but the story is gripping. Perhaps too much melodrama but quite in the tradition of Southern writing. While reading I was impatient for the end but when I finished I felt I had read something strong and good.

I read The Reliable Wife from this author and didn’t like it. I liked this book. It was a strange story but I always wanted to know what was going to happen next especially at the end

Robert Goolrick is that rare breed of author who writes a very different novel every time. He defies the publishing adage of "branding", which I must admit, I respect and admire as a fellow writer.In his THE DYING OF THE LIGHT, we're immersed in a full-throttle, no-holds-barred Gothic melodrama, replete with a stunning, one-of-a-kind Virginia mansion with the requisite sweeping river views, whose historical upkeep has of course bankrupted its illustrious family; a plucky, beautiful heroine, the last of her inbred kind, who must sacrifice herself for said family and mansion; an illicit love affair that shatters all illusion of respectability; a gay subplot; a murder twist; and of course, the ubiquitous fiery denouement.There's a lot to be said for how Mr Goolrick manages to expertly weave all these cliches into an original and very readable tale. You can argue that his heroine Diana Cooperton is both too perfect for anything but high-gloss modeling yet depicted through a misogynist lenses: her unparalleled flair for couture, her voracious sexual appetites, and her desperate, unmet need for therapy are part and parcel of her archetype Southern character. You can argue that his gay subplot lacks sensitivity or depth, though in the era depicted, gay men's self-loathing went widely unaddressed. You can argue that all the chaos and deprivation these privileged white people go through for a house - yes, it's a very impressive house, I'll grant you, but still just a house - qualifies them for the Dysfunctional Family Award of the Century. And you wouldn't be wrong.But . . . the writing is gorgeous. It refuses to curtail itself, swaths of overwrought prose lush as the mansion's velvet curtains enveloping you in a smothering embrace. Mr Goolrick's sense of place and time are pitch-perfect, as always; and he draws on the spell-binding Southern storyteller tradition to spill out his tale. This novel, for all its flaws, ends up being an immersive read because the author seems to know exactly what he's doing and why he's doing it. And his cameos make the oft-calamitous ride worth the effort. The flagrantly eccentric interior designer with her Diana Vreeland quips and overweight lapdog was my favorite, but there are others, such as the devoted black house servants who serve up endless platters of ham biscuits and kitchen-distilled wisdom that no one heeds. The closeted book repair man (yes, there actually is one) who just wants a safe place to hide. The tragic and hilarious description of the debutante circus-balls where, with her much-envied curtsy, Diana puts her competitors to shame and catches the jaded eye of her family's savior and personal tormentor - torments that, naturally, take place in high-end Paris hotel suites.You don't read this book for the story alone, though there's plenty of yarn to keep you turning its pages. You read it for a writer whose defiance of the established norms in fiction, while subverting age-old and time-honored hooks that made those established norms so popular, makes you wonder how on earth he got away with it.

True Southern gothic-you can smell the heavy magnolia and feel the oppressive heat as you watch this detached family try to keep their social standing and preserve their family home. Robert Goolrick loves to play with his readers and while this story starts off on a slow and easy ramble, it finishes with a smack-you-in-your-face ending that will leave you reeling. We begin with the poor debutante who marries up and survives an uneasy marriage to a cad, produces the golden boy heir and then falls apart again trying to keep it all together with no money. The language and setting made me think that Zelda Fitzgerald would show up at the doorstep any minute. Mix up a pitcher of mimosas and settle into the rocking chair on the porch- this is one hot historical shocker. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.

Every time I finish a Goolrick novel, the first thing I do is read the reader reviews on Goodreads. I always know what to expect, a few people who really enjoy Mr. Goolrick's style and a bunch that have similar complaints using words such as wordy, melodramatic, chauvinist, overwrought, and graphic. Inevitably, the reviews always end with the audience being polarized and a low 3's average rating.I can see how people would get to those words, as he is descriptive (maybe to a fault), and he is melodramatic at times for sure. I can totally understand how some would not enjoy his style at all. But I think Goolrick's writing is so interesting. There is always something intriguing about his words on the page, or maybe it's the mood he conveys. I see many reviews stating that there was a solid foundation and plot in The Dying of the Light but the reader got lost in the wordiness, melodramatics, or repetition of Goolrick. And again, I get it. I'm going to say exactly the opposite about this particular novel. The Dying of the Light was atmospheric, gothic, rich and most of the other things I enjoy about Goolrick, but it lacked a little something. The characters were deep, flawed and complex and yet I didn't like any of them. The plot felt a bit rushed to me at times, and at other times it felt quite slow. I actually thought the story was a little lacking in this effort.The Dying of the Light isn't as good as Heading Out to Wonderful or The Reliable Wife, two of my favorites by any author. That said, you'll notice the 4 stars and to that I say, it's still pretty damn good if you like his style. Goolrick has a way with me due to the vivid descriptions and uneasy feeling I get from reading him. His books are always fun to read, even if The Dying of the Light wasn't his best work. I guess in the end what I'm saying is that I'll take a solid Goolrick book over many other author's best work. So if you are one of those that likes him, Dying of the Light probably won't change that. And if you are one of the others, Dying of the Light is sure to give you more ammunition.

I'm a fan of author Robert Goolrick and this novel did not disappoint me! I could not put it down and savored the last pages, not wanting to leave the characters behind. The tragedy of Diana Cooke's life, her family, her lovers, her son and her beloved Saratoga, drew me in completely. Loved it!

I recommend this bookI read it nearly straight through. I devoured it. Deep Southern secrets and beautiful twists and darkness all twist together in a book that told a story of family, history, obligation, and survival.

I truly enjoyed this book. Admittedly I thought it started somewhat slow, but it all made sense in the end of why Goolrick set it up that way. It is definitely a story with a lot of unexpected twists and turns with a heavy historical element. I would definitely recommend.

I'm a Goolrick fan and I really enjoyed this story, it has the darkness that characterizes Goolrick's other works; it has well-developed quirky characters (some who you come to hate, some who you come to love), and Goolrick's writing is lush and atmospheric. My only issue was the detached tone of the narration, as if you were spying on these people through a lens. Which makes sense since a reporter is the one uncovering the story, but it deadened the effect of the book. Still, a good book group selection. Recommend to people who like Goolrick's other work, to those who like the kind of darkness in novels that isn't of the "woman in the..woman on the..." type.

This was a Goodreads giveaway win. This book takes you back in time and explores the passion and tragedies that take place in a large Virginia state house. Diana Cooke Copperton and her family make many sacrifices to keep their beloved Saratoga home. Family secrets and plot twists keep the tale very interesting. I loved the well developed characters of the story. I could actually picture the parts of the home and other settings perfectly. Very well written.