9780062331120
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The End of the Point audiobook

  • By: Elizabeth Graver
  • Narrator: Hillary Huber
  • Category: Family Life, Fiction
  • Length: 13 hours 5 minutes
  • Publisher: HarperAudio
  • Publish date: April 22, 2014
  • Language: English
  • (1970 ratings)
(1970 ratings)
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The End of the Point Audiobook Summary

A place out of time, Ashaunt Point–a tiny finger of land jutting into Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts–has provided sanctuary and anchored life for generations of the Porter family, who summer along its remote, rocky shore. But in 1942, the U.S. Army arrives on the Point, bringing havoc and change. That summer, the two older Porter girls–teenagers Helen and Dossie–run wild. The children’s Scottish nurse, Bea, falls in love. And youngest daughter Janie is entangled in an incident that cuts the season short and haunts the family for years to come.

As the decades pass, Helen and then her son Charlie return to the Point, seeking refuge from the chaos of rapidly changing times. But Ashaunt is not entirely removed from events unfolding beyond its borders. Neither Charlie nor his mother can escape the long shadow of history–Vietnam, the bitterly disputed real estate development of the Point, economic misfortune, illness, and tragedy.

An unforgettable portrait of one family’s journey through the second half of the twentieth century, The End of the Point artfully probes the hairline fractures hidden beneath the surface of our lives and traces the fragile and enduring bonds that connect us. With subtlety and grace, Elizabeth Graver illuminates the powerful legacy of family and place, exploring what we are born into, what we pass down, preserve, cast off or willingly set free.

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The End of the Point Audiobook Narrator

Hillary Huber is the narrator of The End of the Point audiobook that was written by Elizabeth Graver

Elizabeth Graver is the author of the novels Awake, The Honey Thief, and Unravelling; her short story collection Have You Seen Me? won the Drue Heinz Literature Prize. She is the mother of two daughters, and teaches English and creative writing at Boston College.

About the Author(s) of The End of the Point

Elizabeth Graver is the author of The End of the Point

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The End of the Point Full Details

Narrator Hillary Huber
Length 13 hours 5 minutes
Author Elizabeth Graver
Category
Publisher HarperAudio
Release date April 22, 2014
ISBN 9780062331120

Subjects

The publisher of the The End of the Point is HarperAudio. includes the following subjects: The BISAC Subject Code is Family Life, Fiction

Additional info

The publisher of the The End of the Point is HarperAudio. The imprint is HarperAudio. It is supplied by HarperAudio. The ISBN-13 is 9780062331120.

Global Availability

This book is only available in the United States.

Goodreads Reviews

Lori L

March 05, 2013

The End of the Point by Elizabeth Graver is a family saga that basically covers three generations, with the connection being their summers spent at the coast in Ashaunt, Massachusetts. Graver opens the novel with a brief passage about the arrival of the first Europeans to the point. Then she proceeds to 1942, when the Porter family, three daughters and entourage arrive at the coast to find the army occupying a large portion of it with barracks and viewing platforms. This portion of the narrative is told through the voice of Bea, the Porter's Scottish nanny, but introduces us to other members of the family, especially Helen, the oldest daughter and Jane the youngest.Then the novel jumps briefly to 1947 with letters from Helen, written when she was in Europe. It quickly switches to Helen's diary entries from 1960. The next section is set in 1970 and follows Helen's troubled oldest son, Charlie. The final year followed is 1999. Every character in The End of the Point is struggling with change and finding their place in the changing world around them. Of the characters, Scottish nurse/nanny Bea is the most compelling. She has the courage to leave Scotland to seek employment in America, but struggles with truly living her own life. She is fretful about Janie and dislikes Helen, but is resolutely devoted to the Porter family and resists any change in her life that does not include them. I was totally swept up with Bea's story and looked forward to seeing the rest of this family saga through her eyes, an outsider but privy to the inside workings of the family.However, once The End of the Point moved on and away from Bea's voice, for me it went down hill. Additionally, all the leaps from one time to another made the narrative feel abrupt and disjointed to me. In some ways I wish Graver had chose to connect the time periods by observing family members through Bea's eyes, and with her insight and perceptions about the situations. Once the first section from 1942 was over (a third of the novel) it went downhill for me. While I didn't care for the characters of Helen or Charlie, I was interested in Bea to the very end and looked for information on her life as the story continued.What elevated my opinion of The End of the Point was Graves skillful writing. Graves writing ability shines through several murky plot points. She had some lyrical passages that just sang and resonated with me. Her powers of observation and description are incredible. So, even though parts of the novel didn't work for me it is Highly Recommended for the writing. Disclosure: I received an advanced reading copy of this book from the publisher and TLC for review purposes.

nomadreader (Carrie D-L)

March 10, 2013

(originally published at http://nomadreader.blogspot.com)The basics: Spanning three generations of the Porter family and fifty years of their relationships with their hired help, The End of the Point focuses on the family at four different times in history, beginning in the 1950's. Much of the novel takes place at their summer home in Ashaunt, Massachusetts. My thoughts: Reading The End of the Point made me realize how much I love present-future narrators. As the story of the Porter family unfolds, the reader gets hints of how things are now, even though the story is told in the moment:"If things had turned out differently, she would have begun the story here--or no, Smitty would have told it; unlike Bea, he loved an audience, he'd have made it funny, drawn it out."These moments aren't frequent, but as I encountered each one, it felt as though I was unwrapping a present. We don't have the certainty of the future in our own lives, but literature can provide us with one for these characters. It's a testament to Graver's writing and character building that this technique feels so real. I was utterly absorbed in this family that kept growing in number as the generations increased. Graver infuses so much richness into each of them, it's astonishing the novel is as short as it is. It feels more epic than its number of pages, and it feels like a complete story of the people in their time and place. Ashaunt is a character itself:"She loves her house with a tenderness that makes it feel almost human."I pictured it so vividly and delighted in seeing how the bedrooms changed hands over the years and depending on which siblings and cousins were there on a given weekend. In fact, as the narrative moved forward to the next moment in time, the house provides the structure, both literally and figuratively, as the reader takes stock of what has changed since the last moment in time.As I read the last pages, I wept openly and publicly in the airport terminal. When I turned the last page, I was immensely satisfied, yet sad to say goodbye to these characters who felt like family in the two short days I spent with them. Most of all, I wondered how I had not heard of Elizabeth Graver until this, her fourth novel. Favorite passage: "Largely, now, it was not anger he felt, but rather a kind of bone-scraping, quiet, ever-present sorrow. To come to the place that was supposed to stay the same, to come and find it changed. Dr. Miller had warned him against what he called the "geographic cure." You can't fix yourself by going somewhere else, he'd said. You'll always take yourself along." The verdict: The End of the Point is a beautifully written, deeply moving portrait of three generations of the Porter family and the their evolving relationships with their servants and caregivers.

Margerywieder

June 02, 2013

I really enjoyed this book. It's a family saga that focuses on a few members of a large extended family and moves back and forth in time a bit. I guess some people aren't comfortable with that, but for me, it provides a richness that many more plot-driven novels don't. Watching characters grow from childhood to adulthood (and into grandparenthood and beyond) got me thinking about life's inevitable transitions, sometimes in a sad, but always real and thought-provoking way.

(Lonestarlibrarian) Keddy Ann

April 13, 2013

A touch of Upstairs Downstairs here because one of the main story lines follows a long-serving Scottish nanny as well as generations of the family she serves, set largely at their summer house on Ashaunt Point in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts. Time period: from World War II thru to more present times. I admit I sometimes got a little confused when the points-of-view changed or the time period suddenly jumped forward. The Porter family obviously had money, but they don't flaunt it, and nowhere is this more evident than during the barefoot summer months. Women who struggle to find a balance between family and work feel less conflicted during the summers and special holidays when they return to the Point. In the second generation we meet Charlie, who quits college after some casual drug use results in major panic attacks, depression and self-doubt, drops out and goes back to live in a little cabin near the summer house His story was probably my favorite. The author has a funny way of dropping hints about the outcome of some of the problems these characters face, and for me, at first that was a suspense-killer but ultimately I decided it was reassuring. I didn't have to worry that Charlie, for instance, would commit suicide. I always fall for books set near the ocean, often revolving around summer homes, so read-alike novels that come to mind are The Island by Erin Hildebrand or Colony by Anne Rivers Siddons, as well as the fine nonfiction classic, The Big House by George Howe Colt.

Virginia

April 23, 2013

THE END OF THE POINT is a moving and impressive novel. I loved how Graver uses a slow accumulation of detail to layer the story. The setting becomes more and more vivid with each scene as we see how much this summer home and landscape means to several generations of a family. The three principle characters--a Scottish nanny, an ambitious and complex mother, and her troubled son--are each unique and beautifully drawn. Years pass, and I felt I knew them through it all. As a fellow novelist, I found it fascinating that Graver was able to succeed using a sometimes difficult structure: the story leaps forward by decades and sections are told from different characters' perspectives. That I wasn't distracted by these leaps, and didn't lose interest with the shifting voices is a testimony to the clarity of her vision. There are no gimmicks here. No short cuts. This is a novel in the tradition of great novels--one where the story is slowly and carefully wrought. Beautifully done!

Pamela

February 08, 2013

The End of the Point takes place on Ashaunt Point in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts; a place once owned and traded by American Indians. It’s a beautiful wild coastline populated by a few old money families who summer there. Unfortunately the peace and the terrain of the Point is changing; first because of the war in 1942 when the army puts up a Base and Look Out for German and Japanese attacks, then in later years when developers start buying the land. The story centers on one family, the Porters, and their nanny Bea who is from Scotland. Bea’s insights and history could be a novel by itself. The problem I had was this: the way this book is set up is too disjointed, skipping from one point of view to another. I kept stopping and questioning where I was in the story. The time, place and characters had me confused. For instance I thought that Charlie was an interesting character, well research with very real struggles with mental illness, but he is one of 3 Charlies in this family. Also the author tells us what will happen in the future in a rambling sort of way that stops the flow of the moment. There is enough storyline here to make more than one book or a larger novel set out chronologically. Some great moments that could have been more substantial, but I can only give it 4 stars. ARC from Amazon Vine. Read other reviews, some people loved it....

Mme

May 09, 2013

I'm a sucker for family stories, especially if they involve a seaside vacation home (see "Maine", by Courtney Sullivan, among many others). This one is a gem. Told from the points of view of a mother, a son, and a nanny who worked for the mother's family for many years, the novel weaves their stories and their changing lives with the traditional retreats to the family retreat in Ashaunt, Massachusetts. Although the jacket copy mentions an incident that takes place in the first part of the book, before the U.S.'s entry into World War II, and makes the event seem pretty momentous, it does not loom large in the family's history, so if you're expecting intrigue or severe emotional trauma, you won't find it there. There is trauma, and drama, and there are big personalities, and often exquisite writing, and insight into the different joys and sorrows and pain that occur over time in a big family.A little heavy for a beach read due to its construction and style, "The End of the Point" has its own virtues and rewards.

Clara

April 02, 2013

The End of the Point is an interesting book, neither fish nor fowl. Part diary entries, part history of an extended family, part love song to the special place -Ashaunt- that binds the characters together. Like the characters, the land is both powerful and fragile, subject to war, weather, development, oil spills and, of course, the sea. But even as the world changes, the families of the point hold tight to their traditions -Beetle cat races, picnics on a favorite rock, children free to wander from kitchen to kitchen- and their lives isolated and sheltered by wealth. Elizabeth Graver moves swiftly and precisely through this world, giving us beautiful descriptions of the Point and weaving in the tiny details that make this world real -the Big House, Teal Rock, swimming from the dock, the little cabin in the woods. She knows this world intimately and lets us enter it with her. I found this a book to read slowly -in fact, I read it twice in one week and loved it both times.

Bonnie

March 18, 2013

A portrait of a New England family who spend summers on Ashaunt Point in Massachusetts. The Porters are wealthy, but place emphasis on family above all else. In 1942, the U.S. Army arrives bringing havoc and change. The two older girls, Helen and Dossy, run wild, their Scottish nurse falls in love and Janie is involved in an incident that haunts the family for years. As years pass, Helen and her son Charlie return more often than the others and Helen begins keeping a journal about the flora. She marries a man from France and a majority of the book is devoted to their lives, especially the son Charlie who takes LSD and suffers panic attacks for the rest of his life. The writing is eloquent and read like poetry. It is a wonderful read, especially is you enjoy reading about generations of family.

Cathryn

January 25, 2021

Chances are, this book won't grab you on page one. It took quite a bit longer than that to pull me into the heart of what is really a simple story and the souls of what are actually quite complex characters. It was definitely worth the wait.Written by Elizabeth Graver, this is the story of the affluent Porter family, who own an oceanside summer compound on the two-mile long Ashaunt Point in Massachusetts. When the novel opens in the summer of 1942, the Porters' four children are beginning to grow up. Charlie has just enlisted in the Army, Helen is 16, Dossy is 14, and Janie is 8. The U.S. Army has taken over much of Ashaunt Point, and the presence of the many soldiers is a delight to Helen and Dossy. Janie is lovingly cared for by her Scottish nanny, 36-year-old Bea, who has never married and is falling in love with one of the soldiers. And then something quite frightening happens to Janie that changes much for this family. The book continues marching through the years by focusing on just two of them: 1970 and 1999. The three main sections of the book are told from the point of view of either Helen, Beatrice or Helen's troubled son, Charlie, which has the interesting effect of slightly altering the impression of the past because it's seen through the prism of someone else's eyes.The greatest strength of this superb novel is the characters, especially as they evolve through the generations—what they do, how they think, and how they deal with life's happiness and tragedies all the while cushioned by old money, a storied family, deep friendships, and all the advantages of privilege. Most important, one of those characters is Ashuant Point, as place and what it means for this family is the primary focus of the novel.This is an intelligent, serious, and (most of all) literary book with keen observations about life, love, hope, chance, and the fragility of family. But reader beware: This is a slow-moving novel with a negligible plot. And while it's not a page-turner that kept me reading past my bedtime, it danced in my dreams. As I wandered through my day, I found myself thinking about it—a lot.

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