The Listeners: Jordan Tannahill

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In the face of this story, one might ask themselves what the appealing feature of such a dementedly irritating plot might be & I should like to highlight that I came across this book while looking to read stories written by Canadian authors. I have a great appreciation for the bizarre, especially in literature, & therefore felt that this book would be right up my alley. When Claire begins to hear a hum she goes insane, in the literal medical meaning of the word. I was intrigued by the topic & admit to having high hopes for this book. Was the intention to present a satirical story in which the main character showcases every demeaning characteristic of a person that resides comfortably on a planet unbeknownst to us all? If this book had put forth the main character with some gumption, some depth to her person & perhaps a personality that did not make me feel eager to see her downfall, there might have been something going for this story. Where things stand, the author held a plot that was intriguing yet was unable to fulfill the attempt at writing a story to coincide with a horror in a way that saw it succeed. Scotiabank Giller Prize finalist Jordan Tannahill's novel The Listeners turns up the volume on faith talk

It made me feel really angry about how we treat each other. What we consider good and bad and nourishing or vile. Jordan Tannahill’s Theatre of the Unimpressed is essential reading for anybody interested in contemporary theatre". The Globe and Mail, June 12, 2015. It’s well executed and there is a lot of very good depiction and discussion of things like whether the group may be a cult (and what that word may mean), conspiracy theories, how fear and anger may drive people both inside and outside the group, and so on. Tannahill offers no clear answers to anything, which is laudable because there probably are none, but as a result I wasn’t quite sure what the point of the book was. It certainly had some interesting things to say, but in the end I found the nebulousness of it left me grasping for much to take away.Passages detailing the dynamics between the characters in their AA-esk meetings are so believable and pungent and tangible that it reaches into that liminal space some readers know and yearn for. Where these granular qualities imbued in a scene transcend; the reader entering a hyper-reality of their own experiences and thoughts and interactions. The text becoming a universal shorthand or bite-sized truth that briefly encapsulates the complexity of people into a consumable form for the reader. Tannahill is a playwright, filmmaker, author and theatre director. He has twice won the Governor General's Literary Award for drama: in 2014 for Age of Minority and in 2018 for Botticelli in the Fire & Sunday in Sodom. He is also the author of the novel Liminal. Tests rule out anything “medical” so friends and her family begin to question her mental health, making Claire feel frustrated and alone. Finally, one of her students, Kyle, shares with her that he can hear it too. He received Canada's Governor General's Award for English-language drama in 2014 for Age of Minority: Three Solo Plays, [18] in 2018 for his plays Botticelli in the Fire & Sunday in Sodom, [19] and was a finalist for the award in 2016 for his play Concord Floral, and in 2023 for Is My Microphone On?. He has been nominated for five Dora Mavor Moore Awards for Toronto theatre, winning in 2013 for his live-streamed monologue rihannaboi95, and in 2015 for Concord Floral.

Does this leave room for the reader to adopt sympathy toward Claire? The introductory section of the book sees Claire reflect on the turn of events that led her to be where she is now; the loss of the confidence of those she loves & the reputation she upheld in her community. Yet, she grants the reader no opportunity to believe her. Claire spends every moment of her written recollections telling the reader that she, essentially, hated her life. She didn’t intend to get pregnant but, she is the best mother in the world. She didn’t want to have a house, but her house is the grandest & most stunning in all the wealthy suburban neighbourhoods. She didn’t want to be a teacher, but she is the smartest & most forward-thinking teacher in every school district. The Listeners is very well written and explores some interesting areas and ideas, but I’m not sure what it added up to in the end. While lying in bed next to her husband one night, Claire Devon hears a low hum that he cannot. And, it seems, no one else can either. He turned his head towards me again and smiled, then reached over and gently pushed my face with his big paw.I was hoping that was the end of it, but I could tell it was still working on Paul as he lay there, staring up at the ceiling. For such a giant man, he could be like a little boy when he stewed on something.

Some also might find the book’s ending divisive. There isn’t much to be said without risking a veer into spoiler territory, but it’s eventful, to say the least. I mean, to me, there's something kind of queer about that, I suppose. This libidinal, anarchic energy that the hum begins to represent in Claire's life and the lives of these people who hear it. And by inviting it into her life, it disrupts and rearranges everything. It's definitely an impulse I can relate to. This phenomenon of the hum was something that had been widely reported for several decades, at least since the early 1970s. And it was something that there was a lot of lingering mystery about, which intrigued me. The natural explanations for what this could be were sublime and interesting.

Nonetheless, even with some shortcomings, The Listeners is an engrossing read that deserves recognition among the best Canadian books of the last year. Tags Protester pulls out megaphone and interrupts patrons at Brunei-owned hotel". Gay Star News, April 4, 2019.

Throughout, Claire herself and a few other characters are reading Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain, a purposeful clue to this being a book about a clash of ideas, and also raising questions of how life is experienced via the body and mind (spirit, I think, is the term that Mann uses). Concepts of mystery and wonder are raised but evade any kind of definition or explanation - isn't that their defining essence?The Listeners is an electrifying novel that treads the thresholds of faith, conspiracy and mania. Compelling and exhilarating, it forces us to consider how strongly we hold on to what we perceive, and the way different views can tear a family apart. ( From HarperCollins)