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  • The Female of the Species
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The Female of the Species Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Lionel Shriver (Author), Fred Stella (Narrator), Brilliance Audio (Publisher)
4.0 out of 5 stars 275 ratings

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World-famous anthropologist Gray Kaiser has almost everything. She is brilliance, self-sufficient, and beautiful. But at 59, one thing is still missing from her life. She has never been in love. Her assistant Errol McEchern has loved her for many years, but she doesn't know.

Errol convinces Gray to return to the site of her first triumph - Kenya, where she had discovered an isolated tribe of Masai who worshipped American World War II deserter Charles Corgi as a god. While there, they meet Raphael Sarasola, a 24-year-old graduate assistant whose dark good looks and insolent manner make him a double for the dead Corgi. And as Errol watches, amazed and injured, Gray falls in love.

From its exotic beginning to its chilling end, The Female of the Species is a hypnotic, beautifully written novel. Through Errol, Raphael, and Gray, Lionel Shriver explores love in all its desperation.

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  1. Listening Length
    15 hours and 37 minutes
  2. Author
    Lionel Shriver
  3. Narrator
    Fred Stella
  4. Audible release date
    Aug. 4 2009
  5. Language
    English
  6. Publisher
    Brilliance Audio
  7. ASIN
    B07287YMBM
  8. Version
    Unabridged
  9. Program Type
    Audiobook
Next slide of product details

Product details

Listening Length 15 hours and 37 minutes
Author Lionel Shriver
Narrator Fred Stella
Audible.ca Release Date August 04 2009
Publisher Brilliance Audio
Program Type Audiobook
Version Unabridged
Language English
ASIN B07287YMBM
鶹 Rank

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4 out of 5 stars
275 global ratings

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Top reviews from Canada

  • Fran
    3.0 out of 5 stars Original for a first novel
    Reviewed in Canada on March 25, 2012
    Verified Purchase
    I was happily surprised. Well written and some of the dialogues are very entertaining. Lack of focus sometimes but a very good reading experience.
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  • Melissa McCauley
    5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulously Written
    Reviewed in Canada on June 28, 2004
    I read WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN and am now a die-hard Lionel Shriver fan. Why had I not heard of her before? Is her publisher a lousy promoter or what? Maybe not as many people today are fans of such character-driven pieces (like I am). I liked this novel, but I must admit I thought the Gray Kaiser-George Corgie relationship deserved to be a novel in itself, not just a few chapters which glossed over the facts. This was much more compelling storytelling than an older woman falling for a younger man. And I especially liked that much of the story was told as Errol's fantasies.
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  • Samantha
    3.0 out of 5 stars Ms. Shriver has come a long way since this first novel
    Reviewed in Canada on November 2, 2009
    What has always amazed and intrigued me about Lionel Shriver's work is her ability to make you wish the best for unsavoury characters. She didn't succeed in this novel first published in 1987. The characters were interesting in a cold, distant way, but I wasn't invested in their outcomes. The main story line of a May-December relationship with an eminent woman anthropologist, nearly 60, and a drop-dead gorgeous 25-year-old man stretched my imagination too far. Not that I don't believe such a thing possible, just that woman and that young man didn't seem plausible together, despite Ms. Shriver's attempt to justify each of their predilections. I didn't buy it. I was fascinated by the young lothario but the woman lay flat on the page for me, as did the narrator, the woman's long-time assistant. The first five chapters seemed central to the novel, but weren't. They were more of a long, interesting footnote. In contrast, the ending seemed rushed and lacking in appropriate weight. I think the novel a little too complex for a first effort and it got away from her a bit. But I finished it without skimming, so it was stimulating if not very hearty.
    2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Melissa McCauley
    5.0 out of 5 stars The Harder They Fall
    Reviewed in the United States on June 28, 2004
    Verified Purchase
    This novel centers around the larger-than-life Gray Kaiser, a queenly anthropologist who is famous for stumbling upon a previously unknown aboriginal culture in the heart of the jungle. What makes her famous is that another white person stumbled upon them first, Charles Corgie, a handsome charlatan who had the tribe believing he was a god. Instead of blowing Corgie's cover, Gray stayed on in the village as his co-goddess and observed the interplay until the bitter end. (This episode is deserving of a book in its own right, and I was disappointed that it was only a few chapters.)

    In late middle age, the eternally youthful Gray is firmly established in the university system, queen of all she surveys, worshipped as a goddess by her assistant, Erroll. Then Raphael Sarasota enters the picture. Through this young man who looks so much like Corgie, Gray is able to unleash her sexual fantasies and finally finds that she actually needs another human being. A large part of the narrative is made up of Erroll's clever fantasies about Gray and Raphael. Raphael uses and discards Gray, who is painfully oblivious despite everyone's warnings. Ms. Shriver again masterfully describes the inner workings of a difficult, perhaps even unlikable, character. For another fabulously written character study, read WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN.
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  • nobody
    5.0 out of 5 stars A very good story.
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 3, 2017
    Verified Purchase
    A very good story, very well written.
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  • 鶹 Customer
    4.0 out of 5 stars A Favorite Author's first work
    Reviewed in the United States on November 9, 2017
    Verified Purchase
    If I could do this reading of mine from some other starting point, I would start with this first book and follow Shriver's writing career from book to book. As it stands, I came to this novel when I decided to read every novel written by her. I was not remotely dissatisfied. In fact, the same voice I have come to love in each novel is as poignant in this début as in any of the others.

    The thing about this talented author is the steely nerve of that voice. It is unflinching, serious even when comedic, and brutally honest. Maybe I enjoy this voice because I have been told I too can be brutally honest. Whatever my reasons, apparently many readers also have enjoyed her writing skill.
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  • Katharine Kirby
    4.0 out of 5 stars Lionel Shriver's debut novel - a taste of things to come
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 2, 2010
    Verified Purchase
    The Female of the Species by Lionel Shriver

    Having been so affected by We Need To Talk About Kevin (Serpent's Tail Classics)which still remains the best discussion our book club has had so far, after ten years of reading together; I decided to go deeper with Lionel Shriver and have a go at her other works. I read The Post-Birthday World' with moderate enjoyment and a feeling of exquisite sadness at what might have been, A Perfectly Good Familywith even more pleasure and now I have found this, her debut novel.

    This new floppy paperback is attractively soft and comfortable to hold, being a `P.S.' edition it has helpful extras; a `A Meet Lionel Shriver' essay, `Have you read?' suggestions, and best of all the `About The Book' piece by LS. In this LS chats about her own feelings on revisiting `The Female of the Species' for the first time since its publication in 1986. I found that fascinating; it helped me to understand `The Female of The Species' much better, also it gave me the grit to get through what is a very odd and long beginning. LS calls it a "beginning riff - full of jokes to keep myself entertained, and carrying on in such detail because I was the boss and could do whatever I felt like."

    The story of the acclaimed female anthropologist Gray Kaiser begins in her past, when she goes to study an obscure tribe, being run by a man they perceive to be their god - Charles Corgie. (Lionel Shriver does come up with some odd names). The effects of what happened to Gray in the mountains of Kenya, an exciting and memorable experience, boldly cinematic in scope; linger with her for the rest of her life. We meet her again at 59, when she is still a virgin, revisiting the Il-Oroen tribe and about to fall for her beautiful, mysterious, grad student Raphael. The tale is then masterfully taken over, thankfully, at this point by her long term best friend Errol McEchern who, previously in the background, arises and single handedly lifts the book into something truly readable by the use of his fertile imagination. Errol, in story telling mode, fleshes out the previous life of the enigmatic and charming Raphael to such an extent that the book lifts off into the stratosphere of the best of all possible writing.

    This book, as we now know, announces the arrival of a hugely admired and competent storyteller and is surely worthy of anyone's time and effort. The subject matter, social anthropology, allows LS to confidently explore some robust and contemporary themes most impressively. Her own wholehearted enjoyment in pinning down what explodes from her glittering imagination clearly signposts the promise of further fireworks as yet unlit.
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  • John
    3.0 out of 5 stars Just Okay
    Reviewed in the United States on July 25, 2017
    Verified Purchase
    I liked The Mandibles. The Female shares her writing style, which I like, but this (her first) I found to be longer than necessary for her message and needly salacious.
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