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    Unsaid: A Novel
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    Unsaid: A Novel
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    Unsaid: A Novel
    Audiobook11 hours

    Unsaid: A Novel

    Written by Neil Abramson

    Narrated by Angela Brazil

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    UNSAID is told from the perspective of Helena Colden, a veterinarian who has just died of breast cancer. Helena is forced to witness the rapid emotional deterioration of her husband David. With Helena's passing, David, a successful Manhattan attorney, loses the only connection that made his life full. He tries to carry on the life that Helena had created for them, but he is too grief-stricken, too angry, and too quickly reabsorbed into the demands of his career. Helena's animals likewise struggle with the loss of their understanding and compassionate human companion. Because of Helena, David becomes involved in a court case to save the life of a chimpanzee that may hold the key to unlocking the mysteries of animals consciousness. Through this case all the threads of Helena's life entwine and explode - unexpectedly, painfully, beautifully.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHachette Audio
    Release dateAug 4, 2011
    ISBN9781611135770
    Unavailable
    Unsaid: A Novel

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    Reviews for Unsaid

    4/5

    117 ratings21 reviews

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    • 5/5
      If you are animal lover, read this book. It will renew your love and appreciation for the furry friends in your life. If you are not an animal lover, read this book. It will change your whole perspective towards animals and how they relate to humans. Unlike humans, their thoughts and feelings are left unsaid. Sometimes it's up to the humans to speak for them. This is superb writing; heartbreaking at times, but definitely worth the read.
    • 4/5
      I had never heard of either the book or the author when I picked "Unsaid" up out of the bargain books box at Kroger. What can I say? I'm a sucker for animal stories, and the cover blurbs punched all my buttons. I couldn't put it down. It kicked me in the gut, made me cry, and left me thinking deep thoughts. A delightful, heartwarming read it was not. It was, however, one heckuva ride for $5.
    • 4/5
      feel good book, easy to read. story told from voice of dead woman who was a vet looking back at her husband and family, trying to save a chimp from research. Nice menagerie of animals.
    • 5/5
      I started this novel on the last night of my vacation in Philly. I felt drawn in from the first page and hoped that I would remain "rooted" to this book. Now I'm home and just wrapped up the book. I didn't just cry. I bawled. My face hasn't felt a flood of tears rolling down in so long. There is so much love in this book. The love a grieving man has for his deceased wife. The love a scientist has for a chimpanzee. The love vets have for the animals in their care, both sick and dying. But learning to let go is a huge part of love, something that so few of us want to acknowledge because it leave us feeling empty. The animals teach us so much in the short time they have with us. We learn to live, laugh and love, but at some point, we also have to learn to let go.
    • 3/5
      This isn't a bad book, and I wish goodreads had half-stars, cause this should be a 3.5 star book. The dead lady as narrator got annoying, the fact that the housekeeper's boy is autistic seemed like an unnecessary detail with how little it came into play. There are a lot of things that the author introduces and then just leaves sitting there relatively undeveloped. If the characters are all trying to resolve answers to the same question(s), as the narrator asserts near the end, the book needed to draw out these parallels and develop them rather than just stating this notion as fact. Maybe this novel needed to be 100 pages longer so that the various elements could be drawn out and interwoven instead of just introduced and abandoned. The one section that seemed more solidly written was the courtroom scene, making me wonder if this author might secretly wish to be writing John Grisham style stories instead.

      Again, this is not a bad book, and if you are interesting in language research with non-human primates, or if you are dealing with loss and death, this may be an excellent book for you, despite its weaknesses otherwise.
    • 5/5
      This was a wonderful book, one of the best that I have read in years. This was about love and loss, guilt and redemption, and the wonderful connection that we lucky ones have with animals. If you are an animal lover, this is a must read. But be prepared to shed many, many tears of both sadness and happiness. I feel as if I really know all the wonderful characters, the human people as well as the animal people. I read this as an ebook, but plan to get a copy of a "real" book for my library. I still cry when I think of the touching characters. Neil Abramson showed himself to be a fantastic author, and I will read more by him. Thank you Neil for showing me that there are some really good humans that love animals as much as I do!
    • 4/5
      One of my Top 5 read for 2013
    • 5/5
      If you have EVER loved an animal, this book is for you. A novel, it wonderfully expresses the connection we have with the animals we love...and who loves us.
    • 4/5
      Helena is a veterinarian. She is an animal lover and an animals rights activist. She lives in a big country home, with her lawyer husband and her many pets, including a pair of horses and a pig called Collette. She narrates this story, even though she has died from cancer, some weeks earlier. This can be a tricky gimmick in fiction but I think it works here. Helena oversees her loved ones, with perfect insight and compassion, especially her beloved husband, who has fallen completely apart since her death and she is also able to re-evaluate her own life in the process, the many joys and missteps.The book also becomes a tense courtroom drama, as her husband takes on a complex case, dealing with a research chimpanzee, that Helena was personally involved with.This is a good story and avoids the sappy pitfalls, many books like this suffer from. The writing is good and animal lovers should take to it like a dog with a rawhide.
    • 5/5
      Well, now that I've wiped my eyes and blown my nose I can do this review. Yes, it's a tearjerker but every once in a while it's good to have an excuse to cry.Helena was a veterinarian who died of cancer at the age of 37. Her husband, lawyer David, is bereft by her death. He barely has energy to care for himself let alone the dogs, cats, horses and one pig that cohabit with him. When he manages to get back to work at the high-powered Manhattan law firm he just doesn't have the old ambition. Then his wife's friend, Jaycee, comes to ask him to represent her because she has been let go from her research with a chimpanzee that has a 4 year old's communication skills. With her research over Jaycee knows Sally will go back to the government's primate labs and will be the subject of painful and probably fatal medical research.All of this story is related to us by Helena who is tied to the earth because of things left unsaid. It's one of the most poignant portrayals of life after death that I've read. And it also plucks the heartstrings because of the many interactions between animals and humans. If you've ever had to say goodbye to a beloved pet then you'll want to read this book.
    • 3/5
      An intelligent, moving story. The author hit upon an effective, compelling way to portray an animal rights advocate that did not come off as preaching or elitist. The characters were touching and believable. In many places the writing is a little sketchy, but the novel story line carries the day. This is one veterinarian / animal rights story that appeals to those of us who would not usually classify ourselves as animal lovers.
    • 3/5
      I am an animal lover and believe in animal rights, so I was certainly sympathetic to the theme of this book. While reading it I was somewhat reminded of "Ape House," but I think "Ape House" was the more effective book. The story line and the interesting "first person" perspective of the recently deceased Helena were both very good, but the book could have benefited from a bit more editing.
    • 4/5
      It's very rare that a book reduces me to tears, but Unsaid had me reaching for the tissues as I read, curled up in the corner of my lounge. To be fair I was also recovering from a nasty illness and rather emotionally vulnerable, but even in hindsight the novel is a powerfully moving and beautiful piece of storytelling.Helena Colden drifts around the life she has left behind after her death from breast cancer, unable to do anything except witness the grief of her husband, friends and beloved pets. She is reluctant to move on, wracked by guilt over the secrets she has left behind and fearful of the price she may have to pay for her involvement in euthanising animals in her veterinarian practice. Helena narrates the story with a painful longing for what she has lost and left unfinished. While she mourns the loss of her relationship with her husband David, it is her relationship with the animals she has cared for that preoccupies her and is a focus of the story.Abramson explores the connection between humans and animals and the value each has to the other as companions. David is left to care for Helena's menagerie of animals with whom he has only a tenuous bond but caring for the pets gives him a means to honour Helena and their presence helps him to heal. Abramson's theme makes the case that a humans and animal life have equal value, both deserving of dignity and love.Ultimately, it is Helena's connection to a chimpanzee that provides the catalyst for both Helena and her husband to move on from her death. Cindy, a four year old chimpanzee who has been the subject of a language study, is threatened with being returned to the general pool of animals available for experimentation. Jaycee, Helena's former lab partner, asks David to serve as her lawyer to prevent that from happening. Observing, Helena hopes that David will be able to save Cindy and therefore atone for her college sins. Couched in such a highly emotive story, Abramson creates an emotionally compelling case for the respectful treatment of animals and this novel has the potential to re-ignite debate on the ethical treatment of animals.Beautifully written, Unsaid is a stirring and poignant debut novel that will touch the soul of animal lovers and compassionate readers alike.
    • 4/5
      In a way, this book should have had the word atonement in the title since the story revolves around life, death and getting things right or merely getting things on the right path in order to resolve all those ethical questions that occur in everyone. Helena has just died from cancer and returns to her home and life as a veterinarian to check up on her husband, friends and animals. She finds her lawyer-husband David overwrought and not coping very well with the loss. Helena took in strays of all sorts, from horses to cats and anything in between, so David must cope with the misfit animals while trying to go back to his high powered career. The story becomes a legal thriller as well as one of redemption when Jaycee, Helena's best friend and research partner, requests David's help in a legal issue.Helena is just an observer and narrates her life history and the current affairs in her loved ones lives in such a profound and beautiful way. Her love of all animals has been a driving force in her life and David never really understood it until he faces the animals he must now care for. The animals are portrayed so perfectly that they just jump off the page with life. There are many little twists and turns in David's healing process and through each step he finds help in unusual ways. He hires Sally, a vet tech who is out of work, to care for the menagerie and along with Sally comes her autistic son, Clifford who really adds another dimension to the book.The end of the book truly caught me off guard. I really wasn't expecting the book to end this way, but everything is nicely resolved (sorry, no spoilers here). Any animal lover will adore this book since it gets right to the heart of animal rights. Fans of Garth Stein and Temple Grandin will love this sweet and powerful story about the human-animal connection.
    • 5/5
      This book smashed into my heart like no other, and I freely admit that I sobbed uncontrollably through the last 25 pages or so. This is a story of great love, great mistakes, great grief and greater happiness.Helena has died from breast cancer but cannot leave this world yet--her guilt holds her. She has to make amends, and she tried to do so until her dying breath, but didn't attain her goal. She must rely on her grieving husband to finish what she started, but that means that he must first find out about the horrifying mistake she made years ago, a hidden pain that has haunted her life, and now her death.The role of animals in the lives of humans is a constantly reoccurring theme in this book--Helena was a vet and also, secretly, involved in exciting research regarding communication with animals. Her death sets into motion a series of people to people meetings as well as animal to people connections, that steamroll into the ending that left me in tears. I don't want to tell you more--I want you to read the book. Keep the tissue box handy and just let yourself fall into the spell of this remarkable, unforgettable, stunning debut novel.
    • 5/5
      It would be hard not to love this book, tears and all---wonderful story from the first page on.
    • 3/5
      Trigger Warning: This book deals with the illness and death of several animals, as well as descriptions of medical testing on animal subjects.~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~'Unsaid' joins that small niche of novels narrated by a ghost. Or, at any rate, by a soul seeking her ultimate rest by overseeing the actions of those she has left behind as she continues to question the actions she took while living and wondering how those actions are going to affect her afterlife.Along the way, she oversees her grieving husband, the often-contrary animals she has left with him, and the desperate actions of a fellow animal researcher attempting to save the life of one of their subjects.Along the way, Abramson takes a look at inter-species communication, conflicts within the scientific research community, and the responsibility of both veterinarians and owners when pet euthanasia is being considered. And bubbling just under the surface the story of a couple whose time together was cut short, and with their memories, both good and bad, of lives lived and truths told. Or not.
    • 4/5
      This was the first book on my list of books to read since I joined goodreads back in late 2012, I finally read it! A tear jerk-er for sure but what an awesome story.


      ?I have sometimes thought of the final cause of dogs having such short lives and I am quite satisfied it is in compassion to the human race; for if we suffer so much in losing a dog after an acquaintance of ten or twelve years, what would it be if they were to live double that time?? ? Walter Scott
    • 1/5
      Anyone who really knows me, or has even read my book reviews on this web site, will know that I can be a bit (over?) emotional at times. If you read the other LibraryThing reviews of this book (as I did before I borrowed the book from my library), you'd think (as I thought) that this would really connect with my emotionality. How wrong would you be? I've read about 60 pages of this and Nancy Pearl would tell me I'm a fool. I've only got a few years left, so why waste them on this load of crap? No good reason....I'm stopping right here.The whole premise of the book put me off side to start with - it's narrated by a woman who has just died. What!? And it's not just like she is watching the world from "above" as it were, with the knowledge of and from the point of view of the dead woman. No! She says that when her husband goes to bed, she goes to bed with him. Huh? How do I interpret that? To me, the whole story in therefore in the same category as perhaps a "ghost story". That's fine if you like that sort of thing (I don't), but it therefore detracts completely from any sort of serious message the story might have, and distances this reader from it. Further, the writing isn't anything special at all. Neil Abramson might be passionate about this subject but you need writing skills to be able to get this message across effectively. It's obvious from the start that the story is going to have a didactic perspective in relation to animal rights and animals as companions, and I'm not unsympathetic to that point of view. However I found myself becoming more and more antagonistic as the story went on. The only tears I was likely to be shedding as I read this would be tears of rage!Having said all this, I note that I'm a lone voice on my side of the fence. All other LibraryThing reviewers think it's great. Further: "Enjoyed it thoroughly.", said Jeffrey Masson, author of 'When Elephants Weep'. And Temple Grandin, author of 'Animals Make Us Human', said "I was not able to put it down, and I read parts of it twice." I hear you, Temple, and I think I understand. So I guess it's me that's out of whack with the global reading community. (People who know me will be smiling and saying "No surprises there!"). [Note to self: Put on your "do NOT read" list: 'When Elephants Weep' and 'Animals Make Us Human']
    • 5/5
      I got this book as an Advanced Reader copy from NetGalley and couldn't put it down. If you’ve ever lost a family member either animal or human, this book will leave you totally drained. I sobbed through many parts of it but couldn’t stop reading. For anyone who considers animals to be just property, maybe this book might help to enlighten. For those of us who know better, it will tear a little piece of your heart out.
    • 4/5
      Every living thing dies. There's no stopping it. In my experience – and I've had more than my share – endings rarely go well. There is absolutely nothing life affirming about death. You'd think that given the prevalence and irrevocability of death, whoever or whatever put the whole thing together would've given a little more attention to the process of exit. Maybe next time.So begins the novel Unsaid. A young veterinarian who has died of cancer looks down on her life knowing that she did some things right and some things very wrong. Especially wrong is what happened to the bonobo named Charlie. And what may happen to Cindy, a chimp who seems to be able to “speak” at the level of a 4-year old. Her husband is unwillingly drawn into the battle to protect Cindy.Helena seems to be unable to leave this world, haunted by what happened in her lifetime, by her husband's grief, by the lives that she, as a vet, took. If you believe my present predicament is merely the product of overreaction or perhaps cowardice, you may be right. But then I only have one question for you. How many lives have you taken?The crux of this novel is whether we have the right to intentionally cause great pain and suffering to sentient beings in order to try to alleviate some of the suffering of mankind. And does it make a difference if that animals in question are more intelligent than other animals? If they are capable of communicating with humans? Does the end justify the means? Most people who have given the subject any thought stand firmly on one side of the fence or the other, knowing that there are valid arguments on the other side.For the first few pages of the book, I thought it was going to be too agenda-driven for me. I'm better informed than many people on the subject of animal research and vivisection, and I didn't want to hear a sermon. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the message of the book was wrapped up in a good and very entertaining story. A quote that made me smile because it hits close to home is:My first serious boyfriend in college had a sky-blue Triumph TR7. I didn't really care for the boy, but I loved the car. What can I say in my defense except tell you that the car could go from a dead stop to sixty miles per house in less time than it took me to move his hand out from under my shirt.What makes that all the more entertaining is this quote is used to compare the car to Collette, Helena's surprisingly fast-moving pig who scares husband, David. I could also relate to:...Thanksgiving dinner at our house was all about carbohydrates – mashed potatoes, stuffing, yams, bread, a vegetable or two, and very good wine.And while speaking of one of her dogs:If that description of my relationship with Skippy strikes you as too anthropomorphic, then you have both my apologies and my pity.The reader who is easily moved to tears while reading emotionally charged books should have a box of tissues or an eco-friendly hankie handy. The writing was good but not stellar. Those who love animals will find some parts very hard to read. And everyone will come away with food for thought, whether or not they care to pursue those thoughts.I was given an advance reader's copy of the e-book by the publisher through NetGalley.com, for which I am grateful. Quotes may have changed in the finished edition.