A review by hellocath
The Listeners by Jordan Tannahill

challenging emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

This was a challenging book for me, in good ways and bad. I enjoyed the meditation fact, belief, science, faith and how these things intersect and contradict each other. The story was propulsive at the beginning then sort of stagnated in the middle; I’m glad there was some foreshadowing of the end because I’m not sure I would’ve continued otherwise. The conclusion felt worth the wait and the descent into chaos is written well. The prose is very readable and shockingly sincere given this is a female protagonist written by a man! The daughter is a touch too unkind at times, even for a teenager, but I didn’t disagree with her. 

My main gripe with this book is the relationship between Claire and Kyle. That’s all I will say without spoiling the plot. 

The relationship made me uncomfortable  and it’s not like the author/the characters weren’t aware of power dynamics and what would make this relationship inappropriate; age gaps are explored through Jo and Howard’s relationship as well, and Claire does occasionally reflect on the ethics of her behaviour with Kyle. All that said, I sincerely believe that if a problematic element is going to be introduced into the narrative, there should be no room for the reader to interpret it as anything other than problematic. And unfortunately, I feel that some readers could came away from this feeling like maybe Claire’s behaviour with Kyle could be justified, which more broadly suggests that there is a grey area when it comes to abuse of power, or that a teacher and a student being intimate could, under some circumstances, be understandable. I needed there to be a definitive acknowledgement that, no matter what the cause of The Hum and regardless of the group’s mental state, teachers shouldn’t be engaging in intimate relationships with their students. I acknowledge that they weren’t intimate in the conventional sense but still feel a boundary was crossed. The group tuning was portrayed as very sexual and acknowledged as such—this was uncomfortable enough to read knowing that Kyle was in a room full of adults, then worse for him to engage in it on an even more personal level with Claire. 
At the end of the book, as Claire reflected on her experience with more clarity, I had hoped she would grapple with the fact that she maintained a relationship with a student that she knew—in both her right mind and even as her grip on reality deteriorated—was inappropriate. I’m disappointed she didn’t, and am having trouble understanding what the author was trying to accomplish through this relationship.
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