The wonder spot
(Audiobook CD)

Unabridged.

Compact disc.

Read by the author.

Sophie Applebaum, a sarcastic, self-deprecating middle child from a suburban Jewish family who moves from a fish-out-of-water adolescence to a how-did-I-get-here adulthood. A slightly cynical yet romantic optimism grounds Sophie and gives Bank plenty of opportunities for clever quips. But this isn't just another urban chick lit bildungsroman; Bank's work also features the intriguing transformations of the other Applebaums: a grandmother's slip into senility, Sophie's mother's dip into infidelity, a brother's turn toward Orthodox Judaism. Through it all, Sophie never quite escapes the sense of being a solid trying to do a liquid's job, a feeling as frightening as it is familiar to those struggling to achieve a grownup self-awareness.