This Is How It Always Is: A Novel
Written by Laurie Frankel
Narrated by Gabra Zackman
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
The Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club Pick
*Named one of the top 10 books of 2017 by People Magazine*
“It made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me think.” —Liane Moriarty, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Big Little Lies
This is how a family keeps a secret…and how that secret ends up keeping them.
This is how a family lives happily ever after…until happily ever after becomes complicated.
This is how children change…and then change the world.
This is Claude. He’s five years old, the youngest of five brothers, and loves peanut butter sandwiches. He also loves wearing a dress, and dreams of being a princess.
When he grows up, Claude says, he wants to be a girl.
Rosie and Penn want Claude to be whoever Claude wants to be. They’re just not sure they’re ready to share that with the world. Soon the entire family is keeping Claude’s secret. Until one day it explodes.
Laurie Frankel's This Is How It Always Is is a novel about revelations, transformations, fairy tales, and family. And it’s about the ways this is how it always is: Change is always hard and miraculous and hard again, parenting is always a leap into the unknown with crossed fingers and full hearts, children grow but not always according to plan. And families with secrets don’t get to keep them forever.
"The audiobook will undoubtedly steal hearts" - AudioFile
Laurie Frankel
Laurie Frankel is the New York Times bestselling, award-winning author of novels such as The Atlas of Love, Goodbye for Now, and the Reese’s Book Club x Hello Sunshine Book Pick This Is How It Always Is. Frankel lives in Seattle with her husband, daughter, and border collie. She makes good soup.
Related to This Is How It Always Is
Related audiobooks
Leave Me Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Scent Keeper: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Cactus Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Jetsetters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Oona Out of Order: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Group: How One Therapist and a Circle of Strangers Saved My Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ask Again, Yes: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When We Believed in Mermaids: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Whisper Network: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Where the Forest Meets the Stars Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Good Neighborhood: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When We Were Vikings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Searching for Sylvie Lee: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Story of Mina Lee Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Night Tiger: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You Have a Match: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Girl Who Fell from the Sky Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dearly Beloved: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bridge Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Valentine: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Things You Save in a Fire: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5We Are All Good People Here Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mrs. Everything: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ginny Moon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lily and the Octopus Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The House in the Cerulean Sea Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5My Ex-Life: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Funny Thing About Norman Foreman Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Family Life For You
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Reminders of Him: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Remarkably Bright Creatures: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Idea of You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Joy Luck Club Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Collected Regrets of Clover: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Don't Let Her Stay Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Time's Mouth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Evil Eye: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nineteen Steps: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Leftover Woman: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Leave the World Behind: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Nineteen Minutes: A novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Regretting You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Home: the most moving and heartfelt novel you'll read this year Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5After I Do: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nothing to See Here Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Winter Garden Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of Racing in the Rain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In Five Years: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Then She Was Gone: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Maybe in Another Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Thing He Told Me: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Forever, Interrupted: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Night Road Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Half Moon: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bird Box: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Flipping Boxcars: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Where the Forest Meets the Stars Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Commonwealth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for This Is How It Always Is
697 ratings45 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is essential reading. Heartbreaking. Sweet. Smart. Well written. Very fine storytelling on a very important topic.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I really really liked this book but also felt it was a bit far fetched in ways. Claude/Poppy had some vocabulary I don’t think a child their age would have. It’s not only the vocabulary, but some of the meaning and intent behind it. It seems like an ideal story in many ways for a child/family going through what they did, but I really don’t think it would have panned out that way- unfortunately. But I like the positivity and intent for future generations to understand that the only reason transgender is “weird” is because of poor cultural expectations that need to change.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This was a beautiful story-every parent should read this book.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Amazing! This narrative gives a personal and multiperspective view of the transition grom Claude to Poppy. From the first page the grandeur of a fairy tale gets intermingled with sharp and cruel realism.
10/10 would recommend reading this book! - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5My favorite book of 2019. I couldn’t put it down.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5What a fantastic moving book. I loved it so much.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I really adored this book. The topics covered are unconventional and yet relevant in this day and age. It will challenge you to re-think gender, right vs wrong and the importance of having the courage to just be your true-self in a world where everything seems so pre-defined. Wonderfully written with witty and touching characters.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Beautifully written and such a wonderful story. I loved it a lot more than I thought I would. One of the best books I have "read". The narrorator was wonderful as well.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Great riveting feel good story with humor, struggles, kindness, transformations and lots of love.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5WELL WRITTEN AND INSIGHTFUL!!! I LEARNED MORE THAN I EXPECTED
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5What a great story about raising children & overcoming obstacles
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A perfect read on a topic that is so relevant right now. A beautiful insight into a topic so many of us really know nothing about.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book takes one into the spiritual to physical to mental gymnastics of gender identity. I learned much more than I expected. Great read for those with young ones who are sorting out their gender journey.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5it is a very interesting book. I enjoyed listening it
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5This should have been so much better…how about some actual therapy for Poppy. I don’t know, perhaps reading this in 2023 makes a difference. 2017 seems like a million years ago in terms of our society today
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A wonderful audiobook. The subject of transgender was uniquely presented and it unfolded a wonderful new perspective on what it means to be a person first and gender as being one detail of being human.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5What an incredibly well told, beautiful, and complex story. The complicated subject is tackled with so much heart and honesty, and there is also humor and a fairy tale. I loved this book. I don’t love Gabra Zackman’s sometimes breathy narration but story was enough to more than make up for it.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It’s the best book.
Everyone should listen to this story with an open heart. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wow! What beautiful writing about a sensitive topic with such a compassionate perspective. One of my favorites!!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I’ve been reading and listening to a lot of highly recommended books this year, but this one stands alone. So thought provoking, and beautiful and funny. I laughed out loud so many times because of the boys’ antics, but felt so strongly for Claude/Poppy. I really enjoyed this book and I’m sad it’s over.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Everyone should read this book! What a clever way to raise the real complexity of gender identity. It opened my eyes. I must mention though that I almost didn't listen to the audio book because the narrator - who did an excellent job - has a tendency to whistle her 's's. Unfortunately, I found this ear piercing and disturbing. I wonder if some sound adjustments could be made in production.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The power of parenting. The power of remembering why you loved that man who fathered those exceptionally awsome children of yours
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Better than I anticipated, enlightening and heartwarming. Highly recommend
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The story, the authors style, and the narration is spectacularly wonderful! I laughed, I cried, I felt like I was there in the story. I wish I had listened to it less often bc I finished it!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wow, what a beautifully written book that really touches the soul. To learn what kids and parents go through when they're child 'isn't how it always is' and the rollercoaster of emotions that tags along with social constructs is such an eye opener. I really enjoyed this book.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is a Great Book! Definitely made on my top 3 best book list.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Easy to follow and wonderful way to share a story about having a child who is or you think may be struggling with Gender Identity. My mom, my mother in law and myself all loved this book!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Loved it. Opened my eyes to what families go through. Sad and seeet
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A must read! Wonderful as always, please read this book
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5just finished this book and I want to listen again