The Listeners: Jordan Tannahill

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In the novel The Listeners, Claire Devon is one of a disparate group of people who can hear a low hum. No one in her house can hear it, and this sound has no obvious source or medical cause, but it starts upsetting the balance of Claire's life. She strikes up a friendship with one of her students who can also hear the hum. Feeling more and more isolated from their families and colleagues, they join a neighbourhood self-help group of people who can also hear the hum, which gradually transforms into something much more extreme, with far-reaching and devastating consequences.

Mr. Tannahill (who is an award winning playwright and author) has written a compelling and intense novel questioning the nature of spirituality, mental health, and the quest of fringe groups to offer support and care. The novel has a trajectory that increases in volume and disintegration posing interesting questions and dilemmas to the reader along the way. On Sequoia Crescent there lives a family that appears as any Play-Doh family might; a wife, a husband, a daughter, & a large expensive home wrought with the pebble-dense thoughts of the inhabitants. The story that follows the introduction to these characters is narrated by the matriarch, Claire, as she seeks to leverage some sympathy from her demise which she brought on to herself by remaining the epitome of pretentious, imbecilic, & vapid.In 2012, in collaboration with his then-partner William Ellis, Jordan founded and ran Videofag, an alternative arts space operated out of a defunct barbershop in Toronto's Kensington Market. The space doubled as the couple's home and became an influential hub for counterculture in the city, until its closure in 2016. [38] [39] Political views [ edit ] And I began thinking very much of this idea of the hysterical subject, this very gendered figure throughout history. A woman's symptoms and ailments have often been disregarded and dismissed as psychosomatic or hysterical or what have you. I began thinking very much of this idea of the hysterical subject, this very gendered figure throughout history. - Jordan Tannahill Thank you to Netgalley, the author and HarperCollins Canada for an e-copy. I am providing my honest review. This will be released in the latter part of August 2021.

Jordan Tannahill’s The Listeners is breathtakingly timely. It’s an enigmatic story of 21st-century melancholia motored by sentences at once propulsive and erudite (that beautiful synthesis). Everyone’s going to be talking about this book.” Nonetheless, even with some shortcomings, The Listeners is an engrossing read that deserves recognition among the best Canadian books of the last year. Tags Claire is validated when Kyle, one of her students, says he’s also been hearing The Hum. They strike up a friendship to investigate the sound, but the connotations surrounding their relationship prove damaging when exposed. In the face of this story, one might ask themselves what the appealing feature of such a dementedly irritating plot might be & I should like to highlight that I came across this book while looking to read stories written by Canadian authors. I have a great appreciation for the bizarre, especially in literature, & therefore felt that this book would be right up my alley. When Claire begins to hear a hum she goes insane, in the literal medical meaning of the word. I was intrigued by the topic & admit to having high hopes for this book.

Tannahill has been described as "the enfant terrible of Canadian Theatre" by Libération, "the hottest name in Canadian theatre" by The Montreal Gazette, and "widely celebrated as one of Canada's most accomplished young playwrights, filmmakers and all-round multidisciplinary artists" by The Toronto Star. In 2019, CBC Arts named Tannahill as one of sixty-nine LGBTQ Canadians, living or deceased, who has shaped the country's history. It is impossible not to make the connection between her beliefs and others. What is The Hum compared to Him; God, of any stripe or color or flavor?

I was hoping that was the end of it, but I could tell it was still working on Paul as he lay there, staring up at the ceiling. For such a giant man, he could be like a little boy when he stewed on something. The suspense that underlies these really beautiful moments between people who share something no one else understands underscores the unique quality this book evokes. I liked that the author kept the novel about the group of 'Hummers' and how they fit (or don't) within their community; I liked that finding the source of the noise was not the purpose of the book. Some members of the book wanted to find it, some wanted to eliminate it, some wanted to live with it. Everyone had a different explanation for it and tried to make sense of it. The fall into conspiracy theories was well described and well executed. Jordan Tannahill's latest novel The Listeners traces one woman's destructive journey in search for truth

The conspiracy is what's being done to us....It's only a theory until there's evidence, and the evidence is all around us....p234

Happy publication day! I was drawn to this one initially for its trippy cover and it's safe to say the inside matches! The concept of this one is really interesting, it blends faith, conspiracies, cults and mania all into one.⁠ As a filmmaker, Jordan's short films Swim (2011), Father (2014), and his virtual reality piece, Draw Me Close (2019), have been presented widely at festivals, including the Toronto Int. Film Festival, the Venice Film Festival, and Tribeca Film Festival. Jordan Tannahill is a playwright, filmmaker, author and theatre director. He has twice won the Governor General's Literary Award for drama: in 2014 for Age of Minority and in 2018 for Botticelli in the Fire & Sunday in Sodom. He is also the author of the novel Liminal. Duration 3:45 Featured Video"He is at once my best friend, my brother, my queer father, my mentor, and my collaborator." Tannahill and House dance together on In the Making — stream the full episode now on CBC Gem. A middle aged high school teacher named Clare (in suburban Texas) has written a first person account of her recollections with the "hum"(an unrelenting sound), her fall from grace, the dissolution of her family and her intense collaboration with neighbors in utilizing this sound to attain spiritual nirvana. She also experiences an intense attachment with a teenage boy throughout the narrative.

Inspire

I studied Paul's face, wondering if this was all a set-up for one of his laboured jokes. He then told me that ever since his father died in the fall, he had found himself thinking about faith.