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Marlena: A Novel Hardcover – April 4, 2017

4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 1,471 ratings

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A National Book Critics Circle Leonard Prize Finalist
Longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize
Named a Best Book of the Year by
Vogue, BuzzFeed, The Washington Post, Esquire, Harper's Bazaar, NPR, NYLON, Huffington Post, Kirkus Reviews, Barnes & Noble
Chosen for the Book of the Month Club, Nylon Book Club, and Belletrist Book Club
Named an Indie Next Pick and a Barnes and Noble Discover Pick

The story of two girls and the wild year that will cost one her life, and define the other’s for decades

Everything about fifteen-year-old Cat’s new town in rural Michigan is lonely and off-kilter until she meets her neighbor, the manic, beautiful, pill-popping Marlena. Cat is quickly drawn into Marlena’s orbit and as she catalogues a litany of firsts―first drink, first cigarette, first kiss, first pill―Marlena’s habits harden and calcify. Within the year, Marlena is dead, drowned in six inches of icy water in the woods nearby. Now, decades later, when a ghost from that pivotal year surfaces unexpectedly, Cat must try again to move on, even as the memory of Marlena calls her back.

Told in a haunting dialogue between past and present,
Marlena is an unforgettable story of the friendships that shape us beyond reason and the ways it might be possible to pull oneself back from the brink.

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Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

When Catherine was a teenager, she moved to the small, economically depressed town of Silver Lake, MN, following her mom's divorce. Now in her 30s, Catherine is still haunted by her past. Even a good job and a great husband can't compensate for a pain that won't fade completely and a powerful drinking problem that arose as a result of her best friend's death by drowning. Catherine is consumed by the memory of a girl who made having nothing seem like everything. As chapters deftly alternate between the protagonist's adult life and her adolescence, readers encounter teenage Cat: angry at her dad and unappreciative of her mom's efforts, the 15-year-old is primed for reinvention. A bookish girl on partial scholarship at a private high school, Cat meets Marlena, a force of nature: blonde, sexy, and unapologetically brash and worldly. Cat is soon ditching school to hang out with her friend, who's looked down on by many: Marlena is the daughter of a menacing meth cook who is not above trading his daughter's sexual favors to a drug partner. Drinking, pills, smoking, sex—all the staples of Marlena's life, once glamorous to Cat, become routine as Marlena's sketchy friends and dangerous behavior affect both girls. This searing work from debut author Buntin adroitly captures the dark side of friendship and the turmoil of young adulthood. VERDICT Hand this unflinching tale to savvy teens starting to look beyond Ellen Hopkins or to readers who appreciate gritty fare, such as E.R. Frank's Dime.—Suzanne Gordon, Lanier High School, Gwinnett County, GA

Review

"At the center of Julie Buntin’s debut novel is the kind of coming-of-age friendship that goes beyond camaraderie, into a deeper bond that forges identity; it’s friendship as a creative act, a collaborative work of imagination. . .This generous, sensitive novel of true feeling. . . sweeps you up without too much explication, becoming both a painful exorcism and a devoted memorial to friends and selves who are gone." -The New York Times Book Review

"Excellent....a wild, gorgeous evocation...[Buntin’s] lyricism is precise and revelatory, capable of great beauty and, when called for, great ugliness. Marlena is a novel about youth―a time of splendor and squalor. Buntin make us see, hear and feel both." -The San Francisco Chronicle

"A vivid portrait of a friendship between two teen girls in a troubled community that captures the heartaches of adolescence...At every turn, Buntin’s prose flows with the easy, confident rhythms of an accomplished writer, and though there’s really no mystery in the narrative, it reads nearly as compulsively as a thriller...The tale of two friends, one who succeeds and one who fails, isn’t new―it’s the entire focus of Elena Ferrante’s wildly popular Neapolitan books. But it remains fascinating nonetheless, especially in Buntin’s capable hands."
-The Boston Globe

"Julie Buntin’s standout debut novel, Marlena. . . cannily interweaves two different time frames to capture an electric friendship and its legacy. . . .Buntin is attuned to the way in which adolescent friends embolden and betray. . . .Cat is a keen observer of all the markers of upward mobility: in this case, a New York life complete with a literary job and a kind, stable husband who makes dinner. The novel’s most impressive passages concern the watermark that remains, visible in the light of too many after-work martinis, and in attempts at adult friendships."-Vogue, "Girls on the Verge"

"It's still so early in 2017 that calling something a best debut novel of the year is a dicey thing to try and do. But if the Lorrie Moore blurb on the front cover doesn't tip you off that Julie Buntin's Marlena is a book you should be paying attention to, the fact that the author created something that could easily be called the millennial Midwestern version of the celebrated Elena Ferrante Neapolitan Novels crossed with Robin Wasserman's great Girls on Fire, should do the trick."-Rolling Stone

"In this icy and accomplished first novel, the intoxicating friendship between an inexperienced loner and her manic, wild-child neighbor continues to exert an irresistible pull on our narrator decades later"
-O, the Oprah Magazine

“Julie Buntin’s debut novel, Marlena.. . .joins a glut of recent novels that pair a retrospective female narrator with an extravagantly charismatic but troubled friend. . . .But Marlena,unlike the others, seems to be aware of the complicity of these kinds of stories in perpetuating the mystique of girls who go wrong. . . .Buntin vividly captur[es] the slow, blurry creep of intoxication. The value of novels like Marlena .. . is how insightfully they capture the complex intensity of girlhood that can’t see yet how exquisitely vulnerable it is.” -The Atlantic, "My Brilliant (Doomed) Friend"

"Riveting, assured debut novel ...Marlena is propulsive and gripping...Buntin excels at capturing the longing and intensity of being a teenager... Buntin. . .creat[es] characters so nuanced and true-to-life you’d swear you were remembering them yourself."
-Bookforum

"A quiet, powerful look at addiction."
-The New York Times, "3 Books Take a Deeper Look at the Opioid Epidemic"

"Magnetic"
-Vogue

"A gorgeous, knowing debut that will make you reflect on the people who continue to shape our lives long after we leave them behind."
–Marie Claire

"Haunting"
Harper's Bazaar

"[A] mesmerizing debut . . .Buntin weaves an indelible portrait of friendship."-Harper's Bazaar"14 Best new Books to Read in April"

"Marlena is a gorgeous portrayal of what it’s like to be a teenage girl, and an even more gorgeous exploration of the events that transform the woman a teenage girl grows into."-Newsweek

"Just when you think you’ve read every story there is to tell about teenage female friendships, along comes Julie Buntin with a story about two female teenagers so haunting that you can barely remember the names of those other books you’ve read...Stunning."
-Roar

"Stunning debut...stellar first novel...Buntin captures the agony, ecstasy, and lasting impact of adolescent friendship"
-Real Simple

"Brilliant...
Marlena so perfectly captures the bottomless need and desire of teenage girls and the reckless abandon with which they lives their lives...If you've ever been a teenage girl who loved and lived a little too hard for your own good, Marlena will resonate on a cellular level." -NYLON

"Astonishing first novel...Provocatively honest."
-Pif

"I tore through this stunning debut. . . .maddening, complicated, beautiful, essential. . . .Buntin beautifully captures that time in our lives, when our reliance on our friends feels as profound as our need for water or air."
-NYLON, 50 Books We Can't Wait to Read in 2017

"A novel that’s as invigorating and devastating as an intense teenage crush, Marlena is about the people we encounter in life ― no matter how briefly ― who leave a permanent mark. Julie Buntin’s stellar debut has the emotional sophistication of only the very best coming-of-age novels, so it’s no wonder it comes with a glowing blurb from Who Will Run the Frog Hospital author Lorrie Moore."
-Vulture, 25 of the Most Exciting Book Releases for 2017

"Julie Buntin’s debut novel. . .will fill you with rich longing for the kind of faith and fascination friends once inspired. . .If you can swing it, I recommend meeting a good friend in a dark bar to discuss this book."
-New York Magazine

"A buzzy debut that melds psychological suspense with pure literary fiction"
-Huffington Post, 2017 Book Preview

"Riveting, heartrending"-BuzzFeed, "31 Incredible New Books You Need to Read This Spring"

"It’s rare that a literary novel gives me the feeling that Marlena did. . . .compelling, compulsory. . .[An] ice-clean story of two girls, one doomed, one in thrall, and what will happen to drag them both down into traps of their own making."-LitHub, "15 Books to Read This April"

"Sensitive and smart and arrestingly beautiful, debut novelist Buntin's tale of the friendship between two girls in the woods of Northern Michigan makes coming-of-age stories feel both urgent and new. . . .Buntin creates a world so subtle and nuanced and alive that it imprints like a memory. Devastating; as unforgettable as it is gorgeous."–Kirkus, starred review

“A keenly observed study of teenage character. . .poignant and unforgettable”
–Publishers Weekly, starred review

“[A] vivid debut. . . .Buntin’s prose is emotional and immediate, and the interior lives she draws of young women and obsessive best friends are Ferrante-esque.”
–Booklist, starred review

“The gifted young writer Julie Buntin has written a novel of deep and exquisite intelligence, humor, and riveting sensitivity. A terrific debut.”
–Lorrie Moore

“Julie Buntin captures that unique moment at the precipice of adulthood with emotional honesty and insight. She writes the kind of piercing, revelatory sentences you have to read to whomever is near, sentences you find yourself remembering years later.”
–Jonathan Safran Foer

"Marlena is absolutely lacerating. The most accurate portrait I’ve read about angst, lust, boredom, and the blindness of youth. It isn’t merely a friendship chronicle, nor is it a profile of a doomed, beautiful girl. It’s the story of a haunting, about the ghosts that never release us and continue to define us. Julie Buntin’s command of her craft is so flawless you forget that it’s fiction. I binge-read Marlena - sick to my stomach, with equal parts fear and nostalgia- stunned that any of us made it out of our adolescence alive." –Stephanie Danler, author of Sweetbitter

"The true magic of Julie Buntin is she writes stories that feel like your own. This gorgeous, assured debut captures the romance of young friendship, cutting deep with the finest touch."
–Julia Pierpont, author of Among the Ten Thousand Things

"Marlena slayed me. Gorgeously written, with a sense of place so perfect I didn't even have to close my eyes to pretend I was there, this novel is rich and sensuous and beautifully conceived. Buntin writes about the all-consuming bond between teenage girls with urgency and suspense and despair. I loved every word."–Anton DiSclafani, bestselling author of The After Party and The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls

"In
Marlena, Julie Buntin revitalizes a classic story making it all her own with sensuous, vibrant prose and a narrator who feels deeply even as she feints certain painful truths about herself. In these pages I not only saw my own story, I came to understand it better. Many readers will too. This is a fierce and gorgeous debut."Edan Lepucki, bestselling author of California

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Henry Holt and Co.; First Edition (April 4, 2017)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1627797645
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1627797641
  • Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 970L
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.6 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.74 x 0.99 x 8.4 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 1,471 ratings

About the author

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Julie Buntin
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Julie Buntin is from northern Michigan. Her debut novel, MARLENA, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle's John Leonard Prize, longlisted for The Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize, and named a best book of the year by over a dozen outlets, including The Washington Post, NPR, and Kirkus Reviews. Her writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Vogue, The New York Times Book Review, Guernica, and other publications. She has taught creative writing at New York University, Yale Writers' Workshop, and Marymount Manhattan College, and is the Director of Writing Programs at Catapult. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
1,471 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers praise the writing quality, describing it as beautiful, haunting, and engaging. They find the book enjoyable and brilliant. The language is described as stunning and well-crafted. Readers appreciate the insightful, relatable, and thought-provoking content. They find the characters fully realized and the story authentic. Opinions differ on the pacing - some find it mesmerizing and engaging, while others say it's somewhat depressing.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

30 customers mention "Writing quality"28 positive2 negative

Customers find the book beautifully written. They appreciate the vivid prose and talented writing style. The author draws the characters vividly, making the reader feel like they're right next to them.

"...the beginning of the book, it still affects you because the author drew her so vividly and you feel like you know her and then all that bright..." Read more

"This book, with its vivid and piercing prose, brought me back to my own experiences in high school—to the insecurity and recklessness, the urgency..." Read more

"...I wanted it to dig deeper. There is some fine writing here, but it felt very textbook MFA stuff, not a huge amount of soul behind the sprawling..." Read more

"...The author nailed the scenes perfectly, and I felt as if I were sitting right next to Cat. She spoke their language as teens and as 30 something's...." Read more

28 customers mention "Readability"25 positive3 negative

Customers find the book engaging and well-written. They say it's a tender story about girls who are best friends. The plot isn't captivating for everyone, but the writing quality and vivid storytelling hold their attention from the first page.

"Good, but not great?..." Read more

"...Truly, this was exceptional...." Read more

"...Their adventures with drugs, boys, and skipping school are engaging to read, but the real quality of the book shows what it means to have had an..." Read more

"Although it was well written, which was enjoyable, the plot did not grab me. We have heard this sort of story many times before...." Read more

17 customers mention "Beauty"17 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's beauty. They find the language unique and dreamy, well-crafted, and beautifully captured. The drawing of home and stark beauty in adversity are also appreciated.

"...to her next-door neighbor, Marlena, who is everything she's not: beautiful, mysterious, daring, experienced...." Read more

"...addiction in rural communities, and the strange beauty and draw of home were done well, but I think too much time was spent on musings, and too..." Read more

"...This novel sums up the intense, dangerous, beautiful, treacherous relationship between two girls on the cusp of womanhood, both trying desperately..." Read more

"...It's beautiful in its own way...especially to those who relish in their disastrous youth." Read more

13 customers mention "Insight"13 positive0 negative

Customers find the book insightful and thought-provoking. It tackles difficult but real topics that affect people every day. The history is vivid and relatable, and it pairs well with the subject matter. Readers describe the novel as an intense, dangerous, beautiful, and treacherous psychological study of a troubled adolescence. They appreciate the candid yet never overwrought or preachy look at tween and teen characters and the intimacies of female friendships.

"...double focus, each part of Marlena’s personal history is vivid and relatable and honest and open-ended—you’re always excited when the novel shifts,..." Read more

"...This novel sums up the intense, dangerous, beautiful, treacherous relationship between two girls on the cusp of womanhood, both trying desperately..." Read more

"...Darker. More complex...." Read more

"...The setting is rural and cold, and it pairs with the subject matter very well. I'm looking forward to more from this writer." Read more

11 customers mention "Character development"8 positive3 negative

Customers find the characters fully realized and engaging. They appreciate the author's exploration of tween and teen characters and the in-depth study of female intimacy. The book seamlessly transitions between the past and present lives of the protagonist.

"...first of all, moves very smoothly between the then & now of the protagonist’s life...." Read more

"...Darker. More complex. The characters were fully realized and I started to root for all of them, wanting them to succeed and escape the poverty and..." Read more

"...The characters are real and raw and often fraught with the menace of lurking evil...." Read more

"...The protagonist was dull at times, I thought more would happen in the book." Read more

4 customers mention "Authenticity"4 positive0 negative

Customers find the book honest and emotional. They describe it as realistic and insightful.

"...each part of Marlena’s personal history is vivid and relatable and honest and open-ended—you’re always excited when the novel shifts, and you..." Read more

"...Buntin totally captures being a human teenager in the most honest and insightful ways. I can't wait to read more." Read more

"...especially if you're in the mood for something smart and emotional and REAL." Read more

"...Sad and beautiful while feeling so very real." Read more

44 customers mention "Pacing"24 positive20 negative

Customers find the book engaging and emotionally moving. They connect with the story and characters. However, others feel the plot is depressing and lacking depth.

"...Part of the reason I was so able to emotionally connect with this story and characters is because I'm from Michigan...." Read more

"...some fine writing here, but it felt very textbook MFA stuff, not a huge amount of soul behind the sprawling similes and metaphors...." Read more

"This book, with its vivid and piercing prose, brought me back to my own experiences in high school—to the insecurity and recklessness, the urgency..." Read more

"...a similar double focus, each part of Marlena’s personal history is vivid and relatable and honest and open-ended—you’re always excited when the..." Read more

Best Book of 2017
5 out of 5 stars
Best Book of 2017
At 23, I read this book almost exactly between the ages of Cat as a teenager in Michigan and Cat as an adult in New York. This novel is one of the books that I will reference for years to come as a formative experience. Highly, highly recommend.
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Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on April 20, 2017
    I really loved this book even though it was a heart-wrenching one. Part of the reason I was so able to emotionally connect with this story and characters is because I'm from Michigan. I was born in Pontiac which is where Kat and her family move from and we spent the summers on our lake property outside of Traverse City. There aren't many fiction books set in Michigan, or at least I haven't come across them.
    My heart broke for Marlena. Life isn't fair and some of us get dealt a tougher hand than others. Some kids have all this potential and no one to nurture them so it just goes wasted. It's awful.
    My heart also broke for Kat as I know how crippling survivor guilt can be and how it can keep you from being happy because you think you don't deserve to be. You always think 'I should have done more'.
    There is joy in the book too, that special feeling you get when you've found that friend, the one who intrigues you and turns the world into different colors then it was before.
    Even though you know Marlena dies from the beginning of the book, it still affects you because the author drew her so vividly and you feel like you know her and then all that bright promise is snuffed out.
    Why was I so upset about a character in a book? Because I've known a Marlena or two in my life and they are a part of who I am. The author mentions her friend Lea in the acknowledgements in the back of the book and I think that's why she starts the book with the quote "I'll make my report as if I told a story for I was taught as a child that truth is a matter of the imagination."
    This book is for all the Marlena's out there who were trapped and for all the Kat's who got away and carried them forward with them in their hearts.
    33 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on October 27, 2017
    This book, with its vivid and piercing prose, brought me back to my own experiences in high school—to the insecurity and recklessness, the urgency that bonds teenage girls together, the regrets that still plague me to this day.

    After being uprooted to a dismal Michigan town in the middle of nowhere, Cat is immediately drawn to her next-door neighbor, Marlena, who is everything she's not: beautiful, mysterious, daring, experienced. The two girls quickly become inseparable, and Cat's days and nights become a blur of drinking and drugs—ecstasy, meth, Oxys.

    Cat recalls their times together years later as a 34-year-old adult. We know early on that Marlena died shortly after turning 18, and that Cat had been racked with survivor's guilt ever since. She admits to being an unreliable narrator, acknowledging that her memories are tainted by nostalgia, making Marlena out to be grander than she was.

    Of course, this is often how memory and nostalgia function—the good cements into your mind while the bad is relegated to the back. There's a lot that was uncomfortably familiar about this book for me, and I suspect many female readers might feel the same way. Buntin really nails the experience of being a teenage girl in a rural town, when alcohol and drugs are all you have to break up the overwhelming monotony and angst. The sense of place she establishes is just as vivid and essential as the characters.

    My one main critique of this book is that it gets a little clunky going back and forth from teenage Cat to adult Cat—the latter interrupting the flow of the former. But Buntin's writing is the kind I was able to immerse myself in, so that I smelled what Cat and Marlena smelled, tasted what they tasted, felt what they felt.
    10 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on April 16, 2018
    Good, but not great? There was a lot of hype around this one, but I didn't quite understand what made it so different than every other literary troubled-girl-coming-of-age narrative. I didn't feel like the past and present sections were evenly weighted, and that the New York chapters could have been more well-rounded. Give more than just a glimpse into Cat's continued depression and the impending meeting with Sal, which was a let down. I wanted it to dig deeper. There is some fine writing here, but it felt very textbook MFA stuff, not a huge amount of soul behind the sprawling similes and metaphors. Also, the time period threw me off. I assumed it was early 2000s given some of the clues (early days of Facebook being a major one, so I was thinking) but then, if the book is set in 2017 (no other indication of time is given) how is Cat almost in her mid 30s, if she was 15 in the Michigan chapters? Why do all of these teens have cell phones, when they were a rarity for teenagers until the 2010s? The video posted to YouTube means this takes place at least after 2005, but unless I'm missing something, it didn't quite add up. Given all the attention this got, I was hoping for it to be better. The realities of addiction in rural communities, and the strange beauty and draw of home were done well, but I think too much time was spent on musings, and too little was spent really diving into the characters.
    One person found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on July 28, 2018
    This novel, first of all, moves very smoothly between the then & now of the protagonist’s life. Unlike some novels that have a similar double focus, each part of Marlena’s personal history is vivid and relatable and honest and open-ended—you’re always excited when the novel shifts, and you never think, “Ugh, this part again.”

    Also, this novel reveals so much about the power & dynamics of young female friendships. If you’ve read Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend or Rao’s Girls Burn Brighter, you’ll know what I mean.

    I was surprised also to see how skillfully & patiently Buntin shapes the growth of her protagonist—a more generous view of her family, of herself, of her choices & mistakes. So very true to life.

    Finally, a really candid but never overwrought or preachy look at substance abuse and the road to recovery.

    Love, love, love this novel!
    One person found this helpful
    Report

Top reviews from other countries

  • Shravanthi
    4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful writing style!
    Reviewed in India on February 22, 2021
    The novel is fantastic! I love a beautiful writing style and I'm glad I found this book! Even though the book was pretty dusty and felt kind of old, it's fine. The page quality is good so it's a win!
    Customer image
    Shravanthi
    4.0 out of 5 stars
    Beautiful writing style!

    Reviewed in India on February 22, 2021
    The novel is fantastic! I love a beautiful writing style and I'm glad I found this book! Even though the book was pretty dusty and felt kind of old, it's fine. The page quality is good so it's a win!
    Images in this review
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  • Talisha
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in Canada on May 28, 2017
    Glad that Belletrist suggested this!
    One person found this helpful
    Report
  • paris
    5.0 out of 5 stars a book i will forever return to.
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 27, 2019
    only a handful of books come to evoke something within your heart in your lifetime, and they are terribly hard to come by. this book is one of the most arresting and unsettling books i have read in a long while. troubled girls and their troubled adolescence, battling addiction, that strange naïvety that comes with believing you are bigger than this universe when you are so young. though i have never been, i am certain i will carry those michigan winters with me for as long as i can feel. the last lines of a book always make me choked up. ‘marlena—look. i didn’t forget. i wrote it down.’ my heart is singing with the utmost despair and i am so feverishly in love with this book.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Caitlin
    4.0 out of 5 stars Good read
    Reviewed in Australia on May 23, 2019
    Thought provoking read and interesting view of volitile relationships and socioeconomic pressures.
  • Tangerine
    4.0 out of 5 stars Almost too hard around the edges
    Reviewed in Canada on July 29, 2020
    If you want it raw then here it is. The writing has such an aura of realism that you may be left wondering if the book is a thinly veiled autobiography. I was a tad disappointed that the story sort of petered out without a climatic ending. The author however, crafted her prose to their fullest creative potential and I was definitely taken back to my own struggles at that age.