This week we have a short story collection; one intense novel; and an audiobook about a whistleblower in Flint, Michigan. Please note that all audiobooks are available for download at independent bookstores and at your local library.
Florida
Lauren Groff; read by the author
Random House Audio, eight hours, seven CDs, $35/www.audible.com download, $24.50
Women who love Florida and those who detest it make up the 11 stories in this fine collection in which Groff’s adopted state is as important as her characters. Some of the stories are complete and unforgettable, other are more atmospheric slices of life. Discontented mothers, suffocating marriages, heat, humidity and snakes all factor into moody tales in which something, often the protagonist, is just a little off. Groff’s approach as a narrator is gentle and warm, but she has a sibilant “s” that is unnerving when hearing it for multiple hours. Grade: A-minus
What the Eyes Don’t See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City
Mona Hanna-Attisha; read by the author
Random House Audio, 11 hours, nine CDs, $45/www.audible.com download, $31.50
Hanna-Attisha is a pediatrician who took on the government when she brought Flint, Michigan’s water crisis to public attention and to Congress. It is just as remarkable that she has no background in writing but penned a successful audiobook that is part expose and part memoir. Luckily for us, she has a pleasant voice and reads with grace and feeling. A first generation Iraqi American, Hanna-Attisha uncovered the cataclysmic levels of lead in her local drinking water through her medical practice and fought officials who wanted the matter covered up and disappeared. Her personal history is charming and reveals the American Dream in the sightlines of so many immigrants but achieved by her family. Grade: A-minus
The Mars Room
Rachel Kushner; read by the author
Simon & Schuster Audio, nine hours and 30 minutes, nine CDs, $34.99/www.audible.com download, $18.89
This is a tough one. Kushner is not one to hold back, so when she tears into the underbelly of society, expect to squirm a bit. Protagonist Romy is a stripper at the Mars Room. She is also a single mother, a convict and a woman of deep perception. Her story, and the stories of those around her, is profoundly sad, harrowing, compelling and challenging. This is so painful you may want to turn it off, but stick it out, as Kushner has a unique voice and much to say. However, her gifts falter somewhat as a narrator as she sounds like a young, innocent girl. Her style isn’t a bad match for Romy, but it just does not work for the other characters. Grade: B
