THE BEACH AT NIGHT

Narrator Natalie Portman rises to the challenge of telling an unsettling story, maintaining a steady pace that leaves no time for surprise or shock. Celina, a doll, is left to endure a horrific evening when her owner is distracted by a kitten and leaves her on the beach. Portman moves listeners from one bizarre moment to the next. Seen from Celina's vantage point, the beach attendant has unpleasant eyes--and worse. Portman delivers Celina's monologue with an ethereal eeriness that details her despondency at finding herself all alone and having to endure a nighttime storm, fire and waves, and the arrival of a dark animal at dawn--before a happy ending. A.R. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine [Published: JANUARY 2017]