THE SEA AROUND US

You'd expect Rachel Carson's books to adapt well to audio. Carson was a meticulous writer, a gifted prose stylist, as well as a dedicated naturalist and environmentalist. Her books, and this one in particular, have a grace, precision, and balance that are beautifully harmonious on the page, but, it seems, difficult to bring to the microphone intact. Narrator Kaiulani Lee tips that balance toward the heartfelt, sacrificing Carson's careful restraint for a sweetening extension of syllables that is more common to children's books. Little of Carson's work is available on audio, and Lee's reading is tolerable. You get used to it after a while, and the result is at least, and at best, passable. D.A.W. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine [Published: OCTOBER 2015]