HOOLIGAN

Gifted narrator Mikael Naramore captures the sense of brotherhood, the assortment of accents reflecting lower-class economic backgrounds, and the sad desperation in Winkler's exploration of multiple lost generations of young men whose only bond is their tribal support of their favorite soccer teams. Naramore's performance dissects the character Heiko and the other members of his gang with both love, sympathy, and microscopic detail of lives filled with seething anxiety as they search for rival gangs. The violence is swift, bloody, and hard to listen to, but Naramore's steady pace and understated tone guide the listener through this nightmare world where disagreements begin with a fist to the nose and end with shattered bones, cracked teeth, and broken dreams. R.O. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine [Published: MAY 2018]