FRANKLY IN LOVE

Right from the start, narrator Raymond J. Lee fully inhabits funny, endearing, nerdy-and-proud-of-it California high school senior Frank Li. Frank is studying for the SATs, hanging out with his fellow AP classmates, falling in love, and thinking a lot about his identity as the son of Korean immigrants, all with the heightened feelings of a teenager experiencing these things for the first time. In one affecting passage, Frank overhears a seemingly fraught conversation in Korean between his father and a family friend. Because Frank doesn't know much Korean, he doesn't understand what they're saying, and unless the listener knows Korean, neither do we. Lee's emotionally and culturally authentic performance will have listeners rooting for Frank through many twists and turns, all the way to the audiobook's lovely conclusion. J.M.D. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, 2019 Best Audiobook © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine [Published: SEPTEMBER 2019]