ROOT FRACTURES

This collection of poetry, narrated by the author, is generally strong, but some of the poems do not convert well to the audio format. The author describes how they appear on the page, but unless the listener has downloaded the accompanying pdf file and has access to it while listening, the poems can be difficult to understand, especially where lines of text overlap others. This is a shame since the poems are very good, as are Nguyen's renderings of them. She doesn't overdramatize, and she works to make the structure of each poem and each line evident to the listener. The book is united by the theme of an immigrant family and the struggles its members face in becoming American. D.M.H. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine [Published: FEBRUARY 2024]