PIC

PIC is not much like Kerouac's other works in that the protagonist, Pictorial Review Jackson, is not based on the author. Pic is a 10-year-old Black orphan from rural North Carolina, and he's written to sound like just that. Dion Graham brings his usual masterful command of accents to Pic's story, in which his brother Slim rescues him from their aunt's house and carries him off to New York City by bus. From there, they hitchhike to San Francisco to rejoin Slim's wife. The story seems unfinished, but the emotional force of Graham's performance carries the listener through to the somewhat unsatisfying ending. D.M.H. © AudioFile 2025, Portland, Maine [Published: JUNE 2025]