BROKEN

Colin Moody's chilling reading evokes the cruelties of the bullying Oswald family and the neighborhood and school they victimize. We see through the eyes of 11-year-old Skunk, who lies comatose in the hospital. Moody maximizes the tension as we wonder what led to her situation and then view a horrific string of events that begin as Skunk's teenage neighbor, "Broken" Buckley, is tormented by the five Oswald sisters and beaten by their terrible deadbeat father. Skunk faces harassment in her class and questions her place, rights, and dreams in the world. You listen appalled, but addicted, held as captive to the audio as Skunk, her parents, teachers, and friends are to the Oswalds. S.W. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine [Published: NOVEMBER 2008]