THE SCHOOL ON HEART'S CONTENT ROAD

Carolyn Chute returns to Egypt, Maine, exploring the militia mentality and alternative lifestyles attractive to the poor. This powerful and disturbing story follows the consequences of attitudes and actions not at all unusual in pockets of rural poverty. Susan Ericksen's characterizations nail Chute's protagonists—from an abandoned 6-year-old to a polygamous male cult leader, his wives, and militia members of varied states of sanity and age. Unfortunately, Ericksen’s inconsistent mispronunciations of common Maine names and places jolt the familiar listener and distract from her otherwise fine narration. Likewise, she imparts a heavy Parisian-French accent to speakers of the Franco-American dialect. Overall, Ericksen wisely refrains from attempting a Maine accent. A pronunciation check of proper nouns would render this performance perfect. R.L.L. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine [Published: DECEMBER 2008]