THE CRYING TREE

Carol Monda is powerfully attuned to the emotional contours of Rakha's highly charged novel. She is less strong in the distinctiveness of her characterizations. Other than dropping to a lower register for male characters, she doesn't offer a rich array of highly individualized vocalizations. The subject matter is wrenching: the apparent murder of a young boy, the approaching execution of his convicted murderer two decades later, and the path of the dead boy's mother as she walks away from an obsession with retribution. Monda does not insult listeners with false sentimentality, offering instead hard-earned internal struggles and truths. Hers is a carefully modulated performance—and an anguishing one. M.O. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine [Published: JANUARY 2010]