HOLIDAYS IN HECK

O’Rourke switches from covering war zones and trouble spots to humorous accounts of travel with his family and reportage about technology and economics. Dan John Miller’s dry voice and slightly acerbic, jocular delivery fit O’Rourke’s mildly cynical, deprecatory tone. Miller’s pacing is good, and his humorous timing solid. But the liberal salting of mispronounced words is distracting. And, while he designates women or children speaking by raising and lightening his tone, an acceptable tactic, in a long article about China, he has ALL the Chinese speak in a softened tone, which comes off as a cliché and stereotype somewhere between silly and offensive. This program’s flaws don’t ruin it, but better direction could have made it much more palatable. W.M. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine [Published: JANUARY 2012]