STAY WITH ME

Annie Henk portrays Céce, an ambitious college-bound inner city student. Henk gives Céce a believable spark and conveys her conflicting emotions as, against her better judgment, she falls for Mack, a high school dropout who’s done jail time. Narrator Mark Zeisler portrays Mack, conveying his kindness as well as his instability. Listeners will be as swept up with Céce and Mack as they are with each other, and when things begin to fall apart, it feels both inevitable and heart-wrenching. Griffin’s strength is that he makes his characters, even minor ones, multidimensional, and Henk and Zeisler support that strength by creating distinct and rich voices. The story of opposites attracting is a common one, but this take is fresh and affecting. A.F. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine [Published: MAY 2012]