HOW TO BE BLACK

Thurston combines autobiography and satire to examine, both humorously and seriously, being black in America today. His voice is expressive, energetic, and generally cheerful, and he moves the reading along skillfully. He gives almost everything a light tone, fitting the text, though some of the material is not comic. Frequent satiric hyperbole is usually matched by an exaggerated tongue-in-cheek tone, but not always—listeners will sometimes have to judge the intent by the material alone. An advantage of audio is that commentary on various issues from members of a “black panel” Thurston put together is given directly, in their own voices—though the sound quality ranges from merely okay to irritating. Thurston delivers a program that, overall, is lively, thoughtful, and often amusing. W.M. 2013 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine [Published: MARCH 2012]