EVERYBODY SEES THE ANTS

Meet Lucky Linderman, a bullied and nearly suicidal teenager. Lucky stays sane through a vivid dreamscape that plays in his mind. In his dreams, he attempts to rescue his grandfather, a POW-MIA, from the Vietnamese jungle. In reality, Lucky and his mother flee to Arizona where Lucky gains some much needed perspective. Kirby Heyborne makes Lucky’s fantasies believable. With an intimate reading, Heyborne keeps listeners inside Lucky’s world rather than at a distance. Heyborne’s biggest challenge is not the dream shifts but the temporal shifts that take place as Lucky revisits his freshman year. Heyborne speaks in an even, contemplative voice, introducing each section clearly, but the timeframes are still confusing. His low-key reading does not always amplify the violence of the jungle scenes, but the story’s bully is properly menacing. Overall, Heyborne delivers a powerful, inventive story of redemption. C.A. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine [Published: SEPTEMBER 2012]