CHINA HOMECOMING

Narrator Susan Boyce assumes the voice of the author in this concise, enlightening memoir about the author's return to her childhood home in China. Though her pronunciation of some of the Chinese phrases is imprecise, her narration is otherwise fluid, and she transitions deftly between the story's two settings. Her clear reading and modulated tones capture the author's diverse emotions--from the hardship of leaving her birth country at age 13 and her difficulties in feeling American to her longing, disappointment, and joy at her return to her native country. Boyce's dynamic reading also conveys the significance of many of China's historical events and cultural practices. M.F. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine [Published: SEPTEMBER 2013]