(Read by Kathleen McInerney; Random House Audio; 11 CDs; 14 hours)
Best known for breaking taboo subjects with her material for young adults, here Blume tackles her first adult novel by delving into the three plane crashes that rattled residents of her hometown, Elizabeth, N.J., in the early 1950s. These crashes killed residents, destroyed lives, and left deep psychological scars.
Blume conveys the emotional agony of these events with fictionalized characters, but uses so many points of view that the listener gets lost and eventually starts to wander away. Narrator McInerney does an admirable job of capturing the myriad of voices and various points of view, flexing her voice to include youngsters, elderly men, and middle-aged women.
Grade: B Plus