4. Hawkes Harbor - S. E. Hinton

Audio read by Dick Hill
Brilliance Audio, 2004
6 unabridged cds
$29.95
6 hrs.
256 pages
Rating: 3.5

This was nothing like I expected from S. E. Hinton. It was a fascinating story with many different layers, investigating the human mind and psyche. Depression, amnesia, short term memory, affects of uppers and downers and muscle relaxers, and the holds that people can have on one another. Take one footloose orphan that’s become a conman, seaman, and rabble-rouser, add a life-changing encounter with a vampire, and away we go!

The story skips around from early 1960s to late 1970s and is told in different ways. Jamie Somers relates tales told by his Irish friend, Kell, that reveal his late teens and early twenties, we look at the world through Jamie’s eyes at different, later, time periods, and we also listen to the recordings and notes that Dr. McDevitt, director of Terrace View Asylum, shares during his time with Jamie. It’s a rolling sea of story. The ending is unsettling. But, as I think about it, as it sits with me awhile, it works.

The book was read quite well by Dick Hill. He put an inflection into Jamie’s voice, making him sound feeble-minded and totally messed up, uncertain or jaunty – when it was called for. His Irish brogue for Kell was great, and the deep, masterful voice of Grenville Hawkes was right-on.

What a story!