MIRACLE AT ST. ANNA

Following his hugely successful memoir, THE COLOR OF WATER, McBride has written a novel about black Americans fighting in Italy in 1944. The main character, who thinks he's invisible and carries a magic statue, meets a traumatized Italian boy who is mute and who has an imaginary friend. The production requires a reader like Ted Daniel, who is capable of American black English, which he does to perfection. Daniel speaks slowly, with exaggerated expression and emphasis, as if reading to young children, except for some words that are not for kids. Indeed, the author's struggle to achieve poetic imagery with an adolescent vocabulary makes the plot of this novel seem secondary. J.A.H. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine [Published: JUN/JUL 02]