STREET OF ETERNAL HAPPINESS Big City Dreams Along a Shanghai Road

Narrator Paul Boehmer straightforwardly delivers journalist Schmitz's chronicle of a street in Shanghai. Boehmer leaves the spotlight on the stories themselves as the author delves into the lives of residents and business owners, illuminating the history and culture of China as well as daily life today in one of the world's largest cities. Boehmer handles languages and accents well, and his relatively dispassionate performance is appropriate for a journalistic piece. However, at times his neutral tone seems at odds with stories that involve people who are trapped in labor camps or forcibly evicted from their homes by the government. Fascinating and thought-provoking. A.F. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine [Published: JULY 2016]