WHEN YOU READ THIS

Sarah Naughton deftly narrates this 21st-century epistolary novel, full of emails and blog posts, emojis, and graphics. The humor is spot-on as the story focuses on millennial intern Carl; his overextended boss, Smith, who is still grieving the death of his young secretary, Iris; and Iris's older sister, Jade. Naughton smoothly moves between Carl's snarky emails and Iris's thoughtful "Dying to Blog" posts. But so many characters (and canned emails) jumble the narration. Another miss: Iris's blog graphics are ad-libbed. A casual listen may turn into several rewinds to understand that Naughton is describing a picture that Iris has drawn on her blog post. Despite these small glitches, this is an interesting approach to an audiobook, and Naughton's performance makes the story worth a listen. M.P.P. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine [Published: MARCH 2019]