A DIFFERENT DRUMMER

A fascinating premise is not fully worked out in this audiobook. What happens when the entire African-American population of a Southern state decides to move away? This story focuses more on the moment of departure than on the long-term consequences or the reason for the abrupt, unanimous decision to leave. The story is not helped much by narrator Jay Smooth. His voice is, appropriately, smooth, but he makes most of the characters sound the same, which is a problem in an audiobook with so many different viewpoints. Southern voices and accents are diverse, and Smooth could have increased the clarity of the text by making use of that variety. D.M.H. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine [Published: DECEMBER 2019]