HAPPILY A Personal History--with Fairy Tales

Gilli Messer is a mesmerizing narrator of this dazzling collection of autobiographical essays. Between the essays are conversations with the author's mother. Messer expertly differentiates the author's sometimes plaintive and writerly tone from Mark's mother's matter-of-fact delivery. Messer is also spot-on with the Hebrew phrases sprinkled through the work. Mark details the complexity of her unique family, which, besides herself, includes two sons of an African American father and Jewish mother. The author is painstakingly self-reflective, yet when she brings the expositions of fairy tales into her pieces, she can sound incantatory. Mark's poetic prose and mystery-laden accounts are animated by great fairy-tale characters such as Pinocchio, Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel, and many others. A rewarding listening experience. A.D.M. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine [Published: MAY 2023]