INDIAN BURIAL GROUND

Gary Farmer (Cayuga Nation) and Erin Tripp (Lingít Deisheetaan) narrate the intertwined strands of this examination of Indigenous trauma by Nick Medina (Tunica-Biloxi tribe of Louisiana). In 1986, 16-year-old Louie, portrayed by Farmer, sees evidence of the supernatural in the string of deaths that beset the fictional Takoda reservation; in 2023, Louie's 40-year-old niece, Noemi, grapples with a loved one's apparent suicide. Tripp demonstrates her range, her clear voice evincing disbelief, grief, and self-recrimination. Sadly, Farmer's slow, grandfatherly delivery is better suited to the occasional embedded folktale than to the horror-inflected coming-of-age story itself. Listeners who can get over the jarring tonal whiplash as the voices alternate will be rewarded for their persistence. V.S. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine [Published: MAY 2024]