MY NAME IS NOT EASY

Nick Podehl and Amy Rubinate share the narration of this National Book Award finalist, a fictional account—based on true events—of five Alaskans who attend a Catholic boarding school in the 1960s. The characters experience forced separation from family members and eradication of their language as they become illegal test subjects in a military experiment and suffer other injustices. Podehl's and Rubinate's dual narration of emotional adolescent voices creates a connection between today's listeners and these historical events, which are little known outside of Alaska. Since neither narrator is a native Alaskan, it’s perhaps to their credit that neither attempts an Inupiak, Yupik, or other Alaskan accent. Both add levity when warranted to break the gravitas of this important story. M.M.O. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine [Published: AUGUST 2012]