Half NPR announcer, half phone-sex operator, Cynthia Holloway treats Cohen’s memoir of youthful sexuality and familial disarray with a mixture of breathless eroticism and This American Life
deadpan. In either style, Holloway reads intimately, drawing in listeners with her breathy, close-miked voice. There is something icky and quasi-pornographic about having the details of real-life teenage sexuality shared so familiarly, but Holloway’s voice—knowing, lightly ironic, capable of sounding adolescent while remaining firmly adult—salvages the situation. Like those NPR voices, Holloway maintains a crucial distance from the story she shares, immersing herself in the tangled folds of adolescent confusion while indicating, ever so subtly, her separation from it. A Hyperion hardcover (Reviews, Feb. 11). (July)
