Ana's Story

Jenna Bush's protagonist, Ana, is an amalgam of the poor, abused, neglected, and ill young women she met while working with UNICEF in Latin America. Bush's performance in the reading of Ana's story is straightforward. Her voice is pleasant, soft, and clear, and the story's frequent use of Spanish allows her to demonstrate her facility with the language. The structure of the book, however, offers a challenge to the audio format. Chapters are short, sometimes only a few sentences in length. The resulting fragmented presentation breaks the flow of the narrative in a manner that can become an annoying distraction. Further, President Bush's daughter's voice lacks a broad emotional range. Nonetheless, she conveys an intensity and sincerity that make her inaugural foray into print and audio a success. M.O.B. 2008 Audies Finalist (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

September 17, 2007
As an intern with UNICEF in Latin America and the Caribbean, Bush, the daughter of the president, was assigned to document the lives of poor children; in a preface, she writes about how impressed she was to hear a 17-year-old single mother resolutely announce, in a group for people with HIV/AIDS, “We are not dying with AIDS; we are living
with it.” For more than six moths, Bush met with the mother, Ana, and later interviewed others, inspired by Ana's resilience. Here, in what she terms narrative nonfiction, she creates “a mosaic of life, using words instead of shards of broken tile to create an image of her past and a framework for her future.” Short segments reveal Ana's scarred childhood. Ana is orphaned, told never to reveal her HIV status lest she be ostracized, sexually abused by her grandmother's boyfriend, beaten and sent to reform school. Not until she lands in a group home for people with HIV/AIDS do things begin to look up, and then only temporarily: Ana falls in love with a boy resident, gets pregnant the one and only time they don't use a condom, and the boy grows too sick to be of much help (the thought of terminating the pregnancy never comes up). Despite unexceptional, sometimes awkward writing (“The passion, the attraction, the butterflies had flown away”), Bush's compassion for her subject comes through clearly. Even (and maybe especially) when Ana behaves imperfectly or questionably, Bush focuses on Ana's pain and ability to transcend it, helping readers to avoid judging Ana and to feel strong empathy. Back matter includes information on HIV/AIDS and abuse, notes on ways to help others and a discussion guide; the final art, which includes color photos, was not seen by PW
. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the U.S. Fund for UNICEF. Ages 14-up.