This Beautiful Life

The Bergamots are upwardly mobile, supremely well educated, and hyper-socially conscious, so when scandal strikes their family, they have far to fall. Hillary Huber's excellent narration makes the listener care about their descent. Huber's voice has a soft hoarseness that adds an element of humanity to characters who might otherwise remain flat and unsympathetic. The point of view shifts between parents Liz and Richard and to their teenage son, Jake, whose role in the spread of a classmate's X-rated Internet video brings the family to the brink of implosion. With the exception of kindergartner Coco, who sounds a bit too precious, Huber moves skillfully among the characters, providing food for thought about the modern family and the role of technology in everyday life. L.B.F. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine

April 11, 2011
In this sobering tale of how adolescent stupidity can have criminal and social repercussions, Schulman (A Day at the Beach) explores what happens when a privileged teen boy forwards to friends a sexually explicit video made for him by a classmate. Jake Bergamot, 15, has recently moved to New York City from Ithaca, N.Y., with his parents, Richard and Liz, and his kindergarten-aged sister, Coco. Life in Ithaca was easy and idyllic, but after Richard takes a job in the city, that all changes. Jake is enrolled at Wildwood, a New York City prep school where he makes a new circle of friends and attends wild parties, one of which leads to the videoâlater made by a girl at the party who Jake refuses to sleep with because, among other reasons, she's too youngâthat could determine the direction his young life will take. Jake is a good student and a nice kid, and his parents are rocked to their foundations by their son being snared in a child pornography scandal. The plot is ripe for salacious tabloid treatment, but Schulman sidesteps easy shock and hyperbole to turn out a provocative story of ethics and responsibilities in the ever-shifting digital age.

Starred review from November 28, 2011
An upper-class family is rocked by scandal when teenage son Jake receives an e-mail containing an amateur pornographic video from a female admirer. Not knowing how to react, he forwards the e-mail to a friend. When the video goes viral and becomes a prominent news story, Jake is suspended from school and the family becomes the focus of local gossip. Hillary Huber narrates with tremendous empathy for all the characters, conveying their emotions and point of view, and making listeners sympathize with the entire cast. Huber does not create voices per se, instead she simply changes the inflection of her voice to bring out the personality of each character: Jake has a slangy, insecure, whiny sound to his voice; mom Liz’s voice is warm and maternal, but also introspective and conflicted; father Richard is always strong and commanding—even when he feels inside that his world is falling apart. All the complexities and insecurities of the characters are present in Huber’s nuanced performance, making this a compelling and thought-provoking audio. A Harper hardcover.