Pigs Can't Swim

Narrator Renee Raudman is engaging through the ups and downs of the author's difficult childhood in rural Maine, where she grew up the youngest of nine children in a dysfunctional family. Taking solace in her books and her animals, Peppe had to overcome many obstacles to arrive at a place of contentment in her life. Raudman affects a voice full of wonder for Peppe's childhood self, an impatient and disapproving tone for her harried mother, and a subtly wheedling tone for an older man with a prurient interest in the preteen Helen. These vocal characterizations help to distinguish the various characters, which is useful since the author opted not to use most people's names but rather to assign them complicated nicknames. This narrative device at times becomes repetitive and distracting. Nonetheless, Raudman's varied tones help to keep the story afloat. S.E.G. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine