Look Alive Out There: Essays

Crosley’s confident reading of her latest collection of personal essays comes across like a great stand-up comic performance. Her wacky tales of life as a starving young writer interacting with neighbors, friends, and strangers are satirical, insightful, often tender, and always funny. Her peevish tone perfectly suits her hallmark surly, self-deprecating humor. With rising or falling intonation, she also ruminates on more personal matters, such as her decision to not have children. Crosley has one bad habit shared by many audio narrators: she drops her voice at the ends of sentences, creating distracting rhythmic patterns at various points in her reading. Still, fans will love listening to the author’s lively rendering of wise and wicked stories from her life. [em]An MCD hardcover. (Apr.) [/em]