Aliens in America

By: Sandra Tsing Loh

Narrated by: Sandra Tsing Loh

Contemporary satirist Loh spins a darkly comic, semi-autobiographical tale of growing up middle-class Chinese-German in Southern California. This comic monologue is for sons and daughters everywhere who feel that their parents must have beamed to Earth from another planet.(P)2000 L.A. Theatre Works, Produced in Association with KCRW, All Rights Reserved

Critic reviews

Whoa!

I love Sandra Tsing Loh. I have been a fan of her segments on NPR for quite some time and I was definitely looking forward to hearing this program.

Having said that, I was literally almost unable to listen to this. Ms. Loh is a great storyteller and the content is funny, but I am certainly now hard-of-hearing as a result. The show almost takes on a practical joke quality because as soon as you turn up the volume to understand her quiet whispering, she delivers a blood-curdling shriek. And by the time you gather your wits about you enough to turn it down again, she is again at a whisper and you can no longer hear a thing.

I don't know whether is it her delivery or poor producing, but this program definitely needs to be edited to be easier on the ears. I do not recommend listening to this program through earphones!

Over the top moments, but spectacle of a story makes it interesting

Loh’s imitations of her parents are funny and transport the listener to the moment. The stories are zany and fun enough to almost completely overshadow the lightly mentioned traumas. To that end, a small explainer for some of the trauma would have been nice for example, the sister no longer speaks to her dad. We can infer by context later in the story, but removing some of the guess work would have been nice. Also, tying up storylines es in a bow would have been nice. Early on, it is revealed that the mother has passed. It is merely mentioned. It could have been addressed more.
Some of the performance towards the end was incredibly annoying, but not enough so to take away from the rest of the performance.

Liked the stories -- hated the delivery

I am really a fan of storytelling, however this audio book was painful to listen to. I enjoyed the stories but the author's delivery was terrible. She needs to tone it down a little. It went from speaking in a very low voice you could barely hear to an earpopping screech which was so annoying I almost didn't finish it. Especially shrill were the accents she assigned to her parents and the volume she gave those accents. Towards the end it was particularly annoying and difficult to listen to, especially in the car where you would have to turn up the volume and then a few seconds later turn it down to a reasonable level. The stories were good but this reading gave me a headache.

Love Sandra but not this

I am a fan of Sandra Tsing Loh but found this un-listenable. It's a live performance in front of a theatre audience and she seems to have lacked confidence that her normal low key humor and subtle reading would carry the day. She is practically screeching much of the time; I hardly recognized her. Cleary she learned with later experience that less is more. I'll bet if she went back into the studio and re-did this piece it would be great, but as it is your better off without it.

She should not quite her day job.

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

An actual professional presenter.

Would you be willing to try another book from Sandra Tsing Loh? Why or why not?

In text only.

Would you be willing to try another one of Sandra Tsing Loh’s performances?

If really really cheap.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Wrong person to read the story which is not that bad.

Any additional comments?

No.