Mid-Air

Two Novellas

By: Victoria Shorr

Narrated by: Candace Joice

Fate is explored in the fall and rise of two twentieth-century American families.

Victoria Shorr's remarkable gift for depicting the inner lives of complex characters shines in two powerful explorations of family, ambition, class, and status.

In Great Uncle Edward, a family gathers for dinner. At ninety-three, Great Uncle Edward commands the table in his three-piece suit; Cousin Russell attended both Harvard and Yale but is now reduced to selling off the family books; sisters Betty and Molly are caught between ghosts of a storied past and creeping destitution. These lives are signposts along the downward spiral of an old aristocracy. Cleveland Auto Wrecking introduces Sam White, an immigrant from eastern Europe. He cannot read but has a gift for math and an instinct for the value of junk. We follow his clan through the Depression to the postwar boom in the West, where their fortunes soar, creating new tests of loyalty.

Taken together, these two novellas might be the reverse images of the American dream in the twentieth century. They ask to what degree, in the face of such powerful forces as love, death, and social constraints, do any of us have control over our own lives.

©2022 Victoria Shorr (P)2022 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Great characters

The author created some very interesting characters, and I particularly enjoyed the backstories of each one in Great Uncle Edward. Both novellas took my mind back to my family experiences in one way or another. The narrator was great and easy to listen to. I didn't get distracted hearing the voice rather than the story as I have with some others I've listened to.

Narrator needs to learn how to pronounce

French words. Just ask someone for help, it’s not hard. You’re being paid to say things, say them correctly.

Wrong narrator

This narrator would be great at children’s books or romances, but she is the wrong reader for this title. Her voice is too musical or rosy - lacking any gravitas. Her attempt to speak a man’s voice are terrible.
I don’t want to be mean, but I found this unlistenable. It’s a wonderful book (I read the book in print) ruined by having the wrong reader. A shame that there is such a mismatch, because I would very much like to hear the book read well, and the narrator is ill served by reading the wrong work.