Jessica Abel

A fun look at the world of narrative radio journalism, with some universally applicable good advice about storytelling.

For 90% of readers, this book will destroy any lingering notion that professional radio would be a fun career (hats off to the rest). For me personally, uncovering the "movie magic" of audio storytelling made me slightly uncomfortable, because radio gives the illusion of being so unmediated and trustworthy. I was naively surprised at how cobbled together the narratives are, with crowd sounds from the Internet, invented timelines, etc. I so prefer nonfiction where the creative process is footnoted and out in the open - but of course writers lie to tell the truth. I would still have preferred some more in-depth discussion of journalistic ethics applied to these kinds of narratives.

I would also have appreciated more discussion of the technical aspects of radio, but probably Abel was wise to leave it out; her book was already sprawling and the tech-y stuff would have dated it.

Jessica Abel is a really strong comics artist; I love her style!… (mer)