Audiobook review of Stories From the Tenants Downstairs

Banneker Terrace “ain’t pretty, but it’s home,” says Mimi of residence 14D. In the opening story of Sidik Fofana’s debut assortment, Stories From the Tenants Downstairs (6 hours), Mimi describes the Harlem high-rise as “one long gray-ass building, twenty-five floors, three hundred suttin apartments.” The laundry machines don’t work, and the trash chute smells. But the individuals of Banneker Terrace are marvelous to behold, dropped at memorable life by a gifted forged of stage, tv and voice actors.

Fofana reads the poetic “Intro,” then Joniece Abbott-Pratt, Nile Bullock, Dominic Hoffman, DePre Owens, André Santana, Bahni Turpin and Jade Wheeler voice the guide’s eight tales, weaving collectively the tenants’ deeply private tales and highlighting their particular person struggles, fears and hopes.

Fofana’s intimate, unfiltered tales are highly effective sufficient on the web page, however they’re gloriously amplified by these performers.