Small World

Evison (All About Lulu) pieces together a vivid mosaic of the imperfect American dream. Incorporating four sets of ancestors and their descendants, who will literally collide as passengers on a train in 2019, the narrative is constantly in motion, a restlessness also embodied in many of Evison’s supremely well-crafted characters. The ancestors’ tales begin in the mid-1800s: young Irish immigrant twins are cruelly separated by the orphanage that took them in after their mother died; a slave escapes and finds the love of his life, though not the freedom he deserves; a Chinese immigrant finds both his fortune and true love, but only after acts of violence for which he cannot forgive himself; and a young member of the displaced Miwok nation runs from the memory of her parents’ murder, finding a new life with a wonderful husband, until this happiness is threatened as well. The 21st-century story lines track the descendants striving for their version of the American Dream, pushing back against racism, sexism, and income inequality, 170 years after their ancestors fought these same exhausting battles. Narrator William DeMeritt magnificently portrays the multitude of characters while maintaining perfect pacing throughout 16 hours of constant temporal and point-of-view shifts.