Readers of Andrea Barrett's novel The Forms of Water will know the story of rural Massachusetts towns in the '30s sacrificed for vast reservoirs to keep greater Boston swimming. Ancient loss remembered is often the loss most keenly described and there are wonderful interviews here. But seeing as how this is clearly a piece in progress with different versions in the offing, I will apologize if I see this as an opportunity to nip certain production problems in the bud. First and foremost, the music selections convey neither place nor time. The music here has nothing to do with the 1930s; it has nothing to do with Massachusetts. This is a story from the era of the WPA, not This American Life.

Which leads me to another point: the voices documented are great already. They are all perfectly capable of saying what they feel and, more important, feeling what they say. There's no need to paraphrase when they can speak for themselves.

Finally, the story is too sparing with water itself. Zap Mama once used filling glasses of water as a rhythm track for an entire song. Toilet flushes, gurgling pipes, spitting radiators: water is noisy. I would lose the narration by the bathroom sink near the top. Get the running water, sure, but keep the narrator in the studio.

This is a good story as is, but why shouldn't it be great?