This week we are giving another listen to established authors.
Delicious Foods
James Hannaham; read by the author
Hachette Audio; 10 CDs, 11 hours, $30; www.audible.com download, $29.65
It’s not often you can find a comic novel about addiction, dysfunction, servitude and mutilation. The (sometimes overwrought) story begins with a young man escaping from a Southern farm, driving with stumps wrapped in rags. The narrative then folds back onto itself until we learn how Eddie lost his hands and how his mother, Darlene, eventually gains redemption. Hannaham is extremely comfortable behind a microphone and deftly brings out both the dark comedy and the bleak, hard grief that permeates Darlene. He’s sassy and foul-mouthed as “Scotty,” the anthropomorphic crack cocaine that steals Darlene’s voice, and creates voices that are clearly varied in age and accent. Grade B-plus
God Help the Child
Toni Morrison; read by the author
Random House Audio, five hours and 45 minutes, $30, www.audible.com download only
This somber, cautionary tale by Morrison takes great pains to tell us that our treatment of children really matters as interconnected, emotionally damaged characters impact one another. At the heart of the story is Bride, a dark-skinned woman shunned by her lighter-skinned parents. The story, sprinkled with magical realism, is slow to build and the characters are more difficult to connect with than in Morrison’s past work, though the ending eventually ties it all together. Morrison is an impressive narrator with a deep, slightly scratchy voice and a mellifluous delivery. She alters pacing and tone to fit the emotional landscape. Grade: B-plus
Funny Girl
Nick Hornby; read by Emma Fielding
Penguin Audio, eight CDs, 10 hours and 30 minutes, $40; www.audible.com download, $28
Set in the world of 1960s British sitcoms, this easy listen asks whether entertainment helps nudge a culture along or if it is a reflection of its audience. The material doesn’t demand much of the listener as it plays out a pleasing if unmemorable story about a beauty queen who becoes a sit-com smash. There are a few laughs but also a surprising number of clichés and very little dramatic tension. Fielding delivers with various voices and accents, from a broad Lancashire dialect to a more refined British trill. She also does a jolly good job of creating a varied cast, peppered with believable male voices. Grade: B
Lucky Alan and Other Stories
Jonathan Lethem; read by a full cast
Random House Audio, four CDs, four hours and 30 minutes, $25; www.audible.com download, $14
Fans of Lethem know that there is often a certain amount of weirdness in his work. This slim collection of nine stories saunters through an often-surreal landscape, making keen observations about pop culture in all its hyped-up, cult-like variations. A favorite is the title story, which is also the most straightforward, in which a man develops a fixation on a famous theater critic who, in turn, has a fixation on a neighbor. Less successful is “Their Back Pages,” a fragmented and freaky account of cartoon characters stuck on a remote island, that is actually jarring and outright annoying. The various narrators are well matched to their material. Grade: B-minus
