GENERICA

GENERICA, by Canadian author Will Ferguson, is a saitrical novel in the tradition of Carl Hiaasen. Edwin de Valu is an editor at a midsized house that decides to publish the most comprehensive self-help book of all time. It sells millions and launches a revolution of what appears to be happiness, but is actually unthinking complacency. While the novel can be genuinely funny, it's peopled by caricatures rather than characters, and this flaw is magnified by Ron Halder's narration. He ascribes throaty, whiny, or otherwise irritating voices to all of them, and he struggles so hard to keep them all straight that he's insensitive to what little nuance there is in the dialogue. D.B. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine [Published: JUN/JUL 02]