SOUL MOUNTAIN

Lyrical writer Xingjian, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2000, creates a multifaceted, mythic story of a man's physical and mental journey of discovery after his diagnosis of terminal lung cancer proves to have been wrong. His goal is Lingshan, the sacred mountain, but what he attains are the stories he learns (or makes up) along the way. Like an epic poem of old, these stories touch all aspects of human existence, and contain all things a man needs to know himself and reach completeness. Brian Keeler's easy grace and tone are perfect for this story of storytelling. He manages to convey the emotions of each character without sounding affected yet simultaneously creates a poetic cadence and rhythm. This gentle reading works well with the material as one story flows into another without any demarcation between what is real and what is make-believe. D.G. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/ NOV 02]