NEVER CHANGE

When 51-year-old Myra Lipinski discovers that her high school dream, Chip Reardon, has come back to town with an incurable form of brain cancer, her staid life as a private duty nurse changes dramatically. Placed under her care, Chip moves back into her world and her life, but does she have the courage to admit this terminally ill former idol into her heart? Suzanne Toren slips easily through the tonal changes from character to character. She is at once the tentative narrator, Myra; the assertive Chip; the angry Mrs. Reardon; the husky drug-dealing Dewitt; and myriad others in Myra's world. Berg tells a moving story of courage and compassion that in other hands might teeter on the maudlin. Her characters and her narrative, however, coupled with the sheer force and energy of Toren's reading, prevent this. P.E.F. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC 02/ JAN 03]