FATHER AND SON

English poet, author, and critic Gosse injected humor and pathos into this memoir of his difficult relationship with his puritanical father. Absent, thankfully, are the self-pity and malice so common in the literary offspring of problem parents. Gosse seems to have cared a great deal for his folks, despite the conflicts. His prose is remarkably lean for prose of the era. Narrator Peter Joyce reads clearly and gracefully, although he sounds a bit stuffier than the author deserves. One hears his enjoyment of this work and his sympathy for its characters. Y.R. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine [Published: JUN/JUL 03]