THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH

With overtones that remind one of both William Faulkner and (surprisingly) Garrison Keillor, these four short stories--unique and psychologically complex--describe the myriad ironies that delight and terrify ordinary people of Tennessee. Dry-voiced Randall Caudwell, however, speaks in too clipped and self-conscious a manner for Southern storytelling. The stories cry out for quiet, dramatic impact. Instead, Caudwell assumes a detached, observational manner and depends more upon regular, rhythmic emphasis than upon pitch variation, pause and vocal characterization. Even so, the splendid characters and brooding settings peculiar to one of America's best short story writers come through to us. P.W. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: SEPT 96]