NEVER A CITY SO REAL A Walk in Chicago

Chicago, the author marvels, is "a practical place--a city of necessity," perennially in transition because it is never satisfied with itself. The awe that pervades the heart and mind of this longtime resident is reflected in the passion of his voice as he extols a town "where man has actually beaten nature. . . a stew of contradictions, coarse yet gentle, idealistic yet restrained." Beginning with his larger-than-life father-in-law, a social activist-hustler-salesman-inventor, Kotlowitz offers beguiling word portraits of such types as a politically charged steelworker, an inner-city muralist, a public defender with a dramatic flair that wins advocates and enemies, and a miniaturist who paints portraits of the denizens of scruffy bars, "a world of desolate dignity." All told, the human hodgepodge of the teeming pot that is still melting emerges fully fleshed and hauntingly evoked in this reading. M.J.B. (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/ NOV 04]