AMERICAN APPETITES

Barbara Caruso is an inspired choice to narrate the first unabridged Oates novel. The story of hungry American egos driven to feed off one another's vulnerability in upper-middle-class America is, for its sad truthfulness, hard on the listener. Oates's exploration is performed masterfully by Caruso, who delivers a riveting tonal subtext similar in sound and effect to that of Frank Muller. But here she's even better because her ironic female voice brings out the rawness of the assertive interior monologue. Selectively emphatic, emotionally alert, intentionally arhythmic, Caruso's interpretation forces us to feel the hard truths beneath the soft lies people tell one another. P.W. Winner of AUDIOFILE Earphones Award ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: JULY 96]