TIMOTHY; OR, NOTES OF AN ABJECT REPTILE

These first-person ponderings of Timothy, an aging land tortoise living in an English country garden in the mid-eighteenth century, offer a meandering meditation on life, nature, and finding one's place in the world. Though Josephine Bailey enunciates clearly and offers a respectful interpretation, her tremulous voice, appropriately suggestive of Timothy's age, sounds strained and lacking in fluency. Timothy's discerning contemplations of the seasons and other species call for a thoughtful reading, but the lyrical quality of the narrative is often lost as one struggles to follow Bailey's quavering account. While it is appropriate that the narration mirrors the plodding quality of the tortoise, the performance should convey more energy if the reader is to stay engaged. M.H.N. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB/ MAR 07]