HARD TIMES

This dramatization not only brings Dickens's classic novel to life, it transforms it. The music that opens and closes scenes sets the mood before a word is spoken, and the sound effects evoke the complexity of London and the Industrial Revolution. The scenes of emotional confrontation are almost hard to listen to; Mr. Bounderby's pounding words of self-praise are clear and painful assaults, and Mr. Gradgrind's teaching is as appropriately irritating as his name. In many cases, the adaptation makes the novel's accounts of the confrontations of classes more accessible, but the voice-over from the perspective of the adult Sissy Jupe distracts at times. She seems too calm and focused for the scenes recently recalled. G.T.B. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB/ MAR 07]