AFTER THIS

McDermott’s highly acclaimed sixth novel, a story of a postwar middle-class family that unfurls over decades, is full of the stuff of everyday life. Her small scenes of acutely observed family interactions gather their potency as the book develops, though they rarely seem eventful in themselves. Martha Plimpton expertly handles McDermott’s habit of providing unhurried detail. As a reader, Plimpton is both energetic and precise--important qualities given McDermott’s intricate use of sentences that unspool their meaning phrase by phrase. Elegant and formal when McDermott’s writing is elegiac, dense, and echoing with internal rhymes, Plimpton is equally at ease creating voices inflected with New York accents, and she delivers perfect pacing when the writing turns quick with dialogue. Listeners will delight in this production. J.C.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, 2007 Audies Award Finalist © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC 06/ JAN 07]