CAGE'S BEND

Cage Rutledge, eldest son of a close-knit Southern family, suffers a breakdown that triggers cycles of mania and depression when his brother Nick, 11 months his junior, dies in an accident. Various readers assume the voices of narrator Cage, surviving brother Harper, and parents Franklin and Margaret, giving us insight into how mental illness impacts a whole family. Nick Landon, as the voice of Cage, is outstanding, giving the listener a taste of the roller-coaster ride of bipolar disorder. Andy Paris is believable as younger brother Harper, resentful but always there to clean up his brother's messes. Franklin and Margaret are less sharply drawn but capably handled by Richard Poe and Cecile Bodett. N.E.M. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/ SEP 07]