PARIS STORIES

Mavis Gallant's fiction is familiar to NEW YORKER readers, but she isn't as widely known in the U.S. as in her native Canada. Gallant, who is from Montreal, has lived in Paris for decades, and this collection of stories set largely in European cities is the first audio collection of her work. It likely won't do much to win new devotees, however. Co-narrator Lorna Raver is a decent match with Gallant's prose, but Yuri Rasovsky affects vague and inappropriate accents for several characters. And while Gallant's stories are filled with insights and wonderfully crafted sentences, they're also humorless and occasionally stuffy, which is why they're more suited to a half-hour with THE NEW YORKER than an audio production. D.B. 2007 Audies Award Finalist © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/ MAY 07]