THE OATH

Narrating an Elie Wiesel novel requires considerable skill. Shifts in point of view, interior monologues, relatively few quote attributions, difficult Yiddish pronunciations demand a careful performance from the reader. Frederick Davidson provides that kind of performance. Listeners know where they are in this complex work, and who’s saying what to whom under what circumstances. Davidson provides rich drama in this tale of a wandering Jew, Azriel, the only survivor of a pogrom in a tiny village. Though charged to remain silent about the brutality he witnessed, Azriel breaks that vow and tells what happened, a story that Davidson handles with commitment and compassion. T.H. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: MAR 97]