THIS SIDE OF PARADISE

Fitzgerald's first novel is a remarkable, if overly selfconscious, period piece that captures the ennui of youth in the years following the Great War. Jeff Woodman's narration doesn't immediately seize the listener with its power, but he proves himself adept at handling the novel's sometimes difficult structure. (There's a fair bit of verse in the narrative, and one chapter is written as a play.) In some cases, he takes judicious liberties with the text to make it more appropriate for the audio format. More often, he's simply excellent at handling dialogue, not through elaborate acting, but by changing the timbre of his voice just enough to cue the changes in speaker. D.B. © AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC/JAN 00]