IN THE FALL

Tom Stechschulte never quite masters a New England accent, and his characterizations of women seem wan compared to those of his men. But those weaknesses only make his enormous gifts as a narrator seem even more potent. His whiskey voice brings gravity to Lent's novel, an expansive three-generational drama that begins with an interracial romance at the end of the Civil War. The novel is overly long and relentlessly grim, yet Stechschulte's understated intensity keeps the listener focused. The reward comes at Lent's exquisite finale, when Stechsculte, with masterly pacing and controlled anger, reveals the secret that has afflicted a family across half a century. M.O. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/ SEP 01]