THE LITTLE FRIEND

Donna Tartt's long-awaited second novel is a sensually and psychologically rich tale of place and childhood. Harriet Dufresne's world changed forever the day someone murdered her 9-year-old brother, Robin. Ten years later, as a precocious and prickly 12-year-old, Harriet decides to solve the murder. Her Mississippi world is peopled with vivid characters and shot through with class and racial tensions, and Tartt has not forgotten how to tell a story, but Karen White's performance is dispiriting. Not a word is spoken badly, but White applies pauses and emphases to each sentence in a monotonous rhythm, ignoring meaning or sense. This reader had to revert to the printed book. B.G. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/MAY 03]