SAY WHEN

When Frank Griffin's wife, Ellen, leaves home for another man, Griffin's shock, anxieties, and deep sense of betrayal are chronicled in Berg's meticulous prose. David Colacci's performance allows Griffin to grow from a man who can't find his kitchen into a man who can manage his house and daughter as competently as his wife did. Colacci outlines Griffin's early spiteful behaviors toward Ellen with painful honesty, and he brings conviction to Griffin's growing awareness of his part in the disintegration of their marriage. Perhaps things work out too neatly in the end, but novelist Elizabeth Berg has created a tender, truthful look at an ordinary marriage in turmoil. David Colacci's reading captures the wry, self-deprecating humor that makes us believe it. S.J.H. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/SEP 03]