DREAMS OF MY RUSSIAN SUMMERS

Those looking for an enjoyable audio rendering of this autobiographical novel will be disappointed. Geoffrey Howard's hurried reading is filled with moments of misplaced dramatic emphasis. He speaks with a distractingly singsong and hard-to-place European accent that does nothing to support the novel's adequate translation from the French original. His failure to differentiate any of the numerous characters in a multigenerational story often leaves the listener confused and wishing for the book to read along with as a reference. But were the text in hand, most listeners would soon turn off their tape players and take consolation in a good read of a fine book. G.B.C. © AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/NOV 99]