BURNING BOY The Life and Work of Stephen Crane

Author and narrator Paul Auster is an esteemed novelist in his own right, and this exhaustive, and somewhat exhausting, biography of writer Stephen Crane demonstrates a deep empathy for Crane's writing--and for his brief, hardscrabble life. But does that life, which ended at age 28, really need 800 pages in print and 35+ hours of audio to recount? That--each listener must decide. For this one, the temptation to reach for the fast-forward button was often undeniable. Auster's voice is pleasing, a bit rough around the edges but sustained by his authority as author and critic. Crane's life is a subject of considerable interest, and Auster gives it the exacting, penetrating, deeply felt examination it deserves. But half as much would have been more than enough. D.A.W. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine [Published: OCTOBER 2021]