ERRANDS

A young father dies, and his wife and three children struggle to live on without him. Judith Guest tells the tale from a variety of viewpoints, a technique that survives both the abridgment and the undramatic but capable reading of Cherry Jones. The narrator quietly manages to capture the dying man's fear and resignation, the widow's mental and physical exhaustion and the children's alternating bravado and self-doubt. The sibling quarrels will make any parent wince. A secondary plot, involving a sister/aunt and her married lover, is given sufficient play to make sense. This shortened version of a rich and thought-provoking novel is entertaining; however, one hopes that someone will do a crackerjack uncut reading. J.B.G. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: MAR/APR 98]