FAITH OF MY FATHERS

Memoirs are often effective when read by the author, but only if the author is a good reader. John McCain has a good story to tell and tells it well. While the senator from Arizona is used to speaking in public, this reading is no political speech. It's more like a living-room chat, in which he talks lovingly of the lives of his father and grandfather, both decorated Navy veterans, and of his own experiences in the Navy, particularly as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. In a straightforward style, he lets events speak for themselves. His choice to end the book with his election to the House of Representatives in 1982 keeps it from being an election-year puff piece. R.C.G. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/MAY 00]