RULES FOR OLD MEN WAITING

To "take back his life until he could give it away on an acceptable basis," a retired historian begins to write a novel about WWI, thus triggering reflections of his life, several wars, his late wife, and the meaning of existence. Within this framework, Peter Pouncey, a distinguished academic essaying fiction for the first time in his long career, crafts a compact work of eloquent simplicity, gentle humor, grace, and depth. Narrator Simon Vance plays none of these values, choosing instead to affect a pseudo-poetic declamation that has nothing to do with what he is reading. Y.R. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/NOV 05]