FRENCHTOWN SUMMER

A novel in poetry is challenging to read aloud and to interpret with its altered cadences and odd pauses. With line breaks determining emphasis and lyrical language, it requires more of a reader than the decoding of symbols. Decoding emotions is the work of reading poetry. Rene Auberjonois does an admirable job narrating the emotions of Eugene's thirteenth summer, drawing out syllables, pausing over pain, enunciating carefully for effect. A strong air of nostalgia underlies this work and more so this reading, which is not simply a coming-of-age story, but a finely wrought story of a Franco-American community in some distant past. This audiobook will appeal to the contemplative adolescent and adult. A bonus for some will be the second tape, an extended interview with the author by Leonard Marcus. T.B. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC/JAN 01]