CONSIDER THE LOBSTER

Only 4 of the original 10 essays are here, but each is formidable. In "Consider the Lobster," the author rambles around the Rockland [Maine] Lobster Festival, a veritable orgy of lobster murder, speculating on the morality of cooking and eating a sentient creature. In the next piece, "The View From Mrs. Thompson's," listeners feel the effects of 9/11 on ordinary folks in middle America. Later, in "The Big Red Son," Wallace attends the Adult Video News awards and faithfully records the comments of some of the sleaze-mongers and stars of the porn film industry, and he positively unstrings the tennis star's autobiography in "How Tracy Austin Broke My Heart." Wallace reads his fresh, provocative essays with delicious irreverence, earning his place alongside the great social satirists of this, or any, time. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/ MAY 06]