THE TIME IN BETWEEN

David Bergen’s book received Canada’s Giller Prize in 2005 for the country’s best novel. It’s the story of Charles Boatman, a Vietnam veteran who disappears after returning to that country on a personal quest, and of his daughter and son who set out to look for him. Anna Fields’s performance is brave--she’s obviously been coached in Vietnamese; she reads the names of local people and places with the difficult inflections. However, her Asian accents are unrealistic, and when she reads the speech of male characters in a deep voice, it sounds like a parody. The writing overcomes some of these flaws, but the recording does little to enhance this rich novel. D.B. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/ MAY 06]