THE MINISTRY OF SPECIAL CASES

Arthur Morey transports listeners to Buenos Aires, 1976, during Argentina's "dirty war." Morey hits just the right sardonic note as protagonist Kaddish Poznan, "hijo de puta" (son of a whore), who nightly rewrites history by removing the names of Jewish whores and pimps from gravestones for their respectable children who are embarrassed by their parents' jaded pasts. As Kaddish, Morey is thoughtful, philosophical: "I offer a face-lift for the family name." With wife Lillian and son Pato, Kaddish lives in a world in which Gogol meets Kafka. Morey is especially strong when Pato is taken away in a government-green Ford Falcon and his parents are forced to approach the Ministry of Special Cases for assistance. The novel is a chilling reminder of the way a nation can disappear into totalitarian oblivion. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/ SEP 07]