A TRANQUIL STAR

Where does one go creatively after experiencing, and writing about, Auschwitz? It took many years and a brilliant memoir (THE PERIODIC TABLE), but in most of these uncollected fictions Levi enters a world of magical realism in which life and death seem chance occurrences and foreboding mixes with delight. Bureaucracy, in particular, falls under a heavy mallet. Chickens act as censors; a petty official fed up with inventing causes of deaths is demoted to determining the shapes of newborns' noses. David Colacci narrates with just the right balance of irony to capture the author's seriocomic tone. Two caveats: Short as most of these stories are, they carry over between discs, interfering with the narrative flow, and a lengthy afterword seems wholly unneeded. R.R. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC 07/ JAN 08]