MAGIC TIME

Marlette, who died in 2007, left behind a remarkable novel that is as engaging as his political cartoons and "Kudzu" comic strip. L.J. Ganser carries listeners through the summer of 1964 in Mississippi, as recalled by Carter Ransom. Ganser doesn't vocally characterize all the players in this story of the murders of Civil Rights activists by the Ku Klux Klan. He saves his depictions for the juiciest characters: Southerners imitating Northerners (and vice versa) and the town idiot, who can speak in a perfect Spanish accent at will. The story alternates between the past and the present, but the transitions are difficult to follow. And Ganser's audible intakes of breath are distracting. But the multilayered story of corporate and personal redemption makes these worth overlooking. J.J.B. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB/ MAR 08]