INTO THE HEART OF BORNEO

There probably wasn’t anything in darkest Borneo that required the attention of two slightly ditzy British academics. On the other hand, they probably did no lasting harm, and one of them produced a charming memoir. O’Hanlon makes a stiff and unpromising beginning as a reader, but gradually he loosens up and begins to enjoy his own good writing. By the scene in which an eagle, confronted with the sight of an English poet, decides it’s too early in the day to be hallucinating, O’Hanlon is fully warmed up. There’s a good deal of humor and pathos in this story, and O’Hanlon projects both effectively. J.N. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/SEP 98]