JAMES JOYCE

In this brief and admiring biography of James Joyce, Edna O'Brien paints his life with a broad brush, devoting most of her attention to his writing. Both the author and narrator Donada Peters handle the language of Joyce's major works, especially ULYSSES, exceptionally well. While Joyce's famous stream of consciousness narrative gets the attention it merits, his love of the lyrical, ironic, and whimsical is the true delight of the book and of Peters's narration. While Joyce wrote mostly in Trieste, Rome, and Paris, the subject of his writing was always the Dublin of his youth. Peters is unusually good at using inflection and maintaining an appropriate pace. When she describes Joyce's life in Trieste, for example, the listener is in Trieste. When she reads from his work, wherever it was written, the listener is always in Dublin. Perfect for Joyce novices and devotees alike. R.E.K. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/SEP 00]