DEMIAN

As faces or body types can seem to belong to a particular era—the 1890s, 1920s, modern day—so can voices. Hesse's 1919 semi-fantastical coming-of-age novel about the psychological and spiritual growth of a mystic could easily be made to sound archaic and European. But Jeff Woodman's voice is contemporary and American, making the book sound very much of our time. The familiar tone of his voice risks banality, but his vocal ability and skill more than compensate by making the book accessible and vivid. He gives each passage appropriate emotional weight—never too much—and varies voices distinctively but with subtlety. Woodman delivers a brisk, bright, attractive reading of a book that, at times mysterious, even arcane, is here well rendered for modern listeners. W.M. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine [Published: DECEMBER 2008]