MRS. TED BLISS

Mrs. Ted Bliss is the late Stanley Elkin's elegiac final novel. It's also most likely his warmest, by turns comedic and heartbreaking. Its heroine is an unlikely one, an elderly Jewish woman living in a Miami condo, whose widowhood compels her to reexamine virtually her entire life and also to become a more active participant in it. Guidall's narration is as professional and engaging as ever, although his characterization of Dorothy Bliss is more than a bit clichéd. It also seems fair to wonder why Recorded Books selected a male narrator for a novel whose protagonist is a woman. M.O. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: MAR/APR 98]