THE FEMALE OF THE SPECIES

Interpersonal power plays fuel this academic adventure novel, featuring anthropologist Gray Kaiser. Fred Stella takes an unembellished, scholarly approach to narrating Kaiser’s discovery of a hidden African tribe that is controlled by an enigmatic Westerner named Charles Corgie. The author's clever clinically detached observations of Kaiser's affair with Corgie, and later with a graduate student named Raphael, reflect the tone with which the anthropologist herself catalogs her human subjects. Stella's straightforward narration enhances the author's attempt to cast the lens of observation on the observer. However, Stella doesn't shy away from projecting high emotion when necessary. He ramps up the volume, humor, and bravado to reflect the larger-than-life Corgie while deftly handling Kaiser's emotional journey. J.T. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine [Published: NOVEMBER 2009]