PLAY FOR A KINGDOM

Dyja’s novel combines baseball and war as two groups of soldiers, Federal and Confederate, meet on the ball field and on the battlefield during the time of the Civil War’s Battle of Spotsylvania. But what should be fascinating is rendered monotonous and interminable by the singsong narration of Ian Esmo. His phrasing is awkward throughout, with upward inflection at the end of each phrase, sometimes more than once per sentence. His attempts at vocalizations sound much the same, with the exceptions of rather caricatured renditions of an Irish soldier and members of an African-American regiment. The sameness of the narration makes the graphic battle scenes seem to go on forever. In this case, reading the book is a much wiser choice. M.A.M. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/SEP 00]