THIS SIDE OF PARADISE

This production may intrigue Fitzgerald devotees, but only the most diligent fans are likely to find it a rewarding listen. While Fitzgerald’s brilliant GREAT GATSBY is ideal for the audio format, the structure of this novel proves tough to follow. Robertson Dean makes a worthy attempt with his performance, but he tends to rush past section titles, giving them an air of sentence fragments rather than guideposts. Furthermore, he sounds almost impatient during his readings of interludes involving snippets of poetry or dramatic dialogue. Dean’s renderings of individual characters are fine, but the characters themselves lack appeal. L.B.F. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine [Published: DECEMBER 2010]