ALL IS FORGOTTEN, NOTHING IS LOST

Poetry professor Miranda Sturgis intimidates and inspires her awestruck graduate students, who go on to lead lives deeply affected by her stature and criticism. Seminar students Roman and Bernard’s lives turn out to be vastly divergent—one becomes a famed poet; the other descends into obscurity and poverty. Ramon de Ocampo's performance evokes the frustrations of ambition, loyalty, literary acclaim, and resentment as Chang describes the bittersweet truths inherent in the dichotomy between talent and craft. As de Ocampo expertly differentiates the principals, the subtle quality of Roman's confident tones sharply contrasts with Bernard's more downtrodden sound. Chang’s economy of prose has a poetic charm, but by the end, after such sad and intense machinations, one pines for a few lines of sumptuous poetry. A.W. © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine [Published: JANUARY 2011]