SIDDHARTHA

No living English-speaking actor outshines Derek Jacobi, nor any audiobook reader for that matter. He sings, rather than speaks, with extraordinary lyricism, expressiveness and depth. Here he interprets the justly famed mystical novel by Nobelist Hermann Hesse. The title character, a contemporary of Gautama Buddha, unable to embrace the teachings of others, goes on a spiritual quest for personal truth that brings him all the way to the River of Life. Jacobi approaches the text with a direct, childlike fervor. He brings home the subtleties of Siddhartha's inner journey with amazing clarity and resonance, which he makes more exciting than the most thrilling thriller--for this is a detective story par excellence, a hunt for the mystery of self with eternity hanging in the balance. Y.R. Winner of AUDIOFILE Earphones Award ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/NOV 98]