THE WEEKEND

Jefferson Mays brings out the dynamics of a group of German ex-terrorists who reunite at a country estate. Though their voices are not individualized, their feelings are obvious as tensions surface, and old wounds are opened. Jorg has just been released from prison, and another guest may have betrayed him. Scenes stand out—a libidinous teenager tries to seduce Jorg, a man long thought dead succumbs in New York City on 9/11, one radical isn’t “ex” at all. Schlink doesn’t point moral fingers, and his neutrality is reinforced by Mays’s neutral reading. The complicated plot is delivered at a pace listeners can follow as they hear the different points of view. A more serious, Germanic “Big Chill.” J.B.G. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine [Published: NOVEMBER 2010]