SAINTS AND SINNERS

Suzanne Bertish's audio performance harmonizes superbly with O'Brien's melancholy short stories. Her British accent is made more weighty by her voice's depth and maturity. Though O’Brien is an Irish writer, not all of the stories take place in Ireland, so Bertish's narration universally captures the stories' essence, not just locale. O'Brien's lyrical prose imagines diverse characters and circumstances: laborers who are dealing with poverty and alcoholism, a freedom fighter who is taking painting lessons, a lover who is pining for the beloved, and a woman who is waiting in a hotel lobby for a reclusive poet. Loneliness, longing, vulnerability, despair, desolation—all are heard in this evenly paced and deeply profound performance. Neither author nor narrator flinches from harsh but beautiful detail, which blurs the dichotomy between saints and sinners. A.W. © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine [Published: AUGUST 2011]