A SMALL HOTEL

Robert Olen Butler asks listeners to experience the end of a marriage in slow motion as they hear the details of a brutal dichotomy: A husband moves on while his wife tries to stop time altogether. The author offers a warm, bittersweet performance, and his pacing and energy make the frequent leaps in time nearly cinematic. Against a backdrop of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, flashbacks of Kelly and Michael’s former life together color the present-day tension as they prepare to divorce. Butler is a skilled narrator with both his written word and his performance. This story is so real it’s sometimes difficult to listen to, but it’s even more difficult to put down. L.B.F. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine [Published: FEBRUARY 2012]