THE BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES

This is a massive undertaking for both reader and listener. Wolfe's harrowing satire of life in New York in the late 1980's takes on a particular weight when heard aloud. The demands of the text are enormous, calling on the reader to depict a large cast of colorful characters and present a broad spectrum of regional, urban and foreign dialects. While Michael Prichard's vocal color nicely handles Wolfe's dry cynicism, his voice is ultimately not expressive enough for such a complex work. The experience would be far more engaging if the various New York, Yiddish, African-American, Southern and French dialects were rendered with more skill. And while Prichard's voice does well enough with the male characters, his voice makes the beautiful female lead sound unattractive and unappealing, which is unfortunate in a novel in which sex plays such a crucial role. In the end, the accumulated effect outweighs the deficiencies, even as one looks forward to the possibility of another reader doing a new version one day. C.T. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: JULY 93]