MRS. DALLOWAY

Often audiobooks provide gateways into challenging literature; sentences that seem dense on the page unfold themselves like butterflies when voiced by a skillful narrator. While Bening's work here is fine, this complex text does not benefit significantly from her efforts. While her tone offers its characteristic grace, it becomes too hypnotic for this telling of myriad related experiences, and she has a tendency to pause unexpectedly. The flashes of narrative clarity are enough to keep the dedicated listener engaged, but those sudden shifts in Clarissa Dalloway’s narrative can easily lose an audience that cannot look back at previous paragraphs for guidance. Independently, both this narrator and this novelist offer tremendous gifts; together in this audiobook, both falter. L.B.F. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine [Published: OCTOBER 2012]