SILENT HOUSE

Each of the five narrators in this excellent audio production admirably embodies the character he or she portrays, and two are outstanding. Juliet Mills, in a voice that suggests age as well as determination, elicits both sympathy and disgust for Fatma, the spiteful 90-year-old Hanin family matriarch who longs for the simplicity of her childhood. John Lee’s measured baritone captures the infinite patience of the dwarf Recep, Fatma’s man Friday, whose clear-eyed acceptance of the old woman and her three grandchildren (as well as his own illegitimate niece and nephews), nonetheless, leaves him powerless to stop their self-destructive behavior. This recent translation of Pamuk’s novel, published in Turkish in 1983, unfolds largely through stream-of-consciousness and is admirably suited to audio. L.X. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine [Published: JANUARY 2013]