LIGHT ACTION IN THE CARIBBEAN

Reading in a low monotone that almost sounds as if it were computer-generated, the author narrates several of his own award-winning short stories. The combination of a slow reading and good diction makes him easy to understand. Lopez's Spanish sounds pretty Anglo, but he does an interesting Caribbean accent. The portrayals of his characters are subtle, being chiefly restrained to slight variations of an incantatory cadence. Even during a scene with a violent murder, there is no emotion or tension added to the narration. Slow, new-age piano music, in the same ministerial tempo as the reading, separates the stories. J.A.H. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/ SEP 01]