THE DYING ANIMAL

Like all Philip Roth's heroes, David Kepesh is a randy, Jewish, angst-ridden Manhattanite. The sexagenarian writes dramatic criticism, teaches, and sleeps with his female students (after the term ends, you understand)--until his obsession with luscious, young Consuela explodes in his mind. Arliss Howard impersonates Kepesh, who narrates the events and their repercussions, in an expressive but somnolent voice. He understands many of the novella's resonances, though neither he nor his producer seems to have gotten the central "joke" of Kepesh's intellectualizing everything. Numerous obvious edits jar the ear. Y.R. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/ NOV 01]