FRAUD

If you don't know who David Rakoff is, you won't find out from the packaging of this CD. He is an essayist and contributor to public radio's "This American Life"--a gay, Jewish, witty, and skeptical observer of the ephemeral world of the pseudo-cognoscente. Here he reads selections from his vividly scribed anthology of the same name in a world-weary near-monotone, except when he treats the listener to one of his frequent, hilariously accurate impersonations of his dramatis personae. The lesser pieces are merely glib, the best ones--his flight from chicken droppings on an Israeli kibbutz, his youthful term as a publishing house gofer, a New Age seminar led by martial artist Steven Seagal--conjure up droll sensory impressions and delightful shocks of recognition. Y.R. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/ NOV 01]