Two Tales on Tape of American Dream Gone Awry

Two highly lauded authors present tattered and tarnished versions of the American Dream with their latest novels. The more somber and successful of the two is (Dove Audio; unabridged fiction; 11 hours; $36; read by Ron Silver).

This is about anger and obsession and wrongdoings, real and imagined. It is about the effects of the McCarthy hearings on an American communist, the dissolution of a marriage, the discovery of the truth.

That familiar Roth alter ego, Nathan Zuckerman, runs into Murray Ringold, a former high school teacher now 90 years old, and learns the real story of Iron Rinn (Ira Ringold). Rinn is the teacher’s brother, a former radio star and communist vilified in a tell-all book by Rinn’s wife. He had befriended Nathan as a youth, bring ing him into the rarefied world of artists and money while trying to indoctrinate him into the Communist Party.

The plot inches ahead and moves back, circling in on itself until the whole story is revealed. Roth, who is a master of wordplay, is in top form. He brilliantly concludes a tale that is more passionately expressed than “American Pastoral,” for which he won the Pulitzer Prize last year.

This is important to Roth fans, who know that his endings are not always concise.

In this acerbic and intense story, Roth unveils great truths in little sentences laced with prickly humor. Zuckerman learns he was denied a deserved Fulbright scholarship because the FBI believed him to be Ringold’s nephew. Murray tells Nathan, “The FBI didn’t always get everything right.”

Silver, who also read the unabridged version of “American Pastoral,” adroitly expresses Roth’s complex emotions. He delivers the pain of betrayal and evokes the irony of situations whose truth can be seen only years later, when all the pieces are brought into the open.

Though he does attempt a mild Irish brogue for a minor character, Silver does not don different voices for each character. Instead, he concentrates on sentiment. He does not wheeze to indicate the advanced age of the elderly teacher, but allows hurt and anger to be heard in his voice. With clear diction and a fast-paced commanding style, Silver comes across as sharp and intelligent, which is precisely what the novel requires.

Music is used wisely, from scratchy recordings of songs for the Workers Party to the sweet strains of a harp. Though played only between passages, it emphasizes the narrative text.

Abridgments usually annoy most audiophiles, but you may find yourself grateful for the truncated version of Tom Wolfe’s first novel in 10 years, “A Man in Full.” While it is humorous and biting, at 742 pages, it is also bloated. Sure, we lose the nuance of detail and those subplots used to embellish the main story, but we also lose the repetition and padded prose. (Bantam Doubleday Dell Audio; abridged fiction; six cassettes; 8 hours and 20 minutes; $27.50; read by David Ogden Stiers.)

Constructed similarly to “The Bonfire of the Vanities,” the plot is mired in greed and vanity, racial strife and pop culture coolness. Charlie Croker, a former college football star-turned-multimillionaire real estate developer, is faced with a half-empty office building complex and a staggering debt. He soon becomes enmeshed with an African American football star accused of raping the white daughter of a prominent Atlanta family. One of Croker’s former employees enters the picture after losing his job and discovering the teachings of Stoical philosopher Epictetus. For better or for worse, the three find their fates intertwined.

Wolfe uses these characters, along with lively descriptions and witty observations, to point out the domino effect of our transgressions. Though flawed (most notably by a weak ending), this is greatly enlivened by narrator Stiers. The actor’s vivacious narration, combined with the leaner version of the novel, makes this audio a rarity--one of the few abridged novels to be recommended above the original printed version.

The actor creates clear, though not overdone, distinctions between the many players. His characterizations are varied and rich, ranging from a black rapper to a good ol’ Georgia plantation owner to a refined black Southern lawyer.

Stiers colors the story with that snobbish, though surprisingly accessible attitude for which he is known. It would have been easy to slip into overdone accents and outlandish vocal mannerisms, as Wolfe created larger-than-life personalities. Instead, Stiers gracefully balances humor with outrage, anger and contempt. He is one of the very few narrators who warrants purchasing an audio, no matter the content. Not that Wolfe’s novel is unworthy of our time, but it is not his best and was most certainly enhanced by Stiers’ masterful vocal presence.

Rochelle O’Gorman reviews audio books every other week. Next week: Margo Kaufman on mystery books.