Audio

Consider this a challenge. “Paradise,” the first novel by Toni Morrison since she won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1993, is not what you would call an easy listen. It is, however, lyrical and meaningful and worth the effort (Random House Audio, abridged fiction, four cassettes, 6 1/2 hours, $25.95, read by the author).

Morrison covers several eras and many personal histories, though the main action of the novel is set in 1976. The story originates in Ruby, Okla., “the one all-black town worth the pain.” Settled by nine African Americans in the 1940s, Ruby is a place of neighborly goodwill. When feuds and financial problems begin to erode the community, the townsmen find a scapegoat in “the Convent,” a former Catholic school now used as a commune by several women who have fled their bruised pasts.

Morrison the writer and Morrison the narrator caress you with words and ideas, only to pull back and sting you with others. This is fiction that needs to be lingered over and considered. As magical as the author’s rendition is, you may be more comfortable reading this novel than hearing it. Rereading a passage is easier than locating it again with the rewind button.

It is a toss-up, however, because Morrison is such an accomplished reader. She startles us from the onset with a voice so seductive, so lushly feminine, that it takes a moment to digest the violence she’s describing. She can wrap her voice around a sentence, delivering its irony or wit with a dollop of sex and a knowing confidence. However, her words are as powerful as her delivery, and this production definitely needed longer, more defined breaks between passages. We need more time to absorb the density of her fiction.

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Walter Mosley breaks out of his usual style with this collection of short stories in “Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned” (Dove Audio, unabridged selections, four cassettes, six hours, $25, read by Paul Winfield). Instead of the crime mysteries solved by his popular character Easy Rawlins, Mosley has created Socrates Fortlow to unravel the mysteries of life. Fortlow is a complex and brooding ex-con who faces his past and current problems with a hard-won wisdom.

The stories are set in Watts, where Fortlow confronts and tries to cope with the anger and disenfranchisement of people scraping by in a world beset by crime, racism and poverty. The moralism is a bit heavy-handed, in that we know where the tales are heading after having heard only a few. However, Mosley’s writing conjures up a sense of place so well-defined we can smell the onions frying on Fortlow’s hot plate. Also, it seems trivial to fault a writer for trying to face down societal evils.

Winfield widens our enjoyment of Fortlow as a modern-day knight-errant by bestowing upon him a menacing growl that gives him added dimension. The actor expresses the anger and irony in this well-seasoned former convict with panache. He does not change his voice much for other characters, but plays around with inflections and timing. Adding to the atmosphere is funky music heard between stories.

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A bright, original score, vibrant sound effects and polished performances are the draws for “Sleeping Beauty,” by Ross Macdonald (Audio Editions, unabridged dramatic adaptation, six cassettes, 20 hours and 51 minutes, $29.95, full cast performance).

Published as a Lew Archer novel in 1973 and aired as a radio drama last year, this is a hard-bitten detective story in which a suicidal heiress goes missing with a bottle of barbiturates. Past crimes, oil spills and family dramas all factor into a story never quite as interesting as the performers bringing it to life.

As directed by Harris Yulin, who also reads the part of Archer, this is as textured as any old-time radio drama. Crowd noises, telephone bells and screeching tires add urgency to a smoothly edited production. Though aired in episodic format, you would never know where the cuts had been. Unlike the radio plays of the 1930s and ‘40s, a few voices are not employed in disguise to replicate a larger cast. Thirty-five actors were used and were obviously well-rehearsed. The cast features Ed Asner, Bruce Davidson, Anthony Zerbe, Pamela Reed, Stacy Keach and Mary Kay Place, who is a standout.

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Rochelle O’Gorman Flynn reviews audio books every other Sunday. Next week: Dick Lochte on mysteries.