Philip Roth’s Tangled Web of Secrets and Desires

Philip Roth has written another cynical tale full of painful irony with “The Human Stain.” (Houghton Mifflin Audio, unabridged fiction, eight cassettes, 14 hours and 30 minutes, $38, read by Arliss Howard and Debra Winger.) Roth’s alter ego, Nathan Zuckerman, once again serves as narrator in the third entry in a loosely connected trilogy. It is preceded by “American Pastoral” (1977), which won the Pulitzer Prize, and “I Married a Communist” (1988).”

Athena is a sleepy college in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts. As dean, Coleman Silk brings the place to life by shaking up the faculty, getting rid of the dead weight, hiring Young Turks. It takes years for everyone to get even, but they do.

When Silk asks his students if two missing kids “really exist, or are they spooks?” he is charged with racism, as the students are African American. He meant no such thing. In fact, listeners learn rather quickly that the charge is ridiculous, as the elderly Silk is a black man who began passing for white while in his 20s. He has told no one this, and no one comes to his aid, not even the first black professor Silk hired at the college.

Forced into early retirement, Silk discovers Viagra and then an illiterate janitor, Faunia Farley, which catapults him from a racial scandal into a sexual one. The story travels back and forth in time, revealing bits of Silk’s youth that are an integral part of the plot.

With the exception of Farley’s deeply troubled, estranged husband, who lacks the depth of the main players, Roth’s characters are intriguingly complex. Even minor characters, such as the intensely insecure feminist Delphine Roux, are almost mesmerizingly flawed. Roux owes her position at the college to Silk and has an obvious crush on him, yet convinces herself that he is the enemy--and acts accordingly.

When first tuning in, Arliss Howard’s deep growl of a voice sounds monotonous, but he quickly grows on you. Though his attempts at accents are limited, he clearly changes pacing and texture for different characters. His voice is slightly higher and his manner lighter for the young Coleman Silk. A person giving a speech at a Veterans Day parade is clearly uncomfortable with the task. These are subtle changes, but they enhance the delivery.

Howard is at his best when Silk is ranting, as he expresses the man’s enormous anger with powerful conviction. He raises his voice, picks up the pace and greatly increases the story’s tension.

Debra Winger has a much lesser role, reading the smaller sections of the novel told from two female viewpoints, Farley and Roux. She has more energy than Howard does, but her delivery is a little less polished in spots. Winger’s performance, however, is appropriately emotional, carrying us through difficult passages about abuse and devastation.

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It is a 12-hour commitment, but Bill Bryson’s latest adventure is worth every minute. An eccentric traveler with a droll sense of humor, he traversed Australia in several trips to complete “In a Sunburned Country.” (Bantam Doubleday Dell Audio, unabridged nonfiction, seven cassettes, 12 hours, $39.95, read by the author.)

The author of “A Walk in the Woods” and several other travel books, Bryson is a fan of the Land Down Under, a country that is enormous, and mostly empty. He writes of 12-foot dirt worms, prime ministers that disappear in the surf and incredibly dangerous critters living among a cheerful citizenry. With little-boy glee, he describes the scary beasts of Oz, listing the many ways one can die if unlucky enough to meet a crocodile, shark, poisonous snake or toxic fish. Bryson crosses a desert, drives along the coast and pays homage to tacky tourist spots.

He provides us with silly names of real places, such as Wee Waa, Tittybong and Borrumbuttock, but also describes the gorgeous scenery with great respect. Bryson includes more historical data and natural history than can be heard in his other books, but often accompanies those facts with droll observations.

There are other comedic writers but few who have written books about the English language, as has Bryson. His is a rare combination of well-crafted wordplay and a seemingly indefatigable curiosity that seems to be growing keener with each new audio. His offbeat taste in travel quite matches his unusual accent. The author was raised in Iowa but spent 20 years in England, leaving him with an accent that is almost, but not quite, British. His odd, slightly tremulous accent and deadpan delivery enhance the audio’s comedic aspects. The man just sounds funny.

Bryson, who has recorded several of his books, is even more polished a narrator than a few years ago. One can hear the affection he has for Australia in his voice, and his timing is so on the mark that you may find yourself rewinding just to hear one of his anecdotes again.

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