All the Time in the World

As Doctorow points out in his introduction, the conception of a story differs greatly from that of a novel. The writing skills differ as well, a reality that makes it possible to understand how the author of such greats as RAGTIME and WELCOME TO HARD TIMES could produce such a disappointing collection as this. The three narrators do what they can with the generally subdued, alienated characters, but when passion is inferential, there's only so much a narrator can do. Some of these characters appear in the novels BILLY BATHGATE and CITY OF GOD; after much revision and expansion they are engaging. But here they're not, and the narration of the stories cannot transcend the limitations of the text. D.M.H. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine