Appointment in Samarra

John O'Hara's portrait of the social life of a small town in the early 1930s is given fresh life in this reading by Christian Camargo. O'Hara's novel traces the destruction of Julian English, a Cadillac dealer in Gibbsville, Pennsylvania, over the course of three days at Christmas. A hard-drinking member of the country club set, Julian commits a series of social gaffes, first throwing a drink in the face of a man who has lent him a notable amount of money and later fighting a disabled war veteran. Camargo's narration is well suited to the rapid, clipped dialogue, and his subtly enhances the tension as we see Julian self-destruct. A notable novel gets a powerful reintroduction. S.N.M. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine