Dunbar

May 1, 2018

Narrator Henry Goodman self-righteously sputters, resignedly accepts, viciously plots, frantically searches, and plays especially well the Fool--all in the service of expertly, effortlessly voicing the latest in the Bard-updated-by-famous-contemporary-authors "Hogarth Shakespeare" series. In St. Aubyn's (Patrick Melrose series) wickedly compelling, guiltily provocative adaptation, King Lear becomes media mogul octogenarian billionaire Henry Dunbar, who's trapped in a Lakes District sanatorium with alcoholic comedian Peter as his closest company. His two older daughters have seduced Dunbar's personal physician--with sadistic sex, multiple millions, and outright terror--into mentally incapacitating their father and falsely having him committed to make way for their hostile sororal takeover. Dunbar escapes with Peter's help but blindly wanders until he's rescued by youngest daughter Florence, whom he once disinherited for refusing to be bullied into joining his rampaging empire. Goodman's expansive range showcases multigenerational dysfunction to create an aural masterpiece that surely does the good Bard proud. VERDICT Libraries already attuned to the "Hogarth Shakespeare" will undoubtedly choose to continue to grow the series in all formats; others not yet committed might begin by investing in St. Aubyn's irascible, irresistible megalomaniac. ["There is a surreal quality to the heightened violence and depiction of Dunbar's inner turmoil... One needn't know Shakespeare to appreciate the novel, but it helps": Xpress Reviews 9/29/17 review of the Hogarth: Crown hc.]--Terry Hong, Smithsonian BookDragon, Washington, DC

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

If Edward St. Aubyn's contemporary rendition of King Lear is inventive, hilarious, and bitter, and it is, Henry Goodman's performance of it is absolutely dazzling. St. Aubyn's Fool, for instance, is an alcoholic comedian who befriends Dunbar, a Rupert Murdoch figure, in the sanitarium where he's been committed by his awful daughters, Abigail and Megan, while they take over his media empire. Peter the Fool constantly breaks into comic impersonations of the likes of Nicholson and Bogart, and Goodman tears into these like a lion into red meat. That Dunbar's story could be outrageously entertaining before it breaks your heart has everything to do with Goodman's performance. St. Aubyn stumbles when attempting the pure tragedy of Lear's end, but Goodman remains stellar throughout. B.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine