The Member of the Wedding

Susan Sarandon does her best to breathe life into this coming-of-age story by Carson McCullers. Unfortunately, it's short on action and long on troubling situations and the alienation of the somewhat unpleasant 12-year-old protagonist, Frankie. Sarandon uses her voice well to convey all the emotions of a troubled girl who is searching for a place to belong. But Frankie is not a very sympathetic character, and the plodding pace of the story does nothing to engage the listener. Bernice, the black housekeeper, is the most sympathetic character. Sarandon gives her the compassionate voice of a mother figure as she offers support and understanding to the lost Frankie. N.E.M. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine