Winter's Tale

A mythical epic of a "golden age," Mark Helprin's WINTER'S TALE is a poetic masterpiece about the beauty and complexity of the human soul, justice, love, and the magic of nature. Spanning the last century, Helprin's novel regained acclaim last year when the NEW YORK TIMES identified it as one of the single best works of American fiction published in the last 25 years. The allegory transports the listener into Helprin's love affair with New York City and lyrical prose. Narrator Oliver Wyman's art transcends this brilliant work with his unflagging spirit, awe, wonder, and range of literally dozens of distinctive voices. His remarkable versatility celebrates vocal depth--in characters who range from Dickensian presences to the airy breathiness of gentle souls. He is the harmonious complement to Helprin's kaleidoscopic imagination, and acknowledges the book's grace and wit with every utterance. A.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

May 26, 2008
Issued on audio for the first time to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its publication, this version of Helprin's classic novel is a huge disappointment. Helprin's book is one of the great works of American fiction of the last quarter-century and a classic New York novel, but Oliver Wyman reads it as if it were a bedtime story for children. Playing up the whimsy of Helprin's urban fantasy, Wyman entirely misunderstands the nature of the book, which is more philosophical than fanciful, and with a sense of imagination not childish but deeply adult. Not grasping these facts, Wyman treats the book as a New York “Harry Potter,” and the result is a mess unworthy of this great book. A Harvest Books paperback.