Ben-Hur

Written as testimony to its author's strong Christian faith, BEN HUR also provides ample evidence of his flair for the melodramatic. If read by a pedestrian narrator, this nineteenth-century novel might not speak to today's listener--despite its memorable chariot race. Read by Lloyd James, it transcends potential limitations to become accessible to all. This is a performance of sustained excellence--sustained across a range of characters and emotions, across time and geography. Male and female, young and old, the self-absorbed and the selfless, the worldly and the spiritual--all are within the compass of James's command. His reading is at once evocative, moving, and entertaining. T.J.W. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine