Winesburg, Ohio

Sherwood Anderson provides a voyeuristic look into the lives of small-town folks in 1919. Each of the 23 stories in this classic can stand alone, but all come together, as well, demonstrating how one life affects so many others. Townspeople are seen through the eyes of writer-reporter George Willard, either directly through his observations, or indirectly. The variation in narrators can be distracting, although all but one are exceptional. Also, the dialogue portions of each vignette are handled by a performer different from the narrator for the non-dialogue portions of the vignette, and this continual shifting of voices also detracts from the flow of the story. The performance is nicely packaged, though, with appropriate theme music between each of the 23 chapters. All told, a touching collection. H.L.S. (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine