The Sun Also Rises

[Editor's Note: The following is a combined review with A+ AUDIO: MACBETH.]--These multimedia productions are a fine introduction to these works for a high school or developmental undergraduate audience. Each consists of a spoken overview of the work in question and a PDF file with a study guide. They are well written, with interesting and pertinent biographical details included along with the analysis of the works. MACBETH also includes the script of the play. The Hemingway overview is read with gusto by Frank Dwyer, an actor, playwright, and teacher of drama. His voice is resonant, and he speaks with confidence and authority. Roger Rees, a British actor and director, performs the Shakespeare overview with all the polish and panache of his experience. He is spirited and easy to comprehend. M.T.F. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine

Hemingway's celebrated novel of American expatriates adrift in Europe after WWI is narrated by acclaimed actor William Hurt. Like Hemingway's stylistic choices, Hurt's reading takes a bit of getting used to. But as the novel progresses, the actor's slow cadence and emotionally understated renderings of character and dialogue emerge as the right approach for the material. Hemingway is at his best in the careful, deliberate accretion of precise physical and emotional detail--he brings scenes to life as a painter brings light and color alive on a canvas. Hurt's reading mirrors Hemingway's quiet craftsmanship and ultimately strikes the listener as not just a passable interpretation, but an inevitable one. M.G. 2007 Audies Award Finalist (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine

In this concise and straightforward audio drama adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's hugely influential 1926 novel, a loose-knit group of American and British expatriates tire of the endless parties and soirees of Paris. They head off to the annual bullfights of the Festival of San Fermin in Pamplona, Spain, in hopes of adventure and rekindling old romances. Film regulars Patrick Heusinger, as the world-weary journalist Jake Barnes, and Rhian Rees, as the dazzling and chaotic Lady Brett Ashley, lead a fine ensemble cast in exploring some of Hemingway's most important and iconic themes: broken love, man against nature, and the hopes and disillusionment of post-WWI's Roaring Twenties. A fine introduction to the voices and characters of the Lost Generation. B.P. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine