If you are looking for something a little more serious but written with comic undertones, give a listen to "A Long Way From Home" by Peter Carey (read by Colin McPhillamy, Craig Baldwin, Saskia Maarleveld; Recorded Books; 11.1 hours). There is a breezy exuberance to the telling of this novel about a race, but as it unwinds, one finds it is very much mired in race relations. Carey, a two-time Booker Prize winner, gives us two narrators with strong voices — Irene Bobs, wife of a car salesman, and their neighbor and navigator, Willie Bachhuber. Maarleveld, who was partially raised in New Zealand, offers up a natural-sounding Australian accent as Mrs. Bobs; most of the novel's humor, wry and sometimes sarcastic, comes through her observant eye. (Baldwin narrates only one chapter, ably.)

Source: Los Angeles Times March 24, 2018 00:00 UTC