LOVE IN LOWERCASE

Scott Aiello lends a steady and studious voice to this beloved translation from Spanish about serendipity, happenstance, and love. A cat arrives on Samuel's doorstep on New Year's Day, sparking a series of events that leads the lonely linguistics professor to venture outside his books and routine. Aiello's narration starts out uninflected, a style that works well for Samuel's early musings on the cat's appearance. As Samuel grows emotionally, Aiello's inflection changes. The author dramatizes the phenomenon in which "a small act of kindness sets off a chain of events that come around again in the form of multiplied love." The narration, which supports the sweet story rather than outshining it, allows the listener to ponder these events. A.L.C. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine [Published: MARCH 2016]