THAT OLD ACE IN THE HOLE

Though clearly not her best work, Annie Proulx’s THAT OLD ACE IN THE HOLE will appeal to some audiophiles, more for the quality of the writing and narration than for its meandering story. The somewhat wimpy Bob Dollar is sent to the Texas Panhandle, undercover, to find land for his employer’s hog farms. His encounters with the locals of the isolated village of Woolybucket make for occasionally humorous, sometimes poignant, but frequently rather pointless anecdotes. Narrator Tom Stechschulte is always on target. He fully captures Bob and an assortment of motley characters by whom Bob is awed or confused. His consistent vocal differentiation among these folks fits Proulx’s fine descriptions, but the sense remains that both reader and writer are better than their material. T.H. © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/ NOV 03]