THE PELICAN

Narrator Stefan Rudnicki's deep and resonant voice gives Driessen's short novel the aura of a folktale. Set in a nondescript town in the former Yugoslavia on the eve of the war in the 1980s, the audiobook features two ordinary men, Andrej, the postman, and Josip, the funicular operator. The pair spend their lives circling each other in an unending cycle of blackmail. At times, Rudnicki adds a wry tone to the story of the unlikeliest of friends, lending it the farcical tone it calls for. But both the author and the narrator make the tale touching, full of the longings of the residents of the town. Though brief, this work gives the listener a meaningful slice of life now gone. D.G.P. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine [Published: MAY 2020]