THE EUROPEANS

This companion to THE AMERICAN, though half as long and complex, pleases from first to last. Reading with an easy grace and cosmopolitan assurance, Eleanor Bron perfectly matches James's polished prose and urbane protagonists. Coming to Boston from Europe, Felix and his elder sister, the Baroness Eugenia, appear to mystify and dazzle their modest relations but really are perplexed by them. Bron's reading is alert with nuance. She alternates between energy and ennui as character or occasion dictates, voicing the characters lightly, in keeping with James's strong narrative control. In so doing, she mirrors perfectly both James's tense and ambiguous world, as well as his masterful control of that world. P.E.F. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: SEPT 96]