AUTOPORTRAIT

Novelist and poet Jesse Ball seems to be completely honest in this memoir, so much so that he comes across as arrogant, neurotic, and, frankly, unpleasant. The structure of the audiobook is quite unusual, making it difficult for narrator James Patrick Cronin to develop characters in any of the usual ways. The text jumps around in seeming free association rather than a time-bound narrative, so all Cronin can do is follow along and speak clearly. In most cases, by the time he can start developing a scene, he is switching to the next one. However, he does so smoothly and seamlessly, jumping from one fragmentary anecdote to another as rapidly as the author's mind. This is not an easy listen, but it is an interesting one. D.M.H. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine [Published: SEPTEMBER 2022]