THE INTUITIONIST

A graduate of the Vertical Transport Institute and the only black female elevator inspector in "the world's tallest city," Lila Mae does an excellent job strictly by intuition. But her sex, her race, and her method rile her empiricist co-workers. Only a day or so after she inspects a new elevator, it crashes tragically, perhaps by sabotage to wreck her credibility. Her situation unfolds in a masterfully crafted tongue-in-cheek novel. Unfortunately, narrator Peter Jay Fernandez doesn't seem to get the joke. He has a pleasant voice and reads with reasonable comprehension of the overt meaning but has no clue to how to present the author's tone and subtext. Further, he reads in an annoyingly lurching iambic pentameter, coming to a full stop after almost every phrase. Y.R. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB/MAR 01]