READING IN THE DARK

If two subjects have amply absorbed modern authors, they are coming-of-age and the Irish "troubles." Seamus Deane herein combines the two, his young hero telling us how he grew up in Northern Ireland during the '40's and '50's. Whatever new or true he has to say about either, he wraps in imagery so vivid that one feels, hears, smells and sees it all as if at the scene. In a wintry Ulster largo, Stephen Rea drones through this material, as if humming nostalgically to himself. Somehow this approach (or lack of it) produces a stunning effect, though it takes the better part of the first side to get used to it. Y.R. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: MAR/APR 98]