ZOO TIME

This audiobook, by Booker Prize winner Jacobson, is a multitasker. First and foremost, it makes the listener laugh--out loud and uproariously in places. Narrator Simon Shatzberger's gift with comic timing is peerless, and he takes Jacobson's wit to magnificent heights. Next, even amid the humor, the novel makes the listener think. The protagonist, Guy Ableman, is an author who is struggling to write in a world that no longer seems to read. The contemplation of fiction's imminent death runs throughout the novel, paralleling Guy's complex relationship with his sassy wife, Vanessa, and her all too appealing mother, Poppy. Listening to Shatzberger navigate Guy through these dangerous waters is endlessly entertaining, especially his performance of dialogue. So is fiction dead? No--books like this one prove it's alive and well indeed. L.B.F. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine [Published: FEBRUARY 2013]