BREATHING LESSONS

Maggie Moran and husband Ira drive from their home in Baltimore to the funeral of Maggie's oldest friend's husband. Through the course of the day, with many detours in route and memory, a portrait of a marriage emerges. Tyler's evocative prose and ability to make the lives of "ordinary" people rich and complex shine through this engrossing production. Kate Harper's tone is alternately wry and serious in this seemingly comic, but often serious and deeply moving, story. Her fully voiced reading maintains the pace, even during long flashbacks. A single day in the life of three generations of this family leaves the listener feeling as it its members are old friends. M.A.M. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG 95]