"The John Cheever Audio Collection"

Planning for a recent car trip, I was browsing in my beautiful local library for a book-on-CD to accompany me on the trip. “The John Cheever Audio Collection” (Recorded Books, 2003) caught my eye. I pondered. Did I want to spend six and a half hours in Cheeverland? I have read many of Cheever’s stories, and liked them. I looked forward to spending those 6.5 hours in New York and its upscale commuter suburbs, the locales that Cheever wrote so precisely and evocatively -- and sometimes so painfully and depressingly -- about. His observations are always so razor sharp, so spot-on. His characters are both predictable and unexpected. Oh, and alcohol is a constant presence, reminding us of what a big part alcohol played in the affluent suburbs of the 1950s and 1960s, for both social and self-medicating purposes, and evoking a whole way of life during that time period. All in all, I thought, yes, I would like to spend that time with the Cheever stories. So I did. And I am glad I did. The selections include some of Cheever’s classic, best-known stories, such as “The Enormous Radio,” “The Five-Forty-Eight,” “O City of Broken Dreams,” and probably most famous of all, “The Swimmer.” Greatly enhancing the pleasure of listening to these stories is the fact that they are read by Meryl Streep, Edward Herrmann, Blythe Danner, George Plimpton, Peter Gallagher, and the author himself. What a treat to listen to these fine readers read these wonderful stories!