From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Scott Brick gives a super performance in his reading of this revisionist telling of the Superman legend. Set in the 1930s, De Haven's Superman is not the stalwart do-gooder of the comics. He's just a simple, decent guy, with all the faults and doubts of any young man coming of age during the Great Depression. It just so happens he can leap buildings in a single bound, bend steel with his bare hands..., etc. His journey from Smallville to Hollywood then New York City, where he meets Lois Lane, and his arch nemesis Lex Luthor makes for a rich, multilayered novel. From Brick's enthusiastic reading of the book's title, which is reminiscent of the old Saturday morning serials, it is clear that he fully embraces this material. Brick smoothly handles the novel's descriptive passages, loaded with historical and pop culture references to create an authentic sense of time and place. His characterizations are spot on, whether it's the arrogant smugness of Luthor, the shy, polite stammering of farm boy Kent or the plucky assertiveness of Lois Lane, Brick shines throughout. This is an audiobook not to be missed.
Ballantine paperback (Reviews, Sept. 26, 2005). (Jan.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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From AudioFile
It's Superman all right, but not one most fans have ever seen. Tom De Haven's realistic story explores how a nervous Superboy becomes a confident Superman in a very adult story. Scott Brick lays out a good yarn that begins in 1935 and ends in 1938, when Superman goes public. Brick's trademark delivery, with sentences ending in upturned final syllables, works well in this story of a fumbling Clark Kent learning to shed his Smallville skin. Superman purists may object to Clark's smoking and drinking, and to his leaving Pa Kent alone on the farm while he takes up wandering the country like Woody Guthrie. Likewise, Lois Lane is surprisingly slutty, and Lex Luthor is almost unrecognizable as a Manhattan alderman. M.S. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine--
Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
