Letters from Atlantis
By: Robert Silverberg / Narrated By: Tom Parker aka Grover Gardner
Length: 2 hrs and 59 mins
Uhm, wanted to throttle our hero but then it picks up a bit o’ much-needed speed.
It’s like this, see: Other than an epistolary novel here, an epistolary novel there? I generally don’t enjoy that format. So the title Letters from Atlantis SHOULDA had me giving this choice for my week’s Listening the squid’s eye… with a good, solid, smack to the head. But Atlantis is in the title as well, and that’s kinda sorta really cool, huh?
But right away author Robert Silverberg falls into the As You Know Trap. Our hero is Roy, and he’s from 21st century America where scientists have discovered a way to travel back in time to study history as it was actually lived... by establishing their spirits in the person’s mind/body. Roy’s gone back aaaaages to tuck himself into the Prince, a young man of the ruling elite. Earlier studies landed scientists in people who had few opportunities to really experience the entirety of Atlantis society.
Okay, but then, after landing in the Prince, Roy is imMEDiately struck with utter desperation to correspond with the love of his life, Lora, who herself is in prehistoric “Poland”. Now, correspondence is absolutely forbidden to the scientists: Too risky to have letters fall into the hands of the contemporary people, where they’d see writing as weird-patoot scrawls that might be the works of demons. But Roy canNOT help himself, and so he tells Lora Every. Single. Thing that’s going on, with Silverberg constantly delivering info to us and to Lora that she’s WELL aware of. As You Know over and over again. Who writes like that, seriously?! Uhm, Silverberg turns Roy into THAT guy.
Further, we learn that the only way for Roy to manage the writing of such missives (Since OBViously the Prince doesn’t know 21st century American English) is by completely taking over the Prince’s body, numbing the poor dude into a state of unconsciousness, and having this unwitting victim write write write until Roy has said his (long, drawn-out) piece. Then the Prince “comes to” and wonders why the heck he’s all disoriented and why the heck his arm is cramping. NOT smart of Roy, NOT understandable of Roy, NOT cool of Roy.
So that had me wanting to throttle our hero.
But then things get rather interesting as the Prince realizes HEY, I’m being Possessed by a Demon! Whatthehey?!? A failed attempt to exorcise Roy has the Prince somewhat laconically accepting his fate, and he begins to speak directly to Roy: Dude, you a Demon? No? From the future? A Wizard then?
Of COURSE interactions with the inhabited individual is forbidden as well, but by now, what with the constant lovelorn letters to Lora, Roy’s in for a penny, in for a pound. Then the story gets interesting and entertaining as well.
Man, I tell ya: The audiobook opens with the narrator reading the title, Letters from Atlantis, and then there’s a production glitch where he says Read By… glitch… “er”, so I reeeeally thought Grover Gardn-”er” was doing the honors. Tom Parker, my sincerest apologies for this misunderstanding on my part, because you did quite well. While the text had Roy sooo needy and desperate, you infused enough wry warmth that, tho’ I did indeed wanna pop him a good one every now and then in the beginning, I accepted him completely. When things are revealed, there’s a sense of wonder in your voice that was quite nice, and when it all hit the fan, I enjoyed Roy’s frantic and anguished efforts to change the entire course of history… tsk, tsk, tsk.
So this li’l audiobook could’ve been a nice short story if Silverberg had cut some of Roy’s bombastic gloom in the beginning -OR- it would’ve been a nice a-bit-longer story if more time had been spent on an ending that wound up pretty goshdanged abrupt. Roy learns a HUUUUGE Life Lesson that would definitely be good for listeners to ponder, so dude! why the clipped finish?
Anyhoo, a sometimes exasperating Listen, but it DID have promise.
Still, not a fan o’ All Things Epistolary…
UPDATE: Due to m’ dithering on the narrator, added to differing notations from various sites about said narration? Big Sis brought her trusty sleuthing skills out, and discovered that Grover Gardner IS Tom Parker… -and- the man is Alexander Adams as well. Soooo… kudos to Tom Parker for delivering a performance that is so totally in line with one Grover Gardner would deliver! Ha! :)
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