Sudden Rain

By: Maritta Wolff

Narrated by: Barbara Rosenblat

An award-winning author's long-lost novel is a perfect portrait of 1972 America, written in the moment, without irony or retrospect.

Tom and Nedith have been married for 30 years, but their marriage is one of convenience and finances. Their 22-year-old son, Peter, has recently split from his wife after less than a year. Three more couples are experiencing the throes of middle-class disaffection. Times are changing, the generation gap is widening, and the stage is set for a stormy weekend for these five couples.

Like John Updike's Rabbit novels and Mary McCarthy's The Group, Maritta Wolff's Sudden Rain distills a particular time and place, in this case, Los Angeles in the early 1970s. Each character springs vividly to life; due to unrest, revelation, and disaster, all are compelled to reconsider the choices they've made. Riveting and resonant, this long-lost tour de force is a masterpiece of emotion and keen observation.

©2005 Leonard Stegman (P)2005 HighBridge Company

Critic reviews

"A brilliant, noirish cultural commentary on upheaval in American marriage and politics, circa 1970." (Publishers Weekly)

Boring

This is the first book by my favorite narrator that I did not care for. The characters were boring, and and the book was difficult to finish bacause I simply didn't care about any of them. I thought this was a total waste of a credit!

the word

this is amusing for a little while, but not for long. it's disturbingly sexist and the unlikeable characters aren't worth following..