Buddha of Suburbia.

BUDDHA OF SUBURBIA. Hanif Kureishi. 1990/2003. Read by Christopher Simpson. 10 tapes. 10 hrs. 45 mins. BBC Audiobooks America, Chivers Audiobooks. 0-7540-8382-9. $93.50.Vinyl; plot, author, reader notes. A

"Race, gender, f--king and farce": Kureishi's character lists the ingredients for a pleasant evening's entertainment--and that's just what Buddha offers. Karim, intelligent, perceptive and open to experience, is the son of a Caucasian mother and an Indian father. In his late teens, he's struggling with all the usual identity problems coupled with the added complexity a dark skin brings to bear in white suburban 1970s London, when his father launches himself on a career as a local wise man and then leaves the family to live with another woman. The disruption of family order precipitates Karim's journey of self-discovery through the excesses of 1970s pop culture.

Simpson, with his appealing voice, creates a wide range of accents and characterizations that suit the panoply of characters in Buddha, winner of the Whitbread Prize for Best Novel, and the basis for a BBC miniseries. Includes explicit sexuality. Jacqueline S. Edwards, Bedford, MA