The Crazyladies Of Pearl Street.

THE CRAZYLADIES OF PEARL STREET. Trevanian. 2005. Read by Lee Leoncavallo. 13 cds. 15.5 hrs. Books on Tape. 1-4159-2153-9. $79.20. Vinyl; plot notes. SA *

Spy novelist Trevanian switches genres to produce a poignant and historically rich autobiographical novel of a boy who comes of age in post-Depression America. Abandoned once again by her con-artist husband in 1936, Jean-Luc LaPointe's mother makes a home for her two children on Pearl Street, a squalid but diverse and life-affirming community in Albany, New York. Eccentric and difficult, she is strong in character but physically weak, prone to bouts of depression and lung trouble. Help is rare and money even more scarce. Luke, who narrates, is gifted in language, with a strong sense of the absurd. He creates elaborate story games for himself, "narrative narcotics," which allow him to escape the slums and gain surcease from pain. Thus, a writer is eventually born.

Leoncavallo reads with expressive warmth, befitting a nostalgic retrospective. Trevanian provides a website with 68 pages of commentary, annotations and related links to help make the reality and sensibilities of the '30s and '40s fully comprehensible to generations that otherwise might not understand their profound impact on their own. Francine Levitov, New York, NY