This small collection contains four of Cheever's short stories: Goodbye My Brother, The Enormous Radio, Housebreaker of Shady Hill, and The Golden Age. These are sobering and evocative stories that portray difficult and complex human relationships. Their setting is upper class WASP society in the post - WW2 era. Although the stories take place in a bygone world (when men wore hats and garters, drank martinis, and smoked incessantly), they transcend their setting. The stories are superbly narrated by Mason Adams, whose gravely voice and inflection couldn't be better in setting the mood and bringing out the stories' meanings.

This audio tape series was my first introduction to Cheever's work. I found it sufficiently engaging that I shall certainly seek out one of his short story collections. ( )