AN AFFECTING TALE OF ARTISTS

PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS

By Allan Gurganus, Random House Audiobooks, 3 hours, abridged, $18. Read by the author.

Allan Gurganus’ antic, Southern-accented voice enlivens this supremely affecting tale of a group of artists cavorting and creating in New York City during the pre-AIDS period of the early 1980s. Perhaps the most magnetic character is painter Alabama Byrnes, who thinks nothing of attacking the floorboards in her apartment to accommodate a large canvas.