Zero K

In recent years, reader Sadoski has parlayed his extensive stage experience on and off Broadway into several notable television roles, most recently in HBO’s The Newsroom and CBS’s Life in Pieces. In bringing to life the audio edition of the latest novel from literary giant DeLillo, Sadoski faces no small task, given that DeLillo narratives tend to embrace a postmodern style steeped in introspective monologue. The story line is narrated from the point of view of Jeff Lockhart, an angst-ridden 30-something trying to make sense of his billionaire father’s secretive venture to allow the aged and infirm to freeze their bodies until future medical breakthroughs allow human immortality. On the domestic front, Jeff juggles his lack of career focus with a similarly scattershot romantic relationship with a devoted teacher and single mother whose troubled preteen son displays a bizarre obsession with terrorism and related global events. Sadoski adapts himself well to the stream-of-consciousness style of prose; he gives a Jeff a consistent voice for processing the disparate plot elements. But the listening experience most likely remains too demanding for this style of novel. A Scribner hardcover. (May)