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Deaf Sentence (2008)

by David Lodge(Favorite Author)

3.58 of 5 Votes: 6

ISBN

1846551684 (ISBN13: 9781846551680)

languge

English

genre

Humor

publisher

Harvill Secker

review 1: I really liked some aspects of this book. The narrator's mishaps in dealing with hearing loss and retirement from academia and his relationship with his family (cantankerous dad, wife who is more sociable and conventional than he is, adult children). However, I was turned off by the subplot involving the (female, American) grad student who is trying to get him to mentor her, but apparently can't make any progress on her thesis without plagiarizing some man or other, and turns into a bit of a stalker, making a series of bizarre sexual advances... it just seemed really tone-deaf and sexist, a throwback to a time when women weren't welcome in academia. I've been wanting to read other books by Lodge but based on this one I'm reconsidering.
review 2: At times thi... mores book felt like a deaf/death sentence. I have found lodge's books in the past to be funny, comedy-tragic and painfully honest, and although this had all the ingredients, it didn't quite pull off the recipe. Sometimes it just seemed plain sad. I listened to this on audiobook, and that may have made a difference, perhaps the reader was too dull in his interpretation, or perhaps he was bored. In any case, the usual humour to be found in Lodge books seemed disappointingly thin. I had hoped that it would pick up through the novel, and that interest at least would be added by his unusual relationship with Alex, however, this aspect too seemed to endnote disappointingly. I felt that the author too had perhaps lost the will to live. I have enjoyed the author's previous books so this was a disappointment. less

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