Deaf Sentence http://www.fishpond.com.au/Books/Deaf-Sentence-David-Lodge/9780141035703

By David Lodge

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About the Author

David Lodge's novels include Changing Places, Small World, Nice Work, Therapy, Thinks... and Author, Author. He has also written stage plays and screenplays, and several books of literary criticism, including The Art of Fiction, Consciousness and the Novel and, most recently, The Year of Henry James.

Reviews

Desmond Bates has been going deaf for some time. Hearing aids help in some ways but make life more difficult in others. As a recently retired university linguistics professor, he still uses the library and the departmental common room regularly, but he finds retirement rather boring. His dull routine is interrupted by a request for help from an American Ph.D. candidate with a unique topic. Her persistence in seeking his help flatters and draws him in, but he is repulsed by her occasionally suggestive acts. Meanwhile, Desmond tries to convince his aging father that assisted living is an option worth considering. A surprise speaking tour in Poland, a visit to Auschwitz, and his father's unexpected stroke give Desmond a new and improved outlook on life. Lodge, the author of 12 other novels (e.g., Changing Places), uses humor and pathos to grapple with the difficulties of aging. His characters are true to life, as are the problems they meet, and the story evokes both laughter and tears. Recommended.--Joanna M. Burkhardt, Univ. of Rhode Island Coll. of Continuing Education Lib., Providence Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.

'Brilliantly entertaining. Makes us giggle, laugh and even roar' Daily Mail 'One of the most moving things I have read in a long while... extremely readable, pitch perfect writing' Spectator 'Very funny. Deaf Sentence supplies the unusual sight of a senior British novelist bringing off the very difficult trick of successfully extending his range' Guardian 'Expert and enjoyable... many laugh-out-loud moments... gloriously funny, moving' Literary Review 'Full to bursting with comic riffs, apercus and insights. Seriously funny' New Statesman 'Very good, deeply enjoyable... rich with satirical set-pieces' Observer 'Sophisticated, beautifully layered... speaks to the intellect as well as the senses. As moving as it is entertaining. Lodge is a consummate observer of modern life' Herald 'There is much that is wonderful' Scotland on Sunday 'A quietly brilliant study of deafness, death and linguistics' Prospect 'Defies categorization... celebrates the sheer preciousness of existence' Irish Independent 'Enjoyable, thought-provoking... Lodge at the top of his game' Irish Times 'One of Britain's best-loved comic writers' The Lady 'He renders the painful isolation of deafness comic. A deeply melancholic novel' Independent 'Extremely readable, generously studded throughout with amusing comic moments underpinned with passages of genuine compassion and insight' Big Issue 'Wise and witty' Tatler 'Witty, exhiliratingly sharp' Sunday Times 'Funny, humane' Financial Times 'Dark and revealing comedy... probably no other work of fiction has described so successfully the multiplicity of confusions, frustrations and social stratagems deriving from deafness' The Times Literary Supplement