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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
This was an impulse thrift purchase. I find I am usually happy with any book that satirizes the academy, so picked it out of the pile. This book is fun because the Governor Duck of California, though name was changed, is clearly Ronald Reagan, and Euphoric University is clearly UC-Berkeley. I've no clue the institution Rummage University could possibly be representing since I'm unfamiliar with Britain's academies outside of Cambridge and Oxford. I may have to look into that some day.
The book isn't a spectacular read, but served the purposes of keeping me entertained for the evening while fighting a cold and a fund drive disrupting regular public television programming. I paid $1 for the book and that seems a fair price, especially since the ending was no ending at all.
The book isn't a spectacular read, but served the purposes of keeping me entertained for the evening while fighting a cold and a fund drive disrupting regular public television programming. I paid $1 for the book and that seems a fair price, especially since the ending was no ending at all.
Just brilliant! Really funny. Also, the first book I read after leaving home.
A lively predecessor to Small World, Changing Places is a story about two English professors doing an international University exchange which is a quarter over before they even get off the planes in their opposite number's country. This book isn't entirely good - the racial and sexual undertones of a paragraph set in a felon holding tank is particularly retrograde - but it is mostly entertaining and amusing. The men aren't entirely clean and the women are allowed independence and intelligence quite separate from the men in their lives.
Lodge also plays with structure, as when one chapter consists solely of newspaper headlines and another of only correspondence between the husbands and wives (including one reference to the death of the epistolary novel). This falters somewhat when Lodge transforms the final chapter into a film script so that he can get away without ending the book - but he did follow it up ten years later, I suppose.
I like Lodge and I don't mind saying so. If this was his breakout novel, then it's certainly deserving of bringing him into the public sphere.
Lodge also plays with structure, as when one chapter consists solely of newspaper headlines and another of only correspondence between the husbands and wives (including one reference to the death of the epistolary novel). This falters somewhat when Lodge transforms the final chapter into a film script so that he can get away without ending the book - but he did follow it up ten years later, I suppose.
I like Lodge and I don't mind saying so. If this was his breakout novel, then it's certainly deserving of bringing him into the public sphere.
This is a recommendation from a dear friend. An academic, a political activist, an all around nice guy with a great sense of humor. I'm excited to finally read this one (Bernie recommended it to me about 2 years ago!!)
Original, poignant, funny.
A good and quick read, and does not take itself too seriously.
A good and quick read, and does not take itself too seriously.
I really enjoyed reading many types of style in one book. It was interesting, always pointing different point of view.
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
OBS LÆSTE PÅ DANSK. Træls oversat, unødvendigt seksuel, men derudover meget fin
(Deleted this review twice now)
Mad how quickly I can read David lodge books.
Agree with some reviews that this concept could have been more interesting, rather than essentially making it an extended wife swap.
Still quite funny at times, if a bit male/rude.
Interesting structure choices, with epistolary chapters, and a really fun ending, even if it seemed a bit lazy/unexpected, though I guess that’s the point.
Mad how quickly I can read David lodge books.
Agree with some reviews that this concept could have been more interesting, rather than essentially making it an extended wife swap.
Still quite funny at times, if a bit male/rude.
Interesting structure choices, with epistolary chapters, and a really fun ending, even if it seemed a bit lazy/unexpected, though I guess that’s the point.