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anywiebs's review against another edition
2.0
The book wasn't as funny as promised. The story spans a few months in a retired linguistics professor's life and the troubles he experiences due to his hearing problems. There are some good and interesting aspects to the book, like the changing narrative (from 1. person to 3. person narration), or his linguistic expertise, or the first hand experiences he gives on slowly going deaf. But apart from that the story isn't all that gripping. There are some promising starts but they don't live up to expectations and rather die out flat.
sassenak's review against another edition
3.0
Un 3,75/5 mais que je n'ai pas voulu arrondir à 4/5 car mon impression générale reste mitigée. Si j'ai apprécié l'idée de départ et les premiers chapitres, j'ai assez vite commencé à me lasser mais surtout j'ai commencé à trouver le narrateur un peu trop imbu de lui-même, surtout quand on voit certains de ses comportements dignes d'un adolescent pas très futé (alors qu'il a plus de 60 ans et qu'il est professeur d'université !). Par contre, c'est bien écrit et je me demande comment les traducteurs se sont dépatouillés des "jeux de mots" inhérents aux problèmes d'audition. J'ai aussi beaucoup apprécié les passages parlant du langage de façon un peu plus universitaire et/ou technique car j'ai appris différentes choses et qu'ensuite, on perçoit différemment comment les choses dites s'articulent et on fait attention aux petits détails. Même si je n'ai pas beaucoup aimé le héros de l'histoire, j'ai retrouvé beaucoup de mon expérience dans son récit : sa relation avec son père et le comportement de celui-ci qui m'a rappelé le mien (l'éloignement physique, le fait qu'il soit veuf et ne s'occupe pas beaucoup du ménage chez lui mais qu'il refuse toute aide extérieure, son refus de porter des prothèses auditives ...) et ce, jusqu'à la fin du roman (qui est plus ou moins ce que j'ai vécu en début d'année et qui m'a donc fait verser quelques larmes). Il y a donc beaucoup de points intéressants dans ce livre mais il m'a manqué un lien fort avec le narrateur qui m'a souvent énervée par son attitude !
wombatjenni's review against another edition
4.0
A painful, yet funny examination of getting old and how our physical bodies inevitably begin to betray us. It's a topic nobody thinks about before they hit their 30s, and even then, the thought process is more along the lines of "ow, I guess I'm not young and invincible anymore. Oh well!"
Lodge's descriptions of disability-induced shame and the ensuing coping methods are great; they're helpful in understanding why anyone would knowingly make their lives a little bit harder sometimes.
This story has everything, but I can also see how it might be a total turnoff for someone who has zero interest in linguistics: the protagonist is a retired linguistics professor, and Lodge doesn't shy away from launching into linguistics at any opportunity. Then again, there's also a great scene where the protagonist is trying to compensate his hearing loss at a party by talking without pause about any subject at all until his listeners get annoyed and turn away from the seemingly pompous git. There's a lot of meta here: what is how we truly feel and what we truly fear, and what is us trying to obfuscate those feelings by focusing our energies on relaying the knowledge we have.
A fun read all in all, even with the Manic Dream Pixie Girl at Uni side plot.
Lodge's descriptions of disability-induced shame and the ensuing coping methods are great; they're helpful in understanding why anyone would knowingly make their lives a little bit harder sometimes.
This story has everything, but I can also see how it might be a total turnoff for someone who has zero interest in linguistics: the protagonist is a retired linguistics professor, and Lodge doesn't shy away from launching into linguistics at any opportunity. Then again, there's also a great scene where the protagonist is trying to compensate his hearing loss at a party by talking without pause about any subject at all until his listeners get annoyed and turn away from the seemingly pompous git. There's a lot of meta here: what is how we truly feel and what we truly fear, and what is us trying to obfuscate those feelings by focusing our energies on relaying the knowledge we have.
A fun read all in all, even with the Manic Dream Pixie Girl at Uni side plot.
jeannedes's review against another edition
4.0
Insightful and touching story humorously taking us into the challenges of our aging bodies giving out (incipient deafness here) long before the rest of our faculties atrophy. Good characterizations of the impatience and self-criticism in relating to and caring for a difficult elder parent.
baklavopita's review against another edition
5.0
Wow. I want to read other books by David Lodge now. I love the way he writes--very straightforward, very smart, very real. This novel, about a man who is prematurely losing his hearing, was so real that I stopped several times to make sure whether I was reading a novel or a memoir.
mathiasblack's review against another edition
4.0
This novel about growing old--including coping with deafness--manages a delicate balance between cringe-inducing comedy and deep sadness. Lodge has a light touch that's refreshing and very effective for such an emotionally wrought subject. I've knocked a star off for the mix of first and third-person narration, which is an interesting idea, but not, I think, wholly successful here. Fortunately, it doesn't distrupt the narrative. Highly recommended. I look forward to reading more of Lodge's novels.
nocto's review against another edition
3.0
I always enjoy David Lodge, but never as much as I did fifteen years ago when I read all his early work.
pehall's review against another edition
4.0
Another great Lodge novel with the usual themes of academic life, sex and Catholicism. Rolls tragedy and comedy together.