Review by Booklist Review
Lodge is a witty storyteller with an unerring instinct for the absurd, whether he's poking fun at academic life or mocking the excesses of tourism, as he did in his last novel, Paradise News (1992). Here he takes on the self-important but quite silly world of British television. His hero, Tubby Passmore, is a wildly successful sitcom screenwriter with a passion for Kierkegaard. Well into his fifties and quite wealthy, he knows he should be happy with his athletic university professor wife, his big country house and London apartment, his popular series, and his platonic girlfriend, but instead he's suffering from free-floating angst and a host of nagging yet elusive ailments. All this has turned him into a therapy addict, and he sneaks off to his psychoanalyst, acupuncturist, physical therapist, and orthopedic surgeon as though they were secret lovers, but none bring relief. Only writing helps, and Tubby's droll accounts of his hilarious misadventures are rich amalgams of innocence and irony. With this larky novel, Lodge has proved once again that fiction can have a strong moral center and still be utterly charming. --Donna Seaman
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
British satirist Lodge's latest concerns a successful sitcom writer suffering from an existential malaise. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Well known for his academic satires (e.g., Changing Places), Lodge here crafts the story of a successful sitcom writer who has everything but what he wants the most: peace of mind. Viking will be redesigning Lodge's backlist titles in a renewed promotion of his books. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A superb satirist of academic life on both sides of the Atlantic (Small World, 1985; Nice Work, 1989, etc.), Lodge here turns to a subject much hashed over in American fiction: male midlife crisis and the countless trendy therapies it's engendered. Laurence ``Tubby'' Passmore, bald and rotund in his 50s, suffers from a free-floating sense of dread. To all appearances, his life is going rather well: A successful television writer with two grown children, he enjoys a vigorous sex life with his university prof wife, Sally, to whom he's remained loyal for some 30 years. But a nagging unhappiness first manifests itself in a troubling knee injury that even surgery can't cure. This ``Internal Derangement of the Knee'' (a doctor's way of saying ``I Don't Know'') begins to dominate Tubby's consciousness, setting off his obsessive fears of impotence, his zombie-like behavior at home, and a strange identification with Kierkegaard's life and philosophy. With his long-running TV series in jeopardy, Tubby also provokes his wife into a separation. When things take this considerable turn for the worse, Lodge begins to let loose. Tubby's jealous rage, his fumbling sexual adventures, his pathetic effort to develop a new series on his favorite Danish philosopher--all make for hilarious set pieces. Tubby's various therapies also provide some good fun: his acupuncture, his aroma therapy, his physiotherapy, his cognitive behaviorist, as well as his formerly ``Platonic mistress,'' Amy, a brassy divorcée who confirms her own dislike of sex. Finally, Tubby finds peace by delving deep into his past; he tries to atone for his poor behavior toward his first love, an Irish Catholic beauty named Maureen. Tracking her down in the present, he joins her on a religious pilgrimage in Spain: a spiritual journey that crystallizes his own sense of religion as understood from--who else?--Kierkegaard. The decidedly untrendy ending--personal healing through a leap of faith--redeems an otherwise commonplace novel, one more reminiscent of Lodge's earlier fiction about Catholicism and the sexual revolution.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Review by Library Journal Review
Review by Kirkus Book Review
