Book 26 - David Lodge "Therapy"

[jazzy_dave]

David Lodge "Therapy" (Penguin)






What a clever book this was, jogging along quite happily with the slightly grumpy narrator venting his spleen about matters ranging from sex to British Rail when suddenly the rug is pulled out from under the reader. Not once but twice. The second section of the book was very very clever.

I couldn’t rid myself of the feeling that the author really wanted to write a book about the Danish philosopher Kierkegaard, but decided for practical reasons to filter this interest through the narrator of a fictional story. The way facts about Kierkegaard meshed with the events in the book was impressive, but I still felt myself stifling yawns each time the philosopher’s name cropped up. The author just pulled back from having him dominate proceedings completely.

I liked the way small details you might have thought insignificant prove to be important later on in proceedings. The book is also instructive as to the ins and outs of producing a sitcom, and the plot strand involving the character who needed to be written out was fascinating. Like all David Lodge’s books, there is humour throughout. I think if you like his others, you will like this one too.