David Lodge

I admit, I enjoy most of the books I read. But to claim that I love a book - that's something else entirely. 

And yet, that's the unusual experience I've had over the past two weeks, reading David Lodge's Nice Work. I loved this book. 

This was my first experience with Lodge's novels, and I have to say: he's a fabulous stylist, so firmly in command of his medium. And he's learned, too: he knows what he wants to say, and he says it clearly, decisively. His prose are a pleasure, his reach enviable. 

But more than that: Nice Work is as a novel should be. Its story unfolds patiently, its characters real and realistic. And all right, maybe the end of the book is a bit too tidy, but still: it's the journey, right? Lodge is as comfortable with post-modern theory as he is with theories of industry.

Nice Work is just that: it's really nice work. Lodge exposes contradictions implicit in both the academy as well as business; he's a master of Town and Gown, and he uses it to propel a novel that lurks in its intersections. 

What I admired most about Nice Work, though, is Lodge's sense of humor, his ability to find comic qualities across a range of social and intellectual circles. Because for every jab at finance or factories, Lodge proposes an equally sensible nudge at the academic life. 

As I say, if the end of the book was a bit too convenient in terms of its resolution, so be it. That doesn't discount a thing: this is a novel that forces us to reconsider our assumptions and admit - if only for a minute - that we aren't as far apart in our thinking as our politics or political leaders might suggest.