Nice Work

by David Lodge

Book Overview

A funny, intelligent, superbly paced social comedy. --The New York Times

Vic Wilcox, a self-made man and managing director of an engineering firm. has little regard for academics, and even less for feminists. So when Robyn Penrose, a trendy leftist teacher, is assigned to shadow Vic under a goverment program created to foster mutual understanding between town and gown, the hilarious collusion of lifestyles and ideologies that ensues seems...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140133968
• ISBN13: 9780140133967
• Release Date: July 1990
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.1" x 7.8"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Nice Book

It's the mid-eighties. It's England. Robyn Penrose, a young teacher of literature and kneejerk leftist, and Vic Wilcox, a rather conventional manager of an engineering firm and a proudly self-made man, are both gong along happily enough until town is forced to meet gown in a government-sponsored "shadowing" program. Robyn and Vic grate against each other, gradually forcing changes in both their ways of life. It's a wonderful portrayal, not just of academia and of floundering industry, but of how people can get so caught up in their own insular worlds they have no notion of what is going on just across town. Robyn writes about Victorian industrial novels and always supports labor over business but knows nothing about contemporary industry and doesn't actually know any working class people or any businessmen. Vic supports continued business growth but has himself stopped growing. Their contact forces both to reexamine their comfortable assumptions about business, politics, literature, and the role of the university. Inevitably, their personal relationships are changed--not just their relationships with each other, but that of Robyn with her significant other and of Vic with his family. Hard economic times may be affecting both their worlds, but by the end of the book, Vic and Robyn may just be better equipped to deal with these changes than they were before.

Up the Academy!

After I finished grad school, a fellow student bought me this book as a going away gift. She had written on the frontispiece, "This book helps me keep perspective on how the rest of the world sees us academics." It was the first David Lodge book I read, but certainly not the last. Robyn Penrose, Ph.D. in English, has been assigned to shadow Vic Wilcox, factory manager in industrial Rummidge (a fictional version of the English city of Birmingham) for a semester. Of course Mr. Wilcox is going to learn something about feminist criticism; what you might not realize is how much Dr. Penrose will learn about English industry. David Lodge's familiar characters from his other novels, _Changing_Places_ and _Small_World_, are back here in supporting roles. But the real stars here are Robyn and Vic, two people who are very adversarial at first, only to become quite understanding of the other's point of view. Lodge's resolution of his plot seems a bit forced, but the writing is extremely intelligent: Lodge effortlessly provides humorous examples of the seemingly difficult literary theories that Robyn espouses. This book did more for my appreciation of critical theory than anything other text--and without the pain of reading Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, or Julia Kristeva. Anyone who's worked in academia will not only recognize the truth that is contained in this novel; (s)he will also recognize several of the people. Others might wish to start with _Small_World_, but _Nice_Work_ will let you know what you think of David Lodge in short order.

Another great book

OK, we all know David Lodge is a very witty man, and his hilarious creations in "Changing Places" and "Small World" are some of his most famous. Well, here they are, back again, in another Rummidge Campus novel--this time the main characters are Dr. Robyn Penrose and local plant manager Vic Wilcox (with special cameos by Philip Swallow, Hilary Swallow, Morris Zapp and even a mention of Desiree, of course). They meet up when Robyn is chosen to 'shadow' Vic on an Industry Matters type scheme. Their opposing view points grate off each other for the first hundred or so pages--but halfway through the novel we get hints of something very special beginning to flower.It's not as funny or as well-plotted as "Changing Places" or "Therapy", his two greats, but then again that's hardly much of a condemnation. The man's only mortal, after all---and this novel, while not his best, is still a brilliant read and an essential conclusion to the Rummidge Campus trilogy. Read it!

A wonderful play on perspectives

This book is a masterly exploration of how insular people become living their lives in one culture (in this case, industry or academia) . When Robyn, highly successful in academia, meets Vic, highly successful in industry, the suspicion, culture shock and new insights on both sides are glorious to watch. I was also impressed by his skill at characterisation - Vic and his family are very well-drawn, and Robyn is marvellous... I know Lodge is an English Lit. lecturer himself, but to portray an idealistic, brilliant, female lecturer so convincingly takes talent. Funny and perceptive. Nice work, David.

This book is smart, funny, and touching.

It's rare to find a novel this pleasurable that at the same time is so very stimulating. David Lodge does more than tell a wonderful story (though he very clearly does that); he draws subtle parallels between fact and fiction, the novels his characters analyze and the world they live in. I read this at a gulp, then went back to sip slowly of the many delicious parts. As soon as I can put it down (and that may not be this year!) I will send it to my mother. David Lodge can tell her everything I've been trying for years to tell her about being an academic, and make her laugh as fully as I did.