Therapy

by David Lodge

Book Overview

By all appearances, Laurence Passmore is sitting pretty. True, he is almost bald and his nickname in "Tubby", but the TV sitcom he writes keeps the money coming in, he has an exclusive house in Rummridge, a state-of-the-art car, a vigorous sex life with his wife of thirty years, and a platonic mistress to talk shop with. What money can't buy, and his many therapists can't deliver, is contentment. It's not the trouble behind the scenes of his TV show...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140249001
• ISBN13: 9780140249002
• Release Date: July 1996
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.54 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.2" x 7.7"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Choosing oneself

This is an excellent novel by a master of the comic serious, David Lodge. The story is covered in the back cover and other reviews, but I would add that the meaning of this novel and its structure are among the most innovative and genuinely engaging I have seen. Many postmodern novels, a term at which no doubt David Lodge would wince, are structured to allow the reader to impose his own understanding of the facts through intricate structures; but rarely are they deeply engaging. The average comic novel, though entertaining, has little to say. This work has both an elusive structure and engaging comic touches. It also has something important to say. It has the potential to become a work read 50 to 100 years from now despite the topical references to mid 1990's Britain. I won't spoil it for you because all will be revealed. Suffice it to say that our protagonist chooses to live in the present rejecting the despair of the unrecoverable past and the hopeless future.

Lodge is Good Enough, Smart Enough,and,DoggoneIt, I Like Him

David Lodge's novels are proof that contemporary mainstream fiction doesn't have to be depressing, sterile, or plotless. It doesn't have to leave you wondering why the author bothered. Heck, it can even have a happy ending and still be worth reading.Therapy has it all. The sometimes self-deluding but always likeable Tubby is an intelligent and interesting main character, and Lodge keeps the reader turning the pages to see what will happen to Tubby next. (That last may sound like cliched praise, but it is nevertheless high praise: there are plenty of writers who CAN'T keep the reader's interest.) Lodge uses several writing styles in this book and he's so good he can make everything from philosophical musing to rather broad comedy work. He can go from the hilarious police statement by Brett Sutton to the near-poignancy of a remembered first love and make it all come together in one delightful whole. Bonuses: along the way we get a glimpse of the making of British sitcoms, a somewhat satirical portrait of our societal compulsion to therapy, a funny mid-life crisis, several surprises, and as much information about Kierkegaard as most readers will ever want to know. And, yes, there's even an upbeat ending. Do something good for yourself already: forget the latest self-help book and its "twelve steps to recovery from all that ails you" pablum and read a David Lodge novel. If not this one, another one. (Read one and you'll want to read the others anyway.) Lodge will do more for your heart and mind than any amount of twaddle about inner childishness.

Therapy, anyone?

what i loved about this book was that david lodge took a character that was worthy of contempt and made me sympathize with him...the story is a first person journal told by Laurence " Tubby " Passmore, with other dialogues from friends and and ex-wife. while tubby seems to have it all: a great job, a nice home, fancy car, a big bank account, and a loving wife, he feels empty; and then it all comes apart : his wife leaves him, telling him, she couldn't stand him, his job as a scriptwriter for a sitcom is catapulted into a state of flux and and he starts to doubt his sexual worth...so what does he do? dabbles in exstitentialism...without giving away the rest of the story, the book can serve as an introduction to kierkegaarde for the layman. tubby uses kierkegaarde-ian philosophy and applies it to his life, using it as his moral compass, to guide himself through his turmoil.... several twists happen: tubby befriends a homeless man named grahame, who sleeps on the porch of his london flat, and he goes in search of a lost love. this book tells about therapy in its many forms: writing,telling your soul to someone, or taking a journey to " find yourself " lodge takes a heady subject like exstitentialism and makes it souffle-light and easy to digest...

Although not his best an excellent book

David Lodge is one of our best writers. This book is laugh-out-loud funny, well paced and thought-provoking. Highly recommended.

One of the funniest and most charming books. . .

. . . that I've read in a long time. Anyone who is in any kind of therapy (and I include aroma-, physical-, and psycho- in that list) should enjoy this clever novel and the endearing narrator