 |
Deaf Sentenceby David Lodge |
Arlene Almas: Desmond Bates, a retired linguistics professor in England,
is married to Fred (Winifred) and part of a blended family made
up of their grown children and grandchildren from their first marriages.
He is also responsible for his aging father, who is increasingly less
able to care for himself but refuses to move to an old age home near his son.
Desmond also happens to be hearing impaired, which affects his life and
relationships more than anyone who has not experienced this condition can imagine.
(Disclosure: I too am hearing impaired, and Lodge's descriptions of
how hearing loss affects nearly every aspect of life resonated very
deeply with me.) In the midst of all this, Desmond meets Alex Loom, an
American graduate student working on her dissertation in linguistics at
the university where he used to teach. From that moment, his life becomes
progressively more complicated by Alex's twisted flirtations and
her obsessive insistence that he help her with her dissertation and
even replace her advisor. I found this an excellent story of marriage,
family, disability, and potential scandal, with totally believable characters
and very well written - I'm giving it my highest recommendation.
Rating: *****
Have you read this book, too? Click
here
to submit your review.
