- Paperback: 176 pages
- Publisher: Penguin; New Ed edition (27 Jun 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0140062149
- ISBN-13: 978-0140062144
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.7 x 1.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 129,259 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
|
There is a newer edition of this item:
|
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
The Rhythm Method is the curse of young Adam Appleby’s life and the cause of his children’s.
While Adam gestates his thesis in the British Museum, his wife worries at home because her period is late and a fourth little bundle of (expensive) joy seems to be on the way, thanks to ‘Vatican Roulette’. Though Adam’s experience is constantly coloured by the authors he is studying, one distinction remains clear: ‘Literature is mostly about having sex, and not much about having children. Life is the other way round.’
A sharply perceptive comic novel, ‘London Bridge is Falling Down’ brilliantly captures the absurd, pitiful dilemma of Catholics in the days when the Pill was just an enticing rumour.
About the Author
David Lodge has written many bestselling novels, including THINKS and NICE WORK. His books have sold well over a million copies in Penguin. Formerly Professor of English at Birmingham University, he now writes full-time. He continues to live in Birmingham.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
It was Adam Appleby's misfortune that at the moment of awakening from sleep his consciousness was immediately flooded with everything he least wanted to think about. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
It was Adam Appleby's misfortune that at the moment of awakening from sleep his consciousness was immediately flooded with everything he least wanted to think about. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Perhaps the most useful description of this novel by the magnificent Mr. Lodge is to explain the effect that it had on me: I ordered everything else he has written.
This is a funny, unapologetically intelligent novel that wrestles with a real issue as it unfolds in deeply funny passages. As you'd expect from a man of Lodge's critical stature, there is an interest too in how books are written and literary style (the protagonist is writing his thesis in the Museum), but this is not a dry intellectual exercise, but a wry, clever and engrossing read.
Since reading this, I have read five other novels by him, culminating in his latest "Thinks..." and I promise that no matter where you start with his work, you'll be glad you got the habit: but please give this one a go.
This is a funny, unapologetically intelligent novel that wrestles with a real issue as it unfolds in deeply funny passages. As you'd expect from a man of Lodge's critical stature, there is an interest too in how books are written and literary style (the protagonist is writing his thesis in the Museum), but this is not a dry intellectual exercise, but a wry, clever and engrossing read.
Since reading this, I have read five other novels by him, culminating in his latest "Thinks..." and I promise that no matter where you start with his work, you'll be glad you got the habit: but please give this one a go.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A comic novel all about birth control - or indeed the lack of it and its effects. The main character, Adam Appleby doesn't live in the garden of Eden; he's trying to get to grips with his thesis but only manages to worry about his ever expanding family.
The British Museum is where he goes to study, and each chapter is neatly prefaced with a literary quotation about it. The edition I have has an added afterword by the author, and this is where I discovered how badly read I am on modern classics, as Lodge has included ten different styles of literary pastiche including Lawrence, Joyce, Greene, Woolf and Hemingway et al. Looking back, I think I can locate some of them, but I will have to re-read some time in the future, (only being familiar with Greene, and having recently read my first Hemingway).
Great fun though even if you don't get all the jokes.
The British Museum is where he goes to study, and each chapter is neatly prefaced with a literary quotation about it. The edition I have has an added afterword by the author, and this is where I discovered how badly read I am on modern classics, as Lodge has included ten different styles of literary pastiche including Lawrence, Joyce, Greene, Woolf and Hemingway et al. Looking back, I think I can locate some of them, but I will have to re-read some time in the future, (only being familiar with Greene, and having recently read my first Hemingway).
Great fun though even if you don't get all the jokes.
Format:Paperback
This novel takes one day in the life of a Catholic post-graduate student, desperately trying to complete his research whilst maintaining his ever-increasing family. The one-day account nods at James Joyce and many chapters reflect the style of other well-known authors. Any reader can miss the literary references but the book is hilarious even without that element. Adam, married to Barbara in a loving relationship, has already produced Clare, Dominic and Edward and fears he might complete the alphabet with progeny! All the problems of birth control are explored with sympathy and humour and the - now - nostalgic account of Adam's efforts in and out of the old British Museum Reading Room made me laugh aloud at times. His encounters with the priest Finbar are entertaining and the scene where he returns to his desk to find it surrounded by tourists (why?) is one of many memorable events: the false fire alarm, the meeting with the butcher who is in love with Elizabeth Taylor (he has seen Cleopatra thirty-four times) and the phone calls which get confused with each other with disastrous results. Yet the underlying theme is serious and is explored in other novels by David Lodge: how does a devout young couple cope with the prohibitions of "artificial" birth control when the "natural" method fails them?
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Vatican Roulette
One of Lodges early novels-very readable as are all his books. It's about a young catholic couple already with 3 young children and their fear of having any more offspring. Read more
Published 13 months ago by maggie may
Well written but a bit too poncey for my liking
I might be being really thick, but it wasn't till right at the end that I realised the pastiche element to this book. Read more
Published on 17 Mar 2000
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
