Changing Places
Although it seemed a bit dated at first, it was very funny. I do wish, though, that Lodge wouldn't keep hitting us over the head with his virtuosity - "look at me, I'm doing a section based on epistolary novels" or "look at me, I'm going to end it like a film," or whatever.

Small World:
It was amusing, but not as funny as I remember it being. You know, even in 1984 jokes about the difference in the meaning of 'faggots' between the UK and the US had been heard a hundred times before, so the same joke twice in one book?

Nice Work
More readable because he isn't showing off so much. Robyn's learning experience as a shadow is more convincing than Vic's brief stint at the university, which seems a very perfunctory wrapping up of the story. ( )

I thought this was a bit of a mixed bag. I generally enjoyed the first volume until the ending; there were obvious metafictional reasons why it was done the way it was, but I still found it very unsatisfactory from the point of view of the story, and it spoilt the book for me considerably. I got very impatient with the second novel, because there was too much sex in it and I felt that this was holding up the plot. The third novel was easily the best in my opinion, although there were times when I tended to lose sympathy with the two protagonists. I suspect part of the reason I enjoyed it more than the other two was that Lodge's clever metafictional devices were not being allowed to intrude so much on the actual telling of the story.

Having said that, Lodge does have some priceless moments which are laugh-out-loud funny, and his characterisation is sharp and well observed. I don't think I'll be reading this one again in the very near future, but it might well be worth someone's time and trouble to condense it. ( )