I've at last entered the age, if not the disability, that this novel deals with. I found this to be a compelling but unsettling read as an imagined future or exploratory foray into old age. It's a story of disturbingly familiar personalities, niggling worries and unavoidable social situations, and at least as recommendable as Lodge's novels of middle aged academics. But there are more poignant episodes than humorous ones in this moving story. Lodge's retired professor has a sobering old age that will be dreaded by many. ( )

I always enjoy David Lodge. He's one of those writers who is extremely good at seeing--and writing about--social interactions, men and women, parent and child...and he's funny on top of that. Deaf Sentence has the added bonus of bringing deafness and linguistics into the mix, adding two more layers to those relationships. ( )

I have conflicted feelings about Deaf Sentence. For the first hundred pages or so, I was blown away by Lodge's treatment of his subject matter, which is so authentic that it could only be autobiographical. Lodge's narrator, Desmond, is a retired academic in is mid-sixties who is slowly losing his hearing; his disease is incurable and will ultimately leave him completely without hearing. Desmond, a linguist, discusses the nature of his disease with breathtaking honesty and insight, and recounts the affects of his deafness on his marriage, his academic career, and his relationships with others, including his father.

Deaf Sentence is a novel in diary entries and, occasionally, apologetically, in the third person ("I feel a fit of the third person coming on"). When it's good, it is very, very good, but Lodge is balancing too many plot lines: we have Desmond and his wife, Desmond and the eccentric graduate student, Desmond and his father, Desmond and himself. Lodge technically wraps up each each plot trajectory, but the book is a slim 300 pages, and it felt like a squeeze to close each story.

The sensitivity with which Lodge writes of deafness makes this book a wonderful read for those interested in hearing loss, but the plot was lacking and somewhat unsatisfying. ( )

Thoughtful and amusing excerpts about high frequency deafness which helped me understand better what going deaf feels like. Full growing characters were created. I enjoyed. ( )

'I'm afraid I could never trust someone who would make irremovable marks in a library book.'

Thus states Desmond, a non-P.C. retired professor of linguistics, to Alex, a voluptuous grad student who wants him to supervise her doctoral thesis. When he first meets Alex, he heard her introduce herself as 'Axe,' a more accurate name for her character.

For, as he is aging, Desmond is going deaf, and the book humorously describes the mishaps caused by his many misinterpretations of what is said to him. His problems with Alex are but one aspect of his adversities. The novel also focuses on his relationship with his elderly father, also deaf (the conversations father and son carry on with each other are hilarious), who insists on living by himself despite advancing dementia. Desmond must also contend with his entirely reasonable wife, whose career is blossoming as his fades.

This all sounds somewhat grim, but if you've ever read anything by David Lodge you know that this is a laugh out loud book. Most of Desmond's problems are caused by his own vanities, and his aging Dad is a hoot. His wife is Mrs. Fawlty to Desmond's Basil Fawlty.

Nevertheless, the overall tone of Deaf Sentence is bittersweet. It is the most serious of the David Lodge books I've read. Desmond's despair over his encroaching deafness and his worries about his father are not understated or trivialized. ( )