Home Truths

I do enjoy play adaptations into novels (and Lodge talks about his process in the postface) because it becomes really easy to imagine the dynamic between the characters.
Three friends, one estranged, are forced to revisit their past, their secrets and their failures with the visit of a stranger who critically dissects them.
This could have ended in cynicism and separation but a national bereavement unexpectedly brings them together and brings them to face their emotions and empathy for one another. It's very well done and I felt myself caring for all characters who each carry a great deal of ambiguity with both strengths and weaknesses.

Adrian is a distinguished former novelist with a novel on the A-level set text list. His best friend Sam is a successful screenwriter hoping to break into Hollywood. When one of the new breed of journo-interviewers does a hatchet job on Sam, the two men plot to get their own back on her - but as you might guess it was never going to go to plan!

A witty novella satirising the cult of celebrity and the insecurity of writing for a living. Adapted from a play, it rattles along for its 115 pages piling on the layers of humiliation for all four involved (Adrian, his wife Ellie, Sam and Fanny - the journalist), until reaching its climax on a day we will all remember. It reads like a play being very dialogue driven, but that allows Lodge's wit show more to sparkle all the more. show less

This novella is capable of being read in a single sitting – it took me no more than a few hours to whizz though it. Adapted from a screenplay, it retains the original’s reliance on dialogue and a limited number of scenes, as well as other style-related factors mentioned in the author’s afterword which made interesting reading.

All in all it’s a mildly amusing (not laugh-out-loud) take on the hostile celebrity interview, and the ins and outs of being a writer. Despite its brevity it still makes some interesting points as well as raising questions, chief among which was: are people actually called Fanny anymore?

25 May 2009 - from Julie and Barry when they moved away

I picked this out of the bags as a Lodge I didn't know about. It's a novella based on a play Lodge wrote about the pitfalls of celebrity. Working well as a long short story, we meet two authors, one out there and successful, one practically a hermit, the woman they both once loved, now married to one of them, and a celebrity interviewer known for stitching up her victims. When they try to play a trick on her, will it all backfire?

Really nicely written (of course) and with a great little storyline - very good and it is in book form so I'll count it as a full book read!

Quick and easy read; entertaining as well. Raises some deeper than usual questions about celebrity interviews. The ending reminds us to be careful about what we write.

An evident adaptation of a play; it works despite the speeches. I enjoyd it, my thoughts drifting to Hitchens and his friends Ian and Marty.

Tidy novella about literary celebrity. Lightly provocative, breezily written—a pleasant-enough afternoon diversion.