Paradise News

Un prêtre défroqué d'une quarantaine d'années accompagne son Irlandais de père à Hawaï au chevet d'une soeur que son père a perdu de vue depuis des années et qui se meurt. Il y fera bien malgré lui l'apprentissage des choses de la vie. Un roman vif et drôle qui se moque du tourisme organisé et des moeurs britanniques, mais qui aborde aussi les thèmes de la mort, de la vie familiale et de l'épanouissement sexuel avec une délicatesse et une pénétration inattendues.

Not quite up to the standard of Thinks or Therapy, but solid. A bit more on the domestic comedy side, but still insightful and funny. Those avidly seeking further evidence of Lodge's sexism will probably find something here. But it's not the sort of sexism that most feminists write home about, I don't imagine.

Ever read an acclaimed novel and then were disappointed that you couldn’t find one sympathetic character? That will never happen with a David Lodge book! He obviously cares for his characters, and you will too, though most are just good-hearted, loyal British academics with frail egos and a tenuous grasp on life in middle-age—I know, hilarious! Paradise News is his best book and a very sweet story. Lodge is the British Richard Russo: unfailingly compassionate, a keen social observer and very funny. Enjoy!

Reviewed by: John

Ever read an acclaimed novel and then were disappointed that you couldn't find one sympathetic character? That will never happen with a David Lodge book! He obviously cares for his characters, and you will too, though most are just good-hearted, loyal British academics with frail egos and a tenuous grasp on life in middle-age—I know, hilarious! Paradise News is his best book and a very sweet story. Lodge is the British Richard Russo: unfailingly compassionate, a keen social observer and very funny. Enjoy!

A thoroughly enjoyable book which is very reminiscent, in terms of character and structure, to Lodge's later Therapy. The people are portrayed in a very sympathetic way, the ends are all tidied up nicely and there is just the right of amount of philosophizing mixed in.

Mon libraire m'avait dit que c'était drôle! J'ai changé de libraire: ce n'est pas drôle, c'est rasoir! L'auteur essaye tous les styles même l'épistolaire, nous barbe avec ses connaissances en théologie qui ne font pas avancer l'histoire. Bref je me suis ennuyé.

A good read about an Englishman from "Rummidge" (Birmingham) who tends to his father and dying aunt in Hawaii. The protagonist being a recovering priest, the book pushes the limits of my tolerance for religious reference. I suspect the author's _Souls and Bodies_ would exceed those limits, so I plan not to read that one.