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Deaf Sentence: A Novel | 
 enlarge | Author: David Lodge
Publisher: Viking Adult
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
Buy New: $14.99
You Save: $10.96 (42%)
New (43) Used (12) from $14.50
Avg. Customer Rating:  7 reviews
Sales Rank: 4562
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.2
ISBN: 0670019925
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9780670019922
ASIN: 0670019925
Publication Date: September 18, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
A witty, tender novel about the travails of old middle age, from a Booker finalist
Desmond Bates is a recently retired linguistics professor vexed by his encroaching deafness and at loose ends in his personal life. Without the purposeful routine of the academic year, he finds his role reduced to that of escort and house-husband while his wifes late-flowering career as the owner of a home design store flourishes. The monotony of his days is relieved only by wearisome journeys to London to check on the welfare of his querulous, elderly father, an ex-dance musician. But these discontents are nothing compared to the affliction of hearing loss, which is a constant source of domestic friction and social embarrassment. It is through his deafness that Desmond inadvertently gets involved with a young woman who seeks his support in matters academic and not so academic; and whose wayward and unpredictable behavior threatens to destabilize his life completely. Deaf Sentence is a funny, moving account of one mans effort to come to terms with deafness and death, aging and mortality, the comedy and tragedy of human life.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...
 Deaf Sentence is Deaf to Its Own First Sentences November 23, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
If only the novel had lived up to its breathtaking opening paragraph, which the author read with such dead-on sensitivity in a recent WNYC Lopate interview. What an ear, even from the near-silence of the head. I expect we'll see more and better work from Lodge yet--maybe more in the vein of this work's astounding opening. Many reviews of this work seem to be in the publisher's pocket--Amazon's "Editorial Reviews" first among them, of course. Peter Kramer's review in Slate (also viewable online for free in a click) nails it--thanks for telling the truth instead of selling out, Mr. Kramer. Take all Amazon Editorial reviews with a bale of salt--they want to sell you the book, just as the publishers and authors do! Include objective, non-lobbyist professional reviews from elsewhere before you buy.
 on the subject of aging November 20, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
the book was an easy read - with a subject matter that a lot of us can identify with: our aging bodies, retirement, aging parents, lost lust, etc. It started out a little bit like an audiology textbook but got infinitely better as the story went on. The English humor added to the pleasure of it. I would recommend it for the mature audience.
 An excellent novel November 19, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Other reviews provide ample information about the plot, setting, and characters of DEAF SENTENCE, David Lodge's fourteenth and most recent novel. I write mostly to note that DEAF SENTENCE is a very well written and structured novel. It betokens that Lodge certainly is not slipping; if anything, he has become even more accomplished as a novelist. Further, DEAF SENTENCE has a depth that I do not remember from the four or so earlier novels of his that I read.
DEAF SENTENCE begins as a clever and funny novel about the confusions and travails of being very hard of hearing, as told by a retired professor (Desmond Bates) who, in addition to being nearly deaf, is mildly vexed in other ways by advancing age, retirement, and family, especially younger career-oriented wife and very elderly father. Towards the middle of the novel, the pace threatens to bog down in everyday minutia but Lodge manages to push and/or pull the reader through. Then, in its last quarter, the novel changes tone and character, the humor recedes to be replaced by love and understanding, and the preoccupations of Desmond Bates (and the themes of the novel) become death and life. At the end, DEAF SENTENCE is both poignant and exceedingly humane. What began as something of a comedy goes out on a serious but by no means tragic note. An excellent novel.
About More Than Deafness November 10, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
As many of the dust-jacket blurbs note, in _Deaf Sentence_ David Lodge gives a pitch-perfect description of the frustrations and embarrassments of being hard of hearing. His look at deafness goes deeper, however, revealing its heavy personal toll on relationships, be it in the simple irritation that chafes from day to day with a spouse, or in the lingering difficulty of attempting to enrich--without the aid of good communication--already distant relationships with grown children or an ailing father. Lodge's characters and situations are none too fresh--an retired linguistics (read English) professor worries over the academic and sexual interest of a young blonde graduate student--but what he does with them is riveting and, eventually, life affirming. By turns funny, wry, cynical and touching, _Deaf Sentence_ proves a wonderful read for most anyone, not simply those who know someone who is hearing impaired.
Interesting Character & Poignant Descriptions October 15, 2008
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
Lodge gives a detailed picture of what it's like to go deaf in middle age and all the limitations deafness brings. The deep description of a deaf man's life feels familiar when he faces the same issues everyone does as they age and terribly sad when his hearing loss isolates him from people he cares about. The main character would be interesting even if he weren't deaf, and his deafness adds poignancy that makes this book special.
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