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Friday 28 September 2012

David Lodge - A Man of Parts

review live on show by Brian Lowen 27th Sept 2012 This book is described as a novel and that is why I bought it, having previously read another of his books called Paradise News which was a wonderful story. The description of the book referred to the Man in question being Herbert George Wells. It didn’t click then that this was in fact H G Wells. The book is, in my opinion, really a biography of H G Wells rather than a novel and I was therefore somewhat disappointed. The book starts with the senile HG sitting in his study, near to death’s door, thinking back over his past career and the many women in his life. We have the strange situation where HG is acting as interviewer and interviewee, asking himself questions and then answering them. He had a very full life, starting in a drapers shop, and then quickly achieving fame when his first book was published. He met many famous people – Princes, Prime Ministers, Lenin, Stalin and other literary greats. He also had a great number of affairs with the ladies who seemed to throw themselves at him. Most of these affairs were conducted discretely, but with the permission of his wife who knew she could not satisfy his sexual appetite. Many quotations are included in the book, taken from letters and his books. A great book if you are a fan of H G Wells, but not for me as I quickly got bored and speed read a lot of the 564 pages.

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